feat(ui): add newbie-friendly UX improvements across dashboard

- Providers page: empty state with guided 'Add your first provider' card
- Providers page: home page shows only configured providers by default
- Settings: add intro text to Routing, Resilience, and AI tabs
- i18n: fix 'Api Key Mgmt' to 'API Key Management', remove duplicate key
- i18n: add keys for empty state, settings intros, free-only filter

src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/HomePageClient.tsx

@@ -787,14 +787,31 @@ export default function HomePageClient({ machineId }: HomePageClientProps) {
         </div>
 
         <div className="grid grid-cols-1 sm:grid-cols-2 lg:grid-cols-3 xl:grid-cols-4 gap-3">
-          {providerStats.map((item) => (
-            <ProviderOverviewCard
-              key={item.id}
-              item={item}
-              metrics={providerMetrics[item.provider.alias] || providerMetrics[item.id]}
-              onClick={() => setSelectedProvider(item)}
-            />
-          ))}
+          {providerStats
+            .filter((item) => item.total > 0)
+            .map((item) => (
+              <ProviderOverviewCard
+                key={item.id}
+                item={item}
+                metrics={providerMetrics[item.provider.alias] || providerMetrics[item.id]}
+                onClick={() => setSelectedProvider(item)}
+              />
+            ))}
+          {providerStats.filter((item) => item.total > 0).length === 0 && (
+            <div className="col-span-full py-8 text-center">
+              <span className="material-symbols-outlined text-[32px] text-text-muted/40">dns</span>
+              <p className="text-sm text-text-muted mt-2">
+                {t("noProvidersConfigured") || "No providers configured yet"}
+              </p>
+              <Link
+                href="/dashboard/providers"
+                className="inline-flex items-center gap-1 mt-2 text-xs text-primary hover:underline"
+              >
+                {t("addProvider") || "Add a provider"}{" "}
+                <span className="material-symbols-outlined text-[14px]">arrow_forward</span>
+              </Link>
+            </div>
+          )}
         </div>
       </Card>
 

src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/providers/page.tsx

@@ -541,6 +541,40 @@ export default function ProvidersPage() {
     );
   }
 
+  const totalConfigured =
+    oauthProviderEntriesAll.filter((e) => Number(e.stats?.total || 0) > 0).length +
+    apiKeyProviderEntriesAll.filter((e) => Number(e.stats?.total || 0) > 0).length +
+    webCookieProviderEntriesAll.filter((e) => Number(e.stats?.total || 0) > 0).length +
+    localProviderEntriesAll.filter((e) => Number(e.stats?.total || 0) > 0).length;
+
+  if (totalConfigured === 0 && !searchQuery) {
+    return (
+      <div className="flex flex-col items-center justify-center py-20 text-center">
+        <div className="flex items-center justify-center size-16 rounded-full bg-primary/10 mb-4">
+          <span className="material-symbols-outlined text-[32px] text-primary">dns</span>
+        </div>
+        <h2 className="text-xl font-semibold text-text-main">
+          {t("addFirstProvider") || "Add your first provider"}
+        </h2>
+        <p className="text-sm text-text-muted mt-2 max-w-md">
+          {t("addFirstProviderDesc") ||
+            "Connect an AI provider to start routing requests through OmniRoute. You can use free providers, API keys, or OAuth accounts."}
+        </p>
+        <div className="flex items-center gap-3 mt-4">
+          <a
+            href="https://docs.omniroute.io/providers"
+            target="_blank"
+            rel="noopener noreferrer"
+            className="inline-flex items-center gap-1.5 px-4 py-2 text-sm font-medium rounded-lg border border-border text-text-muted hover:text-text-main hover:bg-bg-subtle transition-colors"
+          >
+            <span className="material-symbols-outlined text-[16px]">help</span>
+            {t("learnMore") || "Learn more"}
+          </a>
+        </div>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+
   return (
     <div className="flex flex-col gap-6">
       {/* Search Bar */}

src/app/(dashboard)/dashboard/settings/page.tsx

@@ -93,6 +93,10 @@ export default function SettingsPage() {
 
           {activeTab === "ai" && (
             <div className="flex flex-col gap-6">
+              <p className="text-sm text-text-muted">
+                {t("aiSettingsIntro") ||
+                  "AI-specific settings for thinking budget, model behavior, and compression."}
+              </p>
               <ThinkingBudgetTab />
               <Link
                 href="/dashboard/context/caveman"
@@ -124,6 +128,10 @@ export default function SettingsPage() {
 
