diff --git a/modules/base/rendering/screenspacedashboard.cpp b/modules/base/rendering/screenspacedashboard.cpp
index 590e85b7b4..1e32157e71 100644
--- a/modules/base/rendering/screenspacedashboard.cpp
+++ b/modules/base/rendering/screenspacedashboard.cpp
@@ -48,6 +48,12 @@ namespace {
     struct [[codegen::Dictionary(ScreenSpaceDashboard)]] Parameters {
         // [[codegen::verbatim(UseMainInfo.description)]]
         std::optional<bool> useMainDashboard;
+
+        // A list of DashboardItems that are added automatically upon construction of the
+        // ScreenSpaceDashboard. This value must not be specified if `UseMainDashboard` is
+        // specified.
+        std::optional<std::vector<ghoul::Dictionary>>
+            items [[codegen::reference("dashboarditem")]];
     };
 #include "screenspacedashboard_codegen.cpp"
 } // namespace
@@ -81,6 +87,18 @@ ScreenSpaceDashboard::ScreenSpaceDashboard(const ghoul::Dictionary& dictionary)
 
     _scale = 1.f;
     _scale.setMaxValue(15.f);
+
+    if (_useMainDashboard && p.items.has_value()) {
+        throw ghoul::RuntimeError("Cannot specify items when using the main dashboard");
+    }
+
+    if (p.items.has_value()) {
+        ghoul_assert(_useMainDashboard, "Cannot add items to the main dashboard");
+        for (const ghoul::Dictionary& item : *p.items) {
+            std::unique_ptr<DashboardItem> i = DashboardItem::createFromDictionary(item);
+            _dashboard.addDashboardItem(std::move(i));
+        }
+    }
 }
 
 bool ScreenSpaceDashboard::initializeGL() {
diff --git a/src/documentation/core_registration.cpp b/src/documentation/core_registration.cpp
index c06b267191..3c0138453c 100644
--- a/src/documentation/core_registration.cpp
+++ b/src/documentation/core_registration.cpp
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
 #include <openspace/network/parallelpeer.h>
 #include <openspace/rendering/colormappingcomponent.h>
 #include <openspace/rendering/dashboard.h>
+#include <openspace/rendering/dashboarditem.h>
 #include <openspace/rendering/labelscomponent.h>
 #include <openspace/rendering/renderable.h>
 #include <openspace/rendering/renderengine.h>
@@ -66,6 +67,8 @@ namespace openspace {
 void registerCoreClasses(documentation::DocumentationEngine& engine) {
     engine.addDocumentation(LogFactoryDocumentation());
 
+    engine.addDocumentation(DashboardItem::Documentation());
+
     engine.addDocumentation(ColorMappingComponent::Documentation());
     engine.addDocumentation(LabelsComponent::Documentation());
     engine.addDocumentation(LightSource::Documentation());
diff --git a/src/scripting/scriptengine.cpp b/src/scripting/scriptengine.cpp
index fa90a3eaa3..1c44e9e149 100644
--- a/src/scripting/scriptengine.cpp
+++ b/src/scripting/scriptengine.cpp
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 #include <openspace/interaction/sessionrecording.h>
 #include <openspace/network/parallelpeer.h>
 #include <openspace/util/syncbuffer.h>
+#include <openspace/documentation/documentation.h>
 #include <ghoul/filesystem/file.h>
 #include <ghoul/filesystem/filesystem.h>
 #include <ghoul/logging/logmanager.h>
@@ -198,6 +199,14 @@ bool ScriptEngine::runScript(const std::string& script, const ScriptCallback& ca
         }
         return false;
     }
+    catch (const documentation::SpecificationError& e) {
+        LERRORC(e.component, e.message);
+        documentation::logError(e, e.component);
+        if (callback) {
+            callback(ghoul::Dictionary());
+        }
+        return false;
+    }
     catch (const ghoul::RuntimeError& e) {
         LERRORC(e.component, e.message);
         if (callback) {