The Kelvin UI for Dummies

This is the introduction to the Kelvin UI course.

By the end of this page, you will understand what the Kelvin UI is, who uses it, and how each user role interacts with it.

What is the Kelvin UI?

The Kelvin UI is a web-based interface accessed through any modern browser. It is the single place where all three types of Kelvin users can interact with the platform — managing assets, reviewing data, acting on recommendations, and administering the system.

Browser Support

The Kelvin UI is fully tested on the latest version of Google Chrome. For a seamless experience, always use the latest Chrome version.

Who Uses It?

All three Kelvin user roles interact with the Kelvin UI, but the depth and frequency of their usage differs significantly.

Operations Teams — UI is Your Home

Operations Engineers live in the Kelvin UI. It is the only tool they need.

Everything an Operations Engineer does — monitoring assets, reviewing recommendations, approving or rejecting actions, exploring historical data, adjusting application parameters, and scheduling changes — happens directly in the Kelvin UI.

The left-hand sidebar provides the Operations section, which brings together all the tools needed to monitor, manage, configure, and control assets.

Key activities in the Kelvin UI for Operations:

View and filter all assets and their data streams
Review and act on recommendations from SmartApps
Monitor real-time and historical data in the Data Explorer
Change application configuration parameters per asset
Deploy premade SmartApps and ML models to assets
Schedule parameter changes
Manually update data stream values when needed

Platform Administrators — UI is Your Primary Tool

Platform Administrators can manage the entire platform exclusively through the Kelvin UI if they choose to. The UI provides access to all the administration areas needed to set up and maintain the platform.

Key activities in the Kelvin UI for Administrators:

Create and manage assets and data streams — individually or in bulk
Configure and deploy connectors to data sources
Set up and manage edge clusters
Monitor infrastructure health
Manage users, groups, and access permissions
Configure data quality rules
Manage the App Registry

Bulk Operations

Platform Administrators do not need to create assets or data streams one by one. You can prepare a CSV file with all the information needed and upload it directly in the Kelvin UI to create assets and data streams in bulk. This makes initial setup and large-scale changes fast and efficient.

Developers — UI is Part of Your Toolkit

Developers interact with the Kelvin UI for some tasks, but the UI alone is not enough. Many developer tasks — building SmartApps, packaging applications, uploading them to the App Registry — can only be done from the command line using the Kelvin SDK.

What developers can do in the Kelvin UI:

View assets and their data streams
Explore historical data in the Data Explorer
Monitor application status and logs
Review recommendations and control changes their SmartApps produce
Update application configuration values

What developers need the CLI / SDK / API for:

Build and package Kelvin SmartApps™
Upload applications to the Kelvin Cloud
Automate data extraction and processing
Manage application versions programmatically
Run local development and testing environments

For Developers

Think of the Kelvin UI as your monitoring and validation tool — you check that your SmartApps are producing the right results. The Kelvin SDK and Kelvin API are your build and deploy tools. For automating data extraction or integrating with external pipelines, the Kelvin API is the way to go.

The Three Interfaces

Kelvin provides three ways to interact with the platform. Understanding when to use each one is key.

Interface	Best For	Used By
Kelvin UI	Day-to-day operations, monitoring, administration, visual data exploration	Operations, Administrators, Developers
Kelvin SDK	Building SmartApps, packaging and uploading applications, CLI-based management	Developers, Administrators
Kelvin API	Automation, programmatic access, integration with external systems, data extraction at scale	Developers, Administrators

The Kelvin UI is organized through a left-hand sidebar menu. The sidebar is divided into four sections, each focused on a distinct area of the platform.

Sidebar Section	Purpose	Primary Audience
Operations	Monitor and control assets. View applications and their outputs. Explore historical data.	Operations Teams
Assets and Data	Create and manage assets, data streams, connections, data quality rules, and guardrails	Platform Administrators
Orchestration	Manage edge clusters, secrets, and infrastructure monitoring	Platform Administrators
Administration	System dashboard, user management, and roles and permissions	Platform Administrators

What's Next?

Now that you understand how the Kelvin UI fits into the picture for each user role, you can jump into the detailed course for your role in the Intermediate Courses.

Good luck and Happy Learning !