Overlord

TELEGRAM SERVER JOIN NOW NO EXCUSES WE GIVE SUPPORT AND IT'S FUN

Hello, I made this project for fun.

The server is TypeScript on Node/Bun. The client is Go. Operators talk to the server through a web panel or the Electron desktop app, and agents connect over encrypted WebSockets.

Docker is the easiest way to run it.

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• Quick Start (Docker)
  • Windows
  • Linux
  • macOS
• No Docker (.bat / .sh)
• Production Package Scripts
• WebRTC Streaming
• OIDC / SSO Login
• Login Branding
• Docker Notes (TLS, reverse proxy, cache)

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Quick Start (Docker)

Pick your OS below. Each section is self-contained: install Docker, get the project, start it.

Windows and macOS use docker-compose.windows.yml. Linux uses the default docker-compose.yml (host networking).

After the first start, open https://localhost:5173. Default login is admin / admin unless you set OVERLORD_USER / OVERLORD_PASS. First startup writes generated secrets to data/save.json (inside the container: /app/data/save.json) — keep that file private and back it up.

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Windows

Step-by-step: Windows

1. Install Docker Desktop

Either from the website:

• https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/windows-install/

Or with winget:

winget install -e --id Docker.DockerDesktop

Start Docker Desktop once, then verify:

docker --version
docker compose version

2. Get the project

git clone https://github.com/vxaboveground/Overlord.git
cd Overlord

3. Start it

docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml up -d

4. Open the panel

https://localhost:5173

5. Update later

docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml down
docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml pull
docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml up -d

6. Stop

docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml down

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Linux

Step-by-step: Linux (Debian / Ubuntu / Kali)

1. Install Docker

Official docs: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/debian/

Set up Docker's apt repository:

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.sources <<EOF
Types: deb
URIs: https://download.docker.com/linux/debian
Suites: $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME")
Components: stable
Architectures: $(dpkg --print-architecture)
Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
EOF

sudo apt update

On a derivative distro (e.g. Kali), replace the codename expansion with the matching Debian codename, e.g. bookworm.

Install Docker:

sudo apt install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Make sure the daemon is running:

sudo systemctl status docker

2. Grab the compose file

Make a folder for it, drop in the file, and you're done:

mkdir overlord && cd overlord
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vxaboveground/Overlord/refs/heads/main/docker-compose.yml

No wget? Use curl:

mkdir overlord && cd overlord
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vxaboveground/Overlord/refs/heads/main/docker-compose.yml

3. Start it

docker compose up -d

The image is pulled automatically from ghcr.io/vxaboveground/overlord:latest on first run.

4. Open the panel

https://localhost:5173

or 

https://IP:5173

5. Update later

From the same folder:

docker compose down
docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

6. Stop

docker compose down

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macOS

Step-by-step: macOS

1. Install Docker Desktop

Either from the website:

• https://docs.docker.com/desktop/setup/install/mac-install/

Or with Homebrew:

brew install --cask docker

Start Docker Desktop once, then verify:

docker --version
docker compose version

2. Get the project

git clone https://github.com/vxaboveground/Overlord.git
cd Overlord

3. Start it

macOS uses the same compose file as Windows:

docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml up -d

4. Open the panel

https://localhost:5173

5. Update later

docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml down
docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml pull
docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml up -d

6. Stop

docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml down

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No Docker (.bat / .sh)

If you don't want Docker, use the included scripts.

Prerequisites:

• Bun in PATH
• Go 1.21+ in PATH

Windows

Development mode (starts server + client):

scripts\start-dev.bat

Production mode (build + run server executable):

scripts\start-prod.bat

Build client binaries (adds client builds to the build queue):

scripts\build-clients.bat

Linux / macOS

Make scripts executable once:

chmod +x scripts/*.sh scripts/*.command

Development mode (server in background, client in foreground):

./scripts/start-dev.sh

Only server, or only client:

./scripts/start-dev.sh server
./scripts/start-dev.sh client

Production mode:

./scripts/start-prod.sh

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Production Package Scripts

Build a production-ready package where the server can still build client binaries at runtime.

Windows:

scripts\build-prod-package.bat

Output: release/

Linux / macOS:

./scripts/build-prod-package.sh

Output: release/prod-package/

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WebRTC Streaming

The remote desktop viewer has a Transport dropdown with three modes:

• Canvas (default): H.264 / JPEG / block frames over the existing WebSocket, decoded into a <canvas>. Highest latency, works anywhere the WS does.
• WebRTC P2P: browser ↔ agent direct when possible, with the bundled Coturn server as a fallback for restrictive or symmetric NAT. MediaMTX is not involved. Lowest latency on a direct route.
• WebRTC Relayed: agent publishes to a MediaMTX sidecar via WHIP, browser plays via WHEP. The server proxies signaling so the existing JWT auth + per-client RBAC still apply. Lowest-effort fallback when P2P can't punch through.

Building agents with WebRTC

WebRTC is opt-in per agent build. In the builder UI, tick the WebRTC checkbox before clicking Build. Without it, the Pion stack (~6 MB of Go modules) is not compiled in — any WebRTC start attempt from the operator returns webrtc support not compiled in and the viewer falls back to Canvas. The Canvas path always works regardless of the build setting.

The build tag (overlord_webrtc) is also available if you build agents outside the UI:

go build -tags overlord_webrtc ./cmd/agent

Coturn STUN / TURN

Compose starts overlord-coturn for ICE traversal in both P2P and MediaMTX Relayed modes. A one-time init service generates a random master secret in the private overlord-turn-secret Docker volume. Overlord uses that secret to issue one-hour Coturn REST credentials independently to the authenticated P2P viewer and agent. MediaMTX reads the secret inside Docker and also generates expiring credentials for its WHIP/WHEP clients. No Google STUN server is used, and the master secret is never sent directly to a peer.

