# Dashboard version history (revision)

> Dashboard version history is the append-only record of every saved version of a dashboard, with who made each change and the ability to restore any version.

Canonical: https://dvt.dev/glossary/dashboard-version-history/

Dashboard version history is the append-only record of every saved version of a dashboard, each one a revision that captures the full spec at that moment, who made the change, and why.

Version history is what makes a dashboard accountable. Without it, a changed number has no explanation and a bad edit has no undo. With it, every change can be inspected, compared, and reversed.

## How it works in dvt

In dvt, every save creates a revision, whether the change is to a whole dashboard, a page, or a single [panel](https://dvt.dev/glossary/dashboard-panel). Each revision records its actor (a human, an agent, or the system), which API key an API-key agent acted through, and a change note. The History pane shows each version with a before-and-after thumbnail, and a visual diff highlights exactly which regions of the dashboard moved.

Because each revision is a full [dashboard spec](https://dvt.dev/glossary/dashboard-spec), comparing two versions is a document diff: you can see that a query's filter changed, a series was added, or a title was renamed. You can restore any revision, and restore keeps each element's identity so edits made afterward still apply to the right panel. This is the review-and-rollback payoff of [dashboards as code](https://dvt.dev/glossary/dashboards-as-code), and the safety net that lets a team accept [agent-built dashboards](https://dvt.dev/glossary/agent-built-dashboard): every change an agent makes can be inspected and rolled back.

## Related terms

- [Dashboards as code](https://dvt.dev/glossary/dashboards-as-code)
- [Preview (dry run)](https://dvt.dev/glossary/dashboard-preview)
- [Agent-built dashboard](https://dvt.dev/glossary/agent-built-dashboard)
- [Dashboards as code, the dvt implementation](https://dvt.dev/solutions/dashboards-as-code)