diff --git a/crates/tui/README.md b/crates/tui/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..39ac88b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/tui/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+# VortexDB TUI
+
+A terminal user interface for managing VortexDB databases locally.
+
+## Important Note
+
+> **This is currently a local admin/development tool**, not a network client. The TUI operates directly on database files using embedded storage — it does not connect to a running VortexDB server. This will change once the server gets the multiple-database support.
+>
+> For remote server access, use the [Python client](../../client/python/).
+
+## Usage
+
+```bash
+cargo run -p tui
+```
+
+Databases are stored in `./databases/` by default.
+
+### Environment Variables
+
+For embedding features, set these in your `.env` file or environment:
+
+```bash
+TEXT_EMBEDDING_URL=http://localhost:8000/embed/text
+IMAGE_EMBEDDING_URL=http://localhost:8000/embed/image
+```
+
+These point to an external embedding service that generates vectors from text/images.
+
+## Roadmap
+
+This TUI will evolve into a full client that connects to VortexDB servers over gRPC. Planned changes:
+
+- Add remote connection mode via gRPC (like the Python client)
+- Move to `client/tui/` once server multi-database support lands
diff --git a/crates/tui/src/ui/components.rs b/crates/tui/src/ui/components.rs
index 4fffc6f..3cd5e7c 100644
--- a/crates/tui/src/ui/components.rs
+++ b/crates/tui/src/ui/components.rs
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ impl PageTitle {
             .block(
                 Block::default()
                     .borders(Borders::ALL)
-                    .title("Vector DB")
+                    .title("VortexDB")
                     .title_alignment(Alignment::Center)
                     .border_style(Style::default().fg(self.color)),
             )
diff --git a/crates/tui/src/ui/dashboard.rs b/crates/tui/src/ui/dashboard.rs
index 71956bc..fc6a705 100644
--- a/crates/tui/src/ui/dashboard.rs
+++ b/crates/tui/src/ui/dashboard.rs
@@ -21,74 +21,37 @@ pub fn render_dashboard(f: &mut Frame, app: &App) {
         Line::from(""),
         Line::from(""),
         Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██╗   ██╗███████╗ ██████╗████████╗ ██████╗ ██████╗ ",
+            "██╗   ██╗ ██████╗ ██████╗ ████████╗███████╗██╗  ██╗██████╗ ██████╗ ",
             Style::default()
                 .fg(Color::Cyan)
                 .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
         )]),
         Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██║   ██║██╔════╝██╔════╝╚══██╔══╝██╔═══██╗██╔══██╗",
+            "██║   ██║██╔═══██╗██╔══██╗╚══██╔══╝██╔════╝╚██╗██╔╝██╔══██╗██╔══██╗",
             Style::default()
                 .fg(Color::Cyan)
                 .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
         )]),
         Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██║   ██║█████╗  ██║        ██║   ██║   ██║██████╔╝",
+            "██║   ██║██║   ██║██████╔╝   ██║   █████╗   ╚███╔╝ ██║  ██║██████╔╝",
             Style::default()
                 .fg(Color::Cyan)
                 .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
         )]),
         Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "╚██╗ ██╔╝██╔══╝  ██║        ██║   ██║   ██║██╔══██╗",
+            "╚██╗ ██╔╝██║   ██║██╔══██╗   ██║   ██╔══╝   ██╔██╗ ██║  ██║██╔══██╗",
             Style::default()
                 .fg(Color::Cyan)
                 .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
         )]),
         Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            " ╚████╔╝ ███████╗╚██████╗   ██║   ╚██████╔╝██║  ██║",
+            " ╚████╔╝ ╚██████╔╝██║  ██║   ██║   ███████╗██╔╝ ██╗██████╔╝██████╔╝",
             Style::default()
                 .fg(Color::Cyan)
                 .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
         )]),
         Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "  ╚═══╝  ╚══════╝ ╚═════╝   ╚═╝    ╚═════╝ ╚═╝  ╚═╝",
-            Style::default()
-                .fg(Color::Cyan)
-                .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
-        )]),
-        Line::from(""),
-        Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██████╗ ██████╗ ",
-            Style::default()
-                .fg(Color::Cyan)
-                .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
-        )]),
-        Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██╔══██╗██╔══██╗",
-            Style::default()
-                .fg(Color::Cyan)
-                .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
-        )]),
-        Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██║  ██║██████╔╝",
-            Style::default()
-                .fg(Color::Cyan)
-                .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
-        )]),
-        Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██║  ██║██╔══██╗",
-            Style::default()
-                .fg(Color::Cyan)
-                .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
-        )]),
-        Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "██████╔╝██████╔╝",
-            Style::default()
-                .fg(Color::Cyan)
-                .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),
-        )]),
-        Line::from(vec![Span::styled(
-            "╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ",
+            "  ╚═══╝   ╚═════╝ ╚═╝  ╚═╝   ╚═╝   ╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ",
             Style::default()
                 .fg(Color::Cyan)
                 .add_modifier(ratatui::style::Modifier::BOLD),