hamlab/README.md

# Ham Lab

Web-based Linux management console for bare-metal Linux, in the style of the Proxmox
web UI. Named after Ham the cat (see also HamTV).

Status: **v0.1** — persistent web terminals and a live Dashboard tab. Scope and roadmap in
[`PLAN.md`](PLAN.md).

## Runs on any Linux box

One static Go binary with the UI embedded: no cgo, no libc, no Node at runtime, no agents.
The same file runs on Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, RHEL/Rocky/Alma, openSUSE, Arch and Alpine
(musl), on bare metal, VMs and containers. Builds: `amd64`, `arm64`, `arm` (ARMv6
hard-float and up, so every Raspberry Pi), `386`, `riscv64`.

```sh
sudo ./hamlab-linux-amd64 install          # that's the whole install
```

or, from wherever `make release` output is served:

```sh
curl -fsSL https://git.bigham.dev/mitchell/hamlab/releases/download/latest/install.sh | sh        # asks: user, address, HTTPS, firewall, password
curl -fsSL https://git.bigham.dev/mitchell/hamlab/releases/download/latest/install.sh | sh -s -- --yes                              # asks nothing, all defaults
curl -fsSL https://git.bigham.dev/mitchell/hamlab/releases/download/latest/install.sh | sh -s -- --listen 0.0.0.0:8100 --tls auto   # flags go to `hamlab install`
```

`install.sh` is a wizard when there is a terminal (it reads answers from `/dev/tty`, so it
works piped from curl) and silent otherwise. Either way it picks the build for `uname -m`,
checks it against `SHA256SUMS` and runs `hamlab install`; re-running it upgrades in place.
`latest` is an alias Gitea resolves to the newest release, so that URL never changes.
`make gitea-release` publishes a release there (`HAMLAB_URL` points the installer elsewhere); run the script beside the `hamlab-linux-*` files and it installs offline.
`hamlab install`:

- copies the binary to `/usr/local/bin` (`--prefix`), atomically;
- gets root through `sudo` or `doas` if you aren't root already, and runs the console as
  **you** (`--user`), so terminals are your login shell with your rights;
- writes the config to `~/.config/hamlab/` (`--data`; an existing `~/apps/hamlab/` is kept)
  and asks for the first account's password (the account is named after the user the
  console runs as), or generates one and prints it once (`--password-stdin` for scripts);
- registers a boot-time service with **systemd** or **OpenRC**, naming only groups that
  exist on the host, and waits for `/healthz`; with neither init it prints the one line
  to put under your own supervisor;
- says so when firewalld or ufw will block the port (`--open-firewall` opens it).

Re-running it upgrades in place and keeps config, user and accounts. `hamlab uninstall
[--purge]` reverses it.

Accounts: every person has their own user name and password, and the theme, accent
colours and dashboard layout follow the account. The **Users** tab has it all: your own
password, where you are signed in (sign out any device), and the accounts (add, remove,
reset a password; your own password confirms the last two). From the shell:
`hamlab passwd [user]` sets a password and makes the account if it is new, `hamlab
users` lists them, `hamlab user-rm <user>` removes one. Machine settings — refresh rate,
graph history, alert rules — stay the machine's and are shared by everyone.

**Guest logins**, for showing somebody the console: Users → Guest logins makes a
throwaway user name and password, good for half an hour by default (up to 24 hours), and
hands you the pair to paste into a message. A guest is an ordinary account with a clock on
it — the whole console, every machine, the terminal included — that stops working when the
time is up, wherever it is signed in, or the moment you revoke it. There is no reduced
guest: give one to somebody you would hand the password to, and revoke it if you change
your mind.

What adapts to the host, rather than assuming Debian:

| | |
|---|---|
| Root | already root, else passwordless `sudo`, else passwordless `doas`; without any, the console is read-only where root is needed and says so |
| Updates tab | apt, dnf, zypper, pacman, apk: list, refresh, upgrade, install (pacman: all or nothing) |
| Services / timers | systemd of any age (JSON output where it exists, the plain table before v246); a clear message on hosts without systemd |
| Disks | `lsblk`, or `/sys/block` when it's missing (busybox) or too old; SMART and ZFS only when their tools are there |
| Network | `/proc` and `/sys` for the interfaces, addresses, link speed and default route. The speed test needs no tool installed: it measures against Cloudflare's public speed endpoints, so it works the same on Debian and on the OpenWrt router |
| VPN | WireGuard tunnels and their peers, from `wg show` where wireguard-tools is installed; peer names from wg-quick `.conf` comments or OpenWrt UCI descriptions. Read-only, and it never reads a private or pre-shared key |
| Dashboard | `/proc` and `/sys` only: hwmon or thermal-zone temps, fans, NICs, disks, mounts; empty sections where the hardware has nothing to report. UPS from whichever of `pwrstat`, NUT (`upsc`) or `apcupsd` is installed |
| Listen address | bound with `IP_FREEBIND`, so a LAN address that isn't up yet at boot doesn't fail the start |
| Self-update | the new build must run and load this host's config before it replaces the old one; atomic rename; the daemon then re-execs itself, so it restarts the same way under systemd, OpenRC or nothing; `hamlab.prev` kept |

Building: `make build` (web + Go), `make release` (every architecture, `install.sh` and
`SHA256SUMS` in `dist/`), `make test`.

Terminals run as the user the service runs as, with that user's login shell.

## Managing several machines

Install Ham Lab on each host; on the ones the hub should reach:
`hamlab install --listen <lan-ip>:8100 --tls auto` (a self-signed certificate is generated
on first start). Then on the hub, open **Machines**, enter a name, the address
(`https://host:8100`) and a user and password on that machine once (the user may be
left out when it has only one). The hub pins the
certificate, keeps an access token, and every tab works against the chosen machine
through the switcher at the top of the rail.

Updating: `make deploy` on the hub installs the new build there and then pushes it to
every managed machine (`hamlab push-nodes`), which install it and restart. The Machines
page flags machines running an older version and offers the same push per machine.
Mixed architectures are fine: `make deploy` also cross-compiles every other architecture,
and the hub sends each machine the build for its own.

- On `core` it is public at `https://lab.bigham.dev` behind Nginx Proxy Manager.
- Installable as a PWA.