External Controller + third-party dashboards

Since the core exposes a full API via external-controller ("The external controller"), the community has built web dashboards on top — the best known is yacd. They do not replace Clash for Windows; they are another lens: pure web pages, openable from any device.

Connecting

1. Confirm external-controller is 127.0.0.1:9090 (the CFW default);
2. Open a hosted yacd page (or a locally deployed copy) in the browser;
3. Enter the API address http://127.0.0.1:9090 and the secret (if set) — groups, connections and logs appear in full.

When it is worth it

• Managing from another device: bind the controller to the LAN (with a secret) and switch your PC's nodes from a phone browser;
• Connection analytics: yacd's connections view aggregates and sorts by domain/node/rule — spotting "who is eating my bandwidth" is easier than in the native UI;
• Light remote ops: adjust the always-on home PC while away.

The dashboard is only a remote control — all data stays on your machine's port 9090 and never passes through any third-party server. Just never expose the controller port to the public internet.