           {activeTab === "routing" && (
             <div className="flex flex-col gap-6">
+              <p className="text-sm text-text-muted">
+                {t("routingSettingsIntro") ||
+                  "Controls how your requests are routed, transformed, and sent to AI providers."}
+              </p>
               <RoutingTab />
               <ModelRoutingSection />
               <ComboDefaultsTab />
@@ -132,7 +140,15 @@ export default function SettingsPage() {
             </div>
           )}
 
-          {activeTab === "resilience" && <ResilienceTab />}
+          {activeTab === "resilience" && (
+            <div className="flex flex-col gap-6">
+              <p className="text-sm text-text-muted">
+                {t("resilienceSettingsIntro") ||
+                  "Automatic retry, cooldown, and fallback when providers fail."}
+              </p>
+              <ResilienceTab />
+            </div>
+          )}
 
           {activeTab === "advanced" && (
             <div className="flex flex-col gap-6">

src/i18n/messages/en.json

@@ -365,6 +365,10 @@
     "apiKeyForCheck": "Api Key For Check",
     "cloudRequestTimeout": "Cloud Request Timeout",
     "showConfiguredOnly": "Show Configured Only",
+    "showFreeOnly": "Free only",
+    "addFirstProvider": "Add your first provider",
+    "addFirstProviderDesc": "Connect an AI provider to start routing requests through OmniRoute. You can use free providers, API keys, or OAuth accounts.",
+    "learnMore": "Learn more",
     "includeDomains": "Include Domains",
     "promptCache": "Prompt Cache",
     "cloudConnected": "Cloud Connected",
@@ -405,7 +409,7 @@
     "expirationBannerExpiringSoonDesc": "Expiration Banner Expiring Soon Desc",
     "source": "Source",
     "failed": "Failed",
-    "apiKeyMgmt": "Api Key Mgmt",
+    "apiKeyMgmt": "API Key Management",
     "mcpQuickStartStep1": "Mcp Quick Start Step1",
     "runTest": "Run Test",
     "loadingFallbackChains": "Loading Fallback Chains",
@@ -905,6 +909,8 @@
     "providersOverview": "Providers Overview",
     "configuredOf": "{configured} configured of {total} available providers",
     "noModelsAvailable": "No models available for this provider.",
+    "noProvidersConfigured": "No providers configured yet",
+    "addProvider": "Add a provider",
     "configureFirst": "Configure a connection first in {providers}",
     "configureProvider": "Configure Provider",
     "modelAvailable": "{count} model available",
@@ -2618,7 +2624,6 @@
     "welcomeDesc": "OmniRoute is your local AI API proxy. It routes requests to multiple AI providers with load balancing, failover, and usage tracking.",
     "multiProvider": "Multi-Provider",
     "usageTracking": "Usage Tracking",
-    "apiKeyMgmt": "API Key Mgmt",
     "securityDesc": "Set a password to protect your dashboard, or skip for now.",
     "providerDesc": "Connect your first AI provider. You can add more later.",
     "apiKeyRequired": "API Key (required)",
@@ -2637,7 +2642,8 @@
     "failedSetPassword": "Failed to set password. Try again.",
     "failedAddProvider": "Failed to add provider. Try again.",
     "connectionError": "Connection error. Please try again.",
-    "provider": "Provider"
+    "provider": "Provider",
+    "apiKeyHelp": "An API key is a password for AI services. Get one from your provider's website (e.g., platform.openai.com, console.anthropic.com)."
   },
   "providers": {
     "title": "Providers",
@@ -3148,6 +3154,9 @@
     "routing": "Routing",
     "cache": "Cache",
     "resilience": "Resilience",
+    "routingSettingsIntro": "Controls how your requests are routed, transformed, and sent to AI providers.",
+    "resilienceSettingsIntro": "Automatic retry, cooldown, and fallback when providers fail.",
+    "aiSettingsIntro": "AI-specific settings for thinking budget, model behavior, and compression.",
     "systemPrompt": "System Prompt",
     "thinkingBudget": "Thinking Budget",
     "proxy": "Proxy",