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PLAN: the KVM tab, as simply as it can actually be built

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Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Mitchell-Johnson
2026-09-24 12:41:58 -07:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
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@@ -553,37 +553,39 @@ something long in one, switch away and back, refresh — it's all still there.
item names the heavier pieces (multi-select and bulk actions, folder download, resumable
uploads, a gallery, search) — worth doing the two together, since they are the same tab.
- **A KVM tab** — asked for 2026-09-24, not started. A tab that shows the **IP-KVM's own web
page** inside Ham Lab, so a machine's screen, keyboard and mouse are one click away. **This
- **A KVM tab** — asked for 2026-09-24, not started. **Dead simple is the brief**: paste one
HTTP link, the tab shows whatever UI that KVM serves, and the keyboard goes to it. **This
is KVM the keyboard-video-mouse switch, not KVM the hypervisor** — the Virtualization item
above means the other one, and the two must not be confused when either is built.
- **The device**: a **Sipeed NanoKVM**, attached to `grid`, at **`10.0.0.217`** (MAC
`48:da:35:6f:d0:31`), serving a web UI on port 80. The only one in the lab so far, so the
tab must be built for a list of them, not hard-wired to one.
- **Framing works.** Probed 2026-09-24: the NanoKVM sends **no `X-Frame-Options` and no
`frame-ancestors`**, so unlike most of its competitors it does not refuse to be embedded.
An iframe is a real option and the fallback of "just link out" is not needed.
- **Mixed content is the actual blocker.** The NanoKVM is **HTTP only** — there is no
HTTPS listener at all — and Ham Lab is served over TLS, so a browser will refuse the
iframe outright. Something must give it HTTPS. Two routes:
- **Proxy it through the daemon**, which is the better one. Ham Lab already
reverse-proxies nodes over WebSockets (`proxyNode`), which is exactly what the KVM's
video and input streams need, and it puts the KVM behind **Ham Lab's own login** rather
than a second one. `/api/vm/info` answers **401**, so the device has its own auth; the
hub could hold that credential once instead of prompting per person.
- **Or an NPM proxy host** (`scripts/npm-proxy-host.sh`), which is two minutes of work —
but note what it means: `*.bigham.dev` is a wildcard to the public IP, so that would put
**BIOS-level keyboard and screen access to `grid` on the public internet** behind
whatever the KVM's own login is worth. If that route is taken it wants an NPM access
list or a LAN/WireGuard-only binding, decided deliberately.
- **Where the entry lives is still the design decision.** A KVM earns its keep when the
above means the other one.
- **The device**: a **Sipeed NanoKVM** attached to `grid` at **`10.0.0.217`** (MAC
`48:da:35:6f:d0:31`), web UI on port 80. The only one so far, so store a list, not one URL.
- **Framing works.** Probed 2026-09-24: it sends **no `X-Frame-Options` and no
`frame-ancestors`**, so it does not refuse to be embedded. No fallback needed.
- **Proxy it through the daemon — that is what makes the simple version possible.** The
KVM is **HTTP only**, and Ham Lab is served over TLS, so a bare `http://…` iframe is
blocked as mixed content and the "just paste a link" idea dies there. Serving it from Ham
Lab's own origin (`/api/kvm/<id>/…`, on the `proxyNode` machinery, which already carries
WebSockets — exactly what the video and input streams are) fixes three things at once:
no mixed content, the KVM sits behind **Ham Lab's** login rather than a second one
(`/api/vm/info` answers 401, so it has its own, which the hub can hold once), and the
iframe becomes **same-origin**, which matters for the keyboard below.
- **The keyboard needs less than it sounds.** A parent page *cannot* capture keys and
forward them into a **cross-origin** iframe — the browser forbids synthetic events across
origins — but it does not need to: an iframe with focus receives keystrokes directly, and
the NanoKVM's own page already handles them. So "capture and give it to the iframe" is
really: click-to-focus, keep focus there, and stop the console's own shortcuts from
eating keys while it is focused. What is genuinely worth adding is **fullscreen** plus
`navigator.keyboard.lock()`, which is what stops the *browser* swallowing Escape, Tab and
Ctrl-W so they reach the guest — note it is Chromium-only, so Firefox and iOS Safari get
the plain version. Proxying makes the iframe same-origin anyway, so real forwarding stays
available if some KVM ever needs it.
- **Where the list lives is the one real design decision.** A KVM earns its keep when the
machine is *down* — no OS, a bad kernel, a BIOS screen — which is when that host's Ham Lab
cannot answer. So the list has to be **hub-side** and must work for machines running no
Ham Lab at all. A `kvm_url` inside each node's own `config.json` would fail in precisely
the case it exists for.
- Worth settling too: whether the KVM shows on its machine's page or on one page listing
every KVM; and whether a machine with no Ham Lab deserves a first-class entry on the
Machines page, which today only knows hosts that answer.
cannot answer. So it is **hub-side** and must work for machines running no Ham Lab at all.
A `kvm_url` in each node's own `config.json` would fail in exactly the case it is for.
- **Do not give it an NPM host** without deciding to: `*.bigham.dev` is a wildcard to the
public IP, so that would put BIOS-level control of `grid` on the internet behind only the
KVM's own login. Behind Ham Lab's proxy it inherits Ham Lab's auth instead.
## Open questions