#5032 "Plugin install takes its URL and checksum from the catalog, requires the checksum, and extracts only inside the plugin folder". The install form carried the download URL and checksum as hidden fields, so any admin POST could make Steward fetch and import code from anywhere, unchecked, and a zip member like ../x.py was written wherever it pointed. - The route takes only the plugin name and reads download_url and checksum_sha256 from the configured catalogs; a name no repository lists is refused. Installs are audited (plugin.install / plugin.install_failed). - The checksum is required; the name must be a plain identifier. - extract_plugin refuses any member that resolves outside the plugin folder, caps the download at 50 MB and the unpacked size at 200 MB. - The zip unpacks into a staging folder and is swapped in whole: a refused or failed install leaves the installed copy untouched, and an update no longer leaves the old version's deleted files behind. - The catalog shows "Can't install: the catalog lists no checksum" in place of the button for an entry without one. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Steward
A self-hosted network monitoring and infrastructure management hub for home servers. Steward gives you a single pane of glass over your hosts, services, and automation — with live-updating dashboards, alerting, and Ansible integration.
What It Does
- Ping monitoring — TCP/ICMP probes with live latency history and configurable thresholds
- DNS monitoring — resolution checks with optional expected-IP validation
- Ansible — browse playbooks, trigger runs, stream output live
- Alerting — threshold-based rules against any monitored metric, with email and webhook (Discord-compatible) notifications
- Plugins — extend with additional data sources; Traefik metrics included out of the box
- Dashboard widgets — all monitors and plugins contribute live-updating widgets
No JavaScript framework. No build step. No external workers or message brokers.
Quick Start — Docker
cp .env.example .env
# Set STEWARD_DATABASE_URL in .env
docker compose up -d
Open http://localhost:5000. On first run you'll be prompted to create the admin account.
This compose file builds the image locally and bind-mounts the source for live editing. To run a persistent instance off the published CI image instead, see Remote dev instance below.
Remote dev instance
For a long-lived instance on a remote server that tracks the dev CI line, use compose.deploy.yml. It pulls the published image (git.fabledsword.com/bvandeusen/steward:dev) rather than building, runs no source bind-mounts, and persists data in named volumes.
One-time prerequisite — registry push token (on the Git host). CI publishes the image, so the FabledSteward repo needs a push credential. The injected GITHUB_TOKEN lacks write:package, so create a Forgejo token scoped read:package + write:package and add it as the repo Actions secret REGISTRY_TOKEN. Until this exists, the publish CI job 401s and no :dev image is produced.
Standup (on the server):
# 1. Authenticate to the registry (read:package token is enough to pull)
docker login git.fabledsword.com -u <user>
# 2. Configure secrets
cp .env.example .env
# Set POSTGRES_PASSWORD. Leave STEWARD_SECRET_KEY unset to let the app
# generate + persist one on the /data volume.
# 3. Pull + boot
docker compose -f compose.deploy.yml up -d
Open http://<server>:5000 and create the admin account on first run.
Update to the latest dev build:
docker compose -f compose.deploy.yml pull
docker compose -f compose.deploy.yml up -d
Every push to dev that goes CI-green publishes a fresh :dev (and an immutable :<commit-sha> for rollback). To pin a specific commit, change the image: tag in compose.deploy.yml to :<sha>.
Quick Start — Bare Metal
Requires Python 3.11+ and PostgreSQL.
python -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e .
cp config.example.yaml config.yaml
# Edit config.yaml — set database.url at minimum
steward --host 0.0.0.0 --port 5000
ICMP ping requires CAP_NET_RAW or the setuid ping binary. TCP mode (the default) needs no elevated privileges.
Configuration
Only two things must be set to run the app:
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Database URL | STEWARD_DATABASE_URL env var or database.url in config.yaml |
| Secret key | Auto-generated on first run and saved to /data/secret.key |
Everything else — SMTP, webhooks, monitor intervals, Ansible sources, plugin settings — is configured through the web UI at /settings/.
Plugins
Drop a directory into plugins/ and enable it via the Settings UI. The Traefik plugin is included:
plugins/
└── traefik/ ← included; enable in Settings
See docs/plugins/ for a full plugin development guide.
Documentation
| Document | Contents |
|---|---|
docs/architecture.md |
How the app works: startup sequence, routing, scheduler, DB pattern |
docs/core/configuration.md |
Bootstrap config, DB-backed settings, all setting keys and defaults |
docs/core/monitors.md |
Ping and DNS monitors: probe logic, metrics emitted, data models |
docs/core/alerting.md |
Alert rules, state machine, notification channels, template variables |
docs/core/ansible.md |
Playbook sources, run lifecycle, SSE streaming |
docs/plugins/overview.md |
Plugin system: how loading works, plugin.yaml schema, required exports |
docs/plugins/writing-a-plugin.md |
Step-by-step plugin development guide |
docs/plugins/traefik.md |
Traefik plugin: config, metrics, alert rule examples |
docs/reference/code-map.md |
Where every key function, model, and route lives in the codebase |