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.

This article explains how you can connect and disconnect your account to the Staking Dashboard. We will show how to connect the following types of accounts:

We will also show how to disconnect and remove them:

How to connect your Polkadot Vault account


1. Click on the "Connect" button in the top right corner:



2. If this is the first time you are using the dashboard, you will be presented with all available options. Otherwise, you need to click "Go To Connect" to see them. Click "Import" under "Polkadot Vault":



3. Click "Import account" to scan a QR code from Polkadot Vault. If it's the first time you add a Polkadot Vault account, allow the Staking Dashboard to access your camera:



4. Open your Polkadot Vault app. In the "Key Sets" tab, choose the account you want to add to the Staking Dashboard:



Then select the network. You'll see a QR code with "Public Key" written above it and your account name and address below it:



5. Show the QR to the camera on your computer, and the Staking Dashboard will pick up your address. Give it a name and click "Done" to finish adding your Polkadot Vault account to the Staking Dashboard:



6. You will be taken back to the connection options. Click "Go To Accounts," and choose your Polkadot Vault account from the list.


Now you can start staking or join a nomination pool. Check this article to see what else you can do on the Staking Dashboard.

How to connect your Ledger account


‼️ IMPORTANT

Ledger can only be connected using Chromium-based browsers, like Google Chrome, Edge, or Brave.

Please note that Ledger support is the beta stage.


1. Connect your Ledger device to the computer, unlock it, and open the Polkadot app. You should see "Polkadot Ready" on your Ledger screen.


2. On the Staking Dashboard, click on the "Connect" button in the top right corner:



3. If this is the first time you are using the dashboard, you will be presented with all available options. Otherwise, you need to click "Go To Connect" to see them. Click on "USB" under "Ledger":



4. Your default Polkadot Ledger account will appear. Give it a name and click the "Done" button to add the account:



If you don't use the default account type of 0, click the "Get another account" button to generate an account with type 1, 2, etc.


6. You will be taken back to the different connection options. Click "Go To Accounts," and choose your Ledger account from the list.


Now you can start staking or join a nomination pool. Check this article to see what else you can do on the Staking Dashboard.

How to connect your account through the extension


1. Click on the "Connect" button in the top right corner:



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


In this guide, we'll be using the Polkadot extension. The following steps may vary depending on the extension you choose.


3. Once you select the extension, a pop-up window opens up asking you 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 you authorize the access, all accounts in the Polkadot extension will be imported to the dashboard. Click on the "Go to accounts" button at the top of the panel to list them.


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



If you already have other accounts either nominating or joining a nomination pool, they will show up under an "Nominating", or "In pool" section:



ℹ️ INFO

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.


⚠️ ATTENTION

Controller accounts are being deprecated. You can still use existing ones for now, but creating new ones is no longer possible.

It is recommended to set your stash account as its own controller (learn how to do it here) and create a staking proxy to obtain the same benefits and greater flexibility.

Check out the article on creating a proxy account for more information.


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

How to connect a proxy account


You can connect a staking proxy to the staking dashboard and operate on behalf of the stash account.


1. Connect the proxy account to the Staking Dashboard as any other account. You can find the steps above. You can have your proxy account in Polkadot Vault, Ledger, or one of the supported extensions.


2. Once the proxy is connected, go to the "Proxies" tab to declare its proxied (delegator) account.



3. Click on "Declare" and paste the stash account, the one being proxied by the account you connected in the previous steps. Click "Import":



If the pasted account is being proxied by the previous account, their relationship should appear below.


4. Click on "Go to accounts" and you'll see that the stash account has been added as a "read-only" account while the proxy is the one connected to the extension.



5. Click on the staking proxy account so you can manage the stash from the staking dashboard.

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. Click on the "Connect" button in the top right corner:



2. Instead of selecting a wallet, click on "Read Only":



3. Then click on "+ Add" and paste the address you want to monitor and click on "Import":



4. Click on "Go to Accounts" and you will see the read-only account under the available accounts:



Click on it to connect the account as read-only. 


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, the address is shown.

How to disconnect your account


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" at the top-right corner or select another account to connect that one:


How to remove 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 2 above.


2. On the modal that opens up, click on the "Read Only" tab:



3. Click on "Forget" next to the account you want to remove: