# Dashboards-as-code beyond Steampipe

> Use Powerpipe to visualize and validate all your data, wherever it happens to live.

By Turbot Team
Published: 2024-03-08


We've [announced Powerpipe](https://powerpipe.io/blog/migrating-from-steampipe), and discussed [how to migrate](https://powerpipe.io/blog/migrating-from-steampipe). If you run mods like [AWS Insights](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/aws_insights) and [AWS Compliance](https://hub.powerpipe.io/mods/turbot/aws_compliance) you'll need to switch over when those mods reach v1.0.0. 

<img width="100%" src="/images/blog/2024-03-steampipe-and-powerpipe/deprecation.png" />

Meanwhile, if you're using Steampipe to view benchmark-style dashboards like `AWS Compliance`, you'll be missing out on Powerpipe's [filtering and grouping](https://turbot.com/pipes/blog/2024/03/pipes-filter-and-group). That's one good reason to switch even before it becomes necessary.

But Powerpipe isn't just Steampipe's CLI and dashboard server, decoupled from the Steampipe engine. Powerpipe works with Steampipe-based queries, and with Steampipe-oriented mods, just as you'd expect. From the Powerpipe perspective, though, Steampipe is just one way to acquire data that you can visualize with dashboards and validate with benchmarks. 

A Powerpipe query or mod can source data from an instance of Postgres other than the one included with Steampipe, or from a SQLite or MySQL or DuckDB database. If you've been [writing dashboards](https://powerpipe.io/docs/build/writing-dashboards) that work with Steampipe connections, you can now apply your HCL+SQL skills to visualize and validate your DevOps data — or any data, really — wherever it happens to live. 

The Powerpipe [--database](https://powerpipe.io/docs/run#selecting-a-database) argument is the key that unlocks all your data. Visualize that data as [tables](https://powerpipe.io/docs/powerpipe-hcl/table), [charts](https://powerpipe.io/docs/powerpipe-hcl/chart), and [relationship graphs](https://powerpipe.io/docs/powerpipe-hcl/graph). Validate it with [benchmarks](https://powerpipe.io/docs/powerpipe-hcl/benchmark) and [controls](https://powerpipe.io/docs/powerpipe-hcl/controls). 

Steampipe pioneered [dashboards-as-code](https://steampipe.io/blog/dashboards-as-code): SQL to acquire data, HCL to pour the data into dashboards and benchmarks, [mods](https://powerpipe.io/docs/build) that enable [remixing and reuse](https://steampipe.io/blog/remixing-dashboards). That architecture, which has served you so well in Steampipe, is now more broadly available to help you wrangle DevOps data and tame cloud complexity. So give Powerpipe a try and [let us know](/community/join) how it goes!