Web Dashboard

Mithrandir includes a web-based dashboard for managing your homelab from a browser. It provides the same capabilities as the CLI in a visual interface, with authentication, dark mode, and internationalization.

Tech Stack

Technology	Purpose
TanStack Start	Full-stack SSR framework
React 19	UI library
Vite	Build tool and dev server
Tailwind CSS v4	Utility-first styling
shadcn/ui	Component library (New York style, zinc base)
TanStack Router	File-based routing with SSR
TanStack Query	Server state management and data fetching
TanStack Form	Form handling with Zod validation
Better-Auth	Authentication (email/password + TOTP 2FA)
Drizzle ORM	SQLite database access
Paraglide	Internationalization (English, French)
Biome	Linting and formatting

Features

Dashboard

The home page provides an at-a-glance overview of your homelab:

• System status — Docker daemon, uptime, OS info
• Installed apps — Grid of running apps with status indicators
• Backup status — Last backup date, next scheduled run, encryption status
• Resources — CPU, RAM, and disk usage
• Configuration — Current .env settings summary
• Version — CLI version and update availability
• Doctor — Run diagnostics directly from the dashboard

App Management

Browse, search, and manage all 30+ available apps:

• Category filtering — Filter by media, automation, monitoring, productivity, etc.
• Search — Fuzzy search across app names and descriptions
• App details — View ports, config paths, capacity scores, and external links for each app
• Lifecycle controls — Install, uninstall, start, stop, and restart apps with one click
• Live logs — Stream container logs in real time directly in the browser

Dependency Graph

Visual representation of inter-app dependencies. Each node shows installation status, helping you understand which apps depend on each other before installing.

Capacity Planning

System resource overview with visual indicators:

• Hardware specs — CPU, RAM, disk detected automatically
• Score rings — Aggregate performance and storage scores
• Storage meter — Disk usage with warning thresholds
• Per-app scores — Performance and storage impact for each installed app

Backup & Restore

Manage backups without touching the terminal:

• Backup list — View local and remote backups with dates and sizes
• Trigger backup — Start a backup and monitor progress
• Restore — Restore individual apps or full system from any backup

Setup Wizard

Step-by-step guided setup with the same workflow as the CLI wizard, presented as a visual stepper form.

Media Library

Browse media files stored on the server with an interactive file tree viewer.

File Upload

Upload files to the server using resumable uploads via the tus protocol, powered by Uppy. Large files are uploaded in chunks, so interrupted uploads can resume where they left off.

Settings

Configure your homelab from tabbed settings panels:

• General — Base directory, timezone, user/group IDs
• Backup — Backup directory, retention, rclone remotes, encryption, schedule
• Network — HTTPS, DuckDNS, firewall settings
• About — System information and version details

User Profile

• Manage your account details
• View and revoke active sessions
• Enable or disable two-factor authentication (TOTP)

Self-Update

Update Mithrandir from git directly in the browser. The update page shows a step-by-step progress view as it pulls the latest code, installs dependencies, and rebuilds.

Themes

Light, dark, and auto (system) themes with a toggle in the header. The preference is persisted to localStorage.

Deployment

Systemd Services

In production, the UI runs as two systemd services:

Service	Port	Description
mithrandir-ui.service	4180	TanStack Start SSR app. Runs database migrations on startup (scripts/migrate.ts), loads env vars from both .env and ui/.env.local.
mithrandir-tusd.service	1080	tusd resumable upload server. Handles chunked file uploads and forwards lifecycle hooks (pre-create, post-finish) to the UI at http://localhost:4180/api/media/upload/hooks for authentication and processing.

Both services are installed automatically by mithrandir ui and managed via systemd. The tusd service starts before the UI service (Before=mithrandir-ui.service) to ensure upload handling is ready.

When Caddy HTTPS is enabled, the Caddyfile is automatically regenerated to reverse-proxy both services under https://mithrandir.yourdomain.duckdns.org.

Blue-Green Deployments

Builds use a blue-green deployment strategy to enable zero-downtime updates:

1. bun run ui:build produces output in ui/.output/
2. The build is copied into the inactive slot (ui/.deployments/blue or ui/.deployments/green)
3. An atomic symlink swap points ui/.deployments/current to the new slot
4. The old slot and staging directory are cleaned up

The systemd service runs from .deployments/current/server/index.mjs, so the switch is instant.

Update Log

Self-updates triggered from the web UI (or mithrandir self-update) log each step to:

/var/log/mithrandir-ui-update.log

The log includes timestamped entries for git pull, dependency install, CLI build, UI build, deployment, and service restart. This is useful for diagnosing update failures on headless servers.

Start and Stop

mithrandir ui               # Build, deploy, and start both services
mithrandir ui stop          # Stop both services

If the UI is already running, mithrandir ui detects it and skips the build. It also ensures tusd is set up (handles upgrades from older versions without tusd).

Environment Variables

The UI requires a ui/.env.local file with the following:

BETTER_AUTH_URL=http://localhost:4180
BETTER_AUTH_SECRET=  # Generate with: openssl rand -base64 32

• BETTER_AUTH_URL — The URL where the UI is accessible
• BETTER_AUTH_SECRET — A 32-character secret used to sign authentication tokens. Generate one with openssl rand -base64 32.

When started via mithrandir ui, this file is auto-generated if missing (with a random secret and default values).

Development

For local development setup, dev server, and testing commands, see the Local Development page.