Start your staking journey or explore more information about staking on Polkadot's Home Page. Discover this new Staking Dashboard that makes staking much easier and check our extensive article list in the Overview article to help you get started.

In this article, we explain how you can connect your account to the Staking Dashboard.


The dashboard currently supports the following extensions:

so your account needs to be in one of these extensions in order to be added. 


You can also add any account as read-only, simply by entering its address.

How to connect your account


In order to connect your account follow these steps:


1. Click on the Connect button.


2. If this is the first time you are using the dashboard you will be presented with a list of the supported extensions to choose from which one(s) the dashboard should import accounts. 


3. In this guide we'll be using the Polkadot extension. Once we select it, a pop-up window opens up asking us whether to allow the dashboard to access the accounts in the extension. 

Click on "Yes, allow this application access".


IMPORTANT: Granting access means the dashboard will have access to all the accounts in the extension, unless any of them have been made invisible.



4. Once we authorize the access, all accounts in the Polkadot extension will be imported to the dashboard and we can click on "Imported accounts" to select which account to connect.


5. In the next screen you see all imported accounts and you can select the one you want to connect.


If you already have Stash and/or Controller account(s) in your extension, the Stash-Controller pairs will show up under an "Actively Staking" section. Choosing either of these accounts will connect both.



NOTE: If only the Stash or the Controller are in the extension you can only connect that account. Both will still be added to the dashboard, but the other one will be "read-only" and you won't be able to take actions that require that account.

For example, if only your Controller is in the extension, when you connect it you will be able to see all information about your stake (including your Stash account), but will only be able to issue extrinsics that are issued by the Controller, not the Stash. For example, you won't be able to increase your bond.


You have now successfully connected your account to the dashboard and you can start staking or manage your stake!

Adding a read-only account


If you want, you can add any account as read-only. Perhaps you want to simply monitor your stash that's in cold storage. This doesn't even require that you have an extension installed.


1. To add an account as read-only, on Step 4 above, instead of selecting an extension click on "Read Only Accounts" and paste the address of the account you want to monitor and click "Import".


2. Then click on "Imported Accounts" and you will see the read-only account (or pair) under the available accounts.


3. Click on either of them to connect both as read-only accounts. 


Read-only accounts have a small pair of glasses next to them and the words "Read Only". Also, they don't have account names, but instead their address is shown.

Disconnecting your account


If you want to disconnect your account follow these steps:


1. After you've connected your account, the Connect button will change to your account's name and icon. Click on the Accounts button to disconnect it.



2. In the modal that opens up, click on "Disconnect" next to your account or select another account to connect that one.

Removing a read-only account


To completely remove a read-only account from the imported accounts follow these steps:


1. Click on the account's icon like Step 1 above.


2. On the modal that opens up, click on the "Extensions" button.


3. Then click on "Read Only Accounts" and on "Forget" next to the account you want to remove.