Panel

English | 简体中文

Panel is an alpha-stage server operations panel for small Linux fleets. It helps you connect Debian and Ubuntu servers over SSH, see their health at a glance, run package maintenance, bootstrap or join Nomad nodes, deploy container applications, and manage DNS and ACME certificates from one web UI.

The project is built for people who run their own servers and for humans sharing code with each other. It aims to stay understandable: a Go backend, a Vue frontend, local SQLite data, and task commands that are easy to run.

What Panel Can Do

• Add SSH credentials and register servers.
• Probe server reachability, OS details, system traits, and passwordless sudo support.
• Collect overview metrics for CPU, memory, disk, network, uptime, kernel, and load.
• Refresh APT package updates and run selected or full upgrades.
• Install UFW where supported.
• Bootstrap a Nomad server or join servers as Nomad clients.
• View Nomad nodes, jobs, deployments, evaluations, and services.
• Deploy Docker-based applications through Nomad.
• Configure application files, variables, mounts, ports, placement, runtime actions, logs, and reverse proxy routes.
• Manage Cloudflare domains and issue ACME certificates.
• Track background tasks and task logs.
• Switch the UI between English and Simplified Chinese.

Status

Panel is currently alpha software. It already has useful workflows, but you should expect changes in configuration, database migrations, and UI behavior as the project grows. Use it first on development or non-critical servers, and keep backups of the data directory if you run it for real work.

Supported Target Systems

Panel support is intentionally explicit and will expand over time.

Current supported systems:

• Debian 12
• Debian 13
• Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
• Ubuntu 24.10
• Ubuntu 25.04
• Ubuntu 25.10
• Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

Notes:

• Servers are managed over SSH.
• Password or private-key SSH credentials are supported.
• Many maintenance actions require root or passwordless sudo.
• Package maintenance uses APT.
• Nomad setup installs Nomad, Docker, and CNI plugins on supported systems when needed.

Quick Start

Requirements

Install these on the machine where you develop or run Panel:

• Go 1.25+
• Node.js 22+
• npm
• Task

Docker is optional for containerized deployment.

1. Install Web Dependencies

npm --prefix web ci

If you are working without a lockfile-aware flow, npm --prefix web install also works.

2. Create a Config File

cp config.example.json config.json

Then point Panel at it:

export PANEL_CONFIG=./config.json

PowerShell:

$env:PANEL_CONFIG = ".\config.json"

Default local login:

• Username: admin
• Password: admin

Panel requires a password change on first use and rotates the JWT signing secret automatically when the password is changed.

3. Start the Backend

task run:backend

The backend listens on 127.0.0.1:8080 by default.

4. Start the Web UI

Open another terminal:

task run:web

Open http://127.0.0.1:5173. During development, Vite proxies /api requests to the backend.

Configuration

Panel loads configuration in this order:

1. Built-in defaults.
2. The JSON file pointed to by PANEL_CONFIG.
3. Environment variables.

Common config values:

Key	Purpose	Default
listenAddress	Backend listen address	127.0.0.1:8080
dataRoot	Root directory for Panel data	data
appDatabase	Main SQLite database	data/db/app.db
metricsDatabase	Metrics SQLite database	data/db/metrics.db
nomad.address	Nomad HTTP API address	http://127.0.0.1:4646
nomad.token	Nomad ACL token, when required	Empty
certificates.acmeDirectoryUrl	ACME directory URL	Let's Encrypt production

Administrator username/password, JWT secret, remote command timeout, Nomad namespace/region/datacenter, certificate email, and certificate DNS propagation delay are stored in the application database and configured from Settings in the UI.

Supported environment variables:

• PANEL_CONFIG
• PANEL_LISTEN_ADDRESS
• PANEL_DATA_ROOT
• PANEL_APP_DATABASE
• PANEL_METRICS_DATABASE
• PANEL_CERT_ACME_DIRECTORY_URL

Runtime settings such as language, token expiration, metrics retention, Nomad scope, security settings, and certificate defaults can be adjusted from the UI.

Development-only web proxy variable:

• PANEL_WEB_PROXY_TARGET

Docker

Build the image:

docker build -t panel .

Run it:

docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 -v panel-data:/app/data panel

Container defaults:

• Listens on 0.0.0.0:8080.
• Stores data in /app/data.
• Serves the built web UI from the backend.

For persistent deployments, mount or back up the data volume. Security settings, including the JWT secret, are stored there.

Development

Useful commands:

task run:backend
task run:web
task test:backend
task test:web
task build:backend
task build:web
task build

Project layout:

cmd/panel              backend entry point
internal/              backend services, handlers, storage, integrations
web/                   Vue 3 frontend
web/src/i18n/          frontend translations
docs/agents/           repository collaboration and i18n notes
tmp/                   temporary test and build files
Taskfile.yml           common task entry points
config.example.json    example runtime config
Dockerfile             production container build

Useful entry points:

• Backend startup: cmd/panel/main.go
• Route wiring and static UI serving: internal/app/app.go
• Database migrations: internal/storage/migrations.go
• Target OS adapters: internal/linux/
• Nomad control plane logic: internal/nomad/
• Application deployment logic: internal/applications/
• Frontend routes: web/src/router/index.ts
• Frontend i18n setup: web/src/i18n/index.ts

Working With Text

Panel has English and Simplified Chinese UI strings. When changing user-visible text in the application, follow the i18n guide in docs/agents/i18n-guide.md and keep docs/agents/i18n-translation-status.md up to date.

License

No license file is currently included. If you plan to reuse or redistribute the project, check with the project owner first.