nixos/panel/API.md

panel-api

HTTP API wrapper around panelctl with a web UI.

Default bind: 127.0.0.1:9911

Endpoints

Health & UI

Method	Path	Description
GET	/	Web UI (served from frontend/index.html)
GET	/health	Health check
GET	/status	All apps with routes, container status and running operation (what the UI polls)

Apps — Read

Method	Path	Description
GET	/apps	List all apps
GET	/apps/<name>	Show single app manifest
GET	/apps/<name>/routes	Get parsed route entries
GET	/apps/<name>/status	Container status (running/stopped)
GET	/apps/<name>/compose	Read compose.yaml content
GET	/apps/<name>/logs?tail=N	Fetch last N log lines (default 100)
GET	/apps/<name>/backups	List available backups
GET	/apps/<name>/backups/<file>	Download backup zip
GET	/apps/<name>/repo	Git source info (URL, branch, deployed commit, local changes)
GET	/apps/<name>/repo?fetch=1	Same, plus fetches the remote and reports behind / remote
GET	/apps/<name>/volumes	Volumes the file browser can open
GET	/apps/<name>/volume/files?vol=&path=	List a folder in a volume
GET	/apps/<name>/volume/download?vol=&path=	Download a file from a volume
PUT	/apps/<name>/volume/files?vol=&path=	Upload a file (raw body)
DELETE	/apps/<name>/volume/files?vol=&path=	Delete a file or folder

Apps — Write

Method	Path	Description
POST	/apps/init	Create a new app
POST	/apps/<name>/routes	Update routes (hot — Caddy reloads automatically)
POST	/apps/<name>/deploy	Deploy (compose up + caddy reload)
POST	/apps/<name>/restart	Restart (compose down + up)
POST	/apps/<name>/stop	Stop (compose down)
POST	/apps/<name>/render-route	Re-render Caddy route
POST	/apps/<name>/compose	Save compose.yaml content
POST	/apps/<name>/validate-compose	Validate compose file
POST	/apps/<name>/backup	Create volume backup (zip)
POST	/apps/<name>/restore	Restore from backup
POST	/apps/<name>/remove	Remove app
POST	/apps/<name>/repo-pull	Git apps: fetch branch, hard-reset checkout to it, redeploy
POST	/apps/<name>/volume-clear	Stop the app and empty its default data folder

Write operations are serialised per app. While one runs, another write to the same app returns 409 with {"ok": false, "error": "...", "busy": "deploy"}. deploy returns the compose output in stdout (or stderr on failure).

Create app (git repository)

{
  "name": "blog",
  "routes": [{"domain": "blog.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18090"}],
  "auth": true,
  "source_type": "github",
  "github_url": "https://git.srazka.com/reudy-net/blog.git",
  "github_branch": "",
  "github_pat": ""
}

Any http(s) git host works. An empty branch uses the repository's default branch. The compose file must be at the repository root.

Sync response (repo-pull)

{
  "ok": true,
  "stdout": "HEAD is now at d7df557 Bump image tag\n...compose output...",
  "before": {"sha": "4fb7976...", "short": "4fb7976", "subject": "Initial compose", "author": "reudy", "time": 1790460618},
  "after": {"sha": "d7df557...", "short": "d7df557", "subject": "Bump image tag", "author": "reudy", "time": 1790460643},
  "changed": true
}

Status response (/status)

{
  "ok": true,
  "time": 1790460650,
  "apps": [
    {
      "name": "whoami",
      "routes": [{"domain": "whoami.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18080"}],
      "auth": true,
      "compose_file": "/var/lib/containers/stacks/whoami/compose.yaml",
      "repo_url": "",
      "repo_branch": "",
      "busy": null,
      "status": {
        "state": "running",
        "running": true,
        "running_count": 1,
        "total": 1,
        "containers": [{"name": "whoami-app-1", "state": "running", "status": "Up 3 minutes", "image": "docker.io/traefik/whoami:latest", "running": true}]
      }
    }
  ]
}

state is one of running, partial (some containers down), stopped or unknown.

Example payloads

Create app (single route)

{
  "name": "whoami",
  "routes": [
    {"domain": "whoami.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18080"}
  ],
  "auth": true
}

Create app (multiple routes, different ports)

{
  "name": "myapp",
  "routes": [
    {"domain": "app.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18080"},
    {"domain": "api.app.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18081"}
  ],
  "auth": true
}

Create app (multiple routes, different ports, with paths)

{
  "name": "pocketbase",
  "routes": [
    {"domain": "pb.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:8090", "path": "/_/*"}
  ],
  "auth": true
}

The path field is optional. When present, it generates a Caddy reverse_proxy /_/* 127.0.0.1:8090 rule, letting you route requests to a specific path prefix within a domain.

Create app (wildcard domain)

{
  "name": "wildcard",
  "routes": [
    {"domain": "*.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18082"}
  ],
  "auth": false
}

Note: Wildcard domains require DNS challenge configuration in Caddy.

Update routes (hot)

{
  "routes": [
    {"domain": "app.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18080"},
    {"domain": "api.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18081"},
    {"domain": "pb.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:8090", "path": "/_/*"}
  ]
}

The optional path field generates a Caddy reverse_proxy <path> <upstream> rule for sub-path routing.

Caddy reloads automatically via the systemd path watcher. Containers stay running.

Save compose

{
  "content": "services:\n  app:\n    image: nginx:latest\n    ports:\n      - '127.0.0.1:18080:80'\n"
}

Remove and keep volumes

{
  "keepVolumes": true
}

Restore from backup

{
  "file": "whoami-20260101-120000.zip"
}

Routes response

{
  "ok": true,
  "name": "myapp",
  "routes": [
    {"domain": "app.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18080"},
    {"domain": "api.srazka.com", "upstream": "127.0.0.1:18081", "path": "/api/*"}
  ]
}

The path field is only present when a route has a path configured.

Response format

All JSON responses include an ok boolean:

{
  "ok": true,
  "apps": [...]
}

Error responses:

{
  "ok": false,
  "error": "description",
  "stderr": "panelctl error output"
}

Status response

{
  "ok": true,
  "name": "whoami",
  "running": true,
  "containers": [
    {
      "name": "whoami-app-1",
      "state": "running",
      "image": "docker.io/traefik/whoami:latest"
    }
  ]
}

Local test

curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9911/health | jq .
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9911/apps | jq .
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9911/apps/whoami/status | jq .
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9911/apps/whoami/logs?tail=50 | jq .
curl -s http://127.0.0.1:9911/apps/whoami/backups | jq .