The defaults work for same-machine testing. For LAN or internet access, set the address that both the browser and agent can reach in a .env file next to the compose file:

OVERLORD_TURN_HOST=turn.example.com
OVERLORD_TURN_EXTERNAL_IP=203.0.113.10

OVERLORD_TURN_HOST is placed in the ICE URLs and may be a public DNS name or IP. OVERLORD_TURN_EXTERNAL_IP tells Coturn which public address to advertise when the Docker host is behind NAT; omit it when Coturn binds the public interface directly. Do not use the Docker service name because peers outside the Compose network cannot resolve or reach it.

Allow and forward these inbound ports to the Coturn host:

• 3478/udp and 3478/tcp for STUN and TURN client connections.
• 49160-49200/udp for TURN relay allocations.

The bundled setup supports ordinary TURN over UDP and TCP. It intentionally does not enable turns: until a trusted Coturn TLS certificate and public hostname are configured.

MediaMTX sidecar

Compose starts an overlord-mediamtx service for Relayed mode. It needs:

• Port 8189/udp and 8189/tcp reachable from operators (WebRTC ICE traffic). The Windows / macOS compose publishes these; Linux uses host networking and shares the host's interfaces directly.
• No auth config — the Overlord server proxies every WHIP/WHEP request through /api/webrtc/... and enforces the existing operator JWT + RBAC there.

If you only ever want P2P, you can comment out the mediamtx: service in your compose file — only Relayed mode depends on it. MediaMTX is configured to use the same Coturn service as a client-only ICE fallback, but it is not itself a STUN/TURN server; Coturn handles all relay allocations.

LAN / public access

MediaMTX automatically discovers addresses assigned directly to its network interfaces. This covers ordinary Linux host-network and many LAN deployments, but it cannot reliably infer a public address created by NAT, port forwarding, a cloud load balancer, or a reverse proxy. It also cannot discover which public DNS name you intend operators to use.

Before using WebRTC Relayed from another machine, make sure MediaMTX advertises an address that both agents and operators can reach:

• Linux with host networking and no public NAT: normally nothing is required; MediaMTX sees the host's interfaces automatically.
• Public server behind NAT, port forwarding, or a cloud public-IP mapping: set the public IP or a DNS name that resolves to it.
• Windows / macOS Docker Desktop: set the host's reachable LAN/public address because automatic interface discovery sees the container network, not necessarily the Docker host.
• Same-machine testing on Docker Desktop: retain 127.0.0.1 in the list.

Set OVERLORD_WEBRTC_ADDITIONAL_HOSTS as a comma-separated list in the shell or in a .env file next to the compose file:

# LAN example
OVERLORD_WEBRTC_ADDITIONAL_HOSTS=192.168.1.42

# Public DNS plus LAN access
OVERLORD_WEBRTC_ADDITIONAL_HOSTS=stream.example.com,192.168.1.42

# Docker Desktop: same host plus other LAN machines
OVERLORD_WEBRTC_ADDITIONAL_HOSTS=127.0.0.1,192.168.1.42

Ensure inbound UDP 8189 is forwarded to the MediaMTX host/container; TCP 8189 is the slower fallback. Recreate the sidecar after changing the setting:

# Linux
docker compose up -d --force-recreate mediamtx

# Windows / macOS Docker Desktop
docker compose -f docker-compose.windows.yml up -d --force-recreate mediamtx

To verify the selected route, open chrome://webrtc-internals during a relayed stream and confirm that the chosen remote candidate points to the expected server address and preferably uses UDP.

Automatic public-IP discovery is possible with STUN, but it is not a complete replacement for this setting: it can require random UDP ports, does not discover your intended domain, and can fail behind restrictive or symmetric NAT. For predictable production deployments, explicitly setting the reachable IP/domain and forwarding fixed UDP port 8189 is recommended.

Remote desktop network impairment tests

On a Linux test host, scripts/rd-network-impairment.sh applies repeatable bandwidth, latency, jitter, and packet-loss profiles with tc netem. Give it the exact interface carrying the WebRTC traffic:

# Inspect interfaces first; do not guess the target.
ip link show

sudo bash scripts/rd-network-impairment.sh apply eth0 wan
bash scripts/rd-network-impairment.sh status eth0

# Always restore the interface after the test.
sudo bash scripts/rd-network-impairment.sh clear eth0

Available profiles are wan (20 Mbps), constrained (8 Mbps), and harsh (3 Mbps), with progressively higher delay, jitter, and loss. The rule affects all egress traffic on the selected interface, not only Overlord. The script refuses to touch loopback unless OVERLORD_NETEM_ALLOW_LOOPBACK=1 is explicitly set.

For each profile, start Remote Desktop with both Profile: Auto (best) and Bitrate: Auto, then watch the Stats HUD. Verify that bitrate falls before the profile steps down, decode/processing queues remain bounded, and the profile slowly recovers after clearing the impairment.

Advanced MediaMTX customization

The compose file passes a minimal set of MTX_* environment variables to MediaMTX — enough for Overlord to work. To change anything else (codecs, paths, ICE servers, etc.), either:

• Add more MTX_* variables to the mediamtx service's environment: block (every option in MediaMTX's docs is supported as an env var), or

• Provide a full mediamtx.yml via a bind mount:

  mediamtx:
    # ...existing config...
    volumes:
      - ./mediamtx.yml:/mediamtx.yml:ro

  Make sure the file exists on the host before the container starts — Docker will otherwise auto-create an empty directory at that path and fail with "not a directory".

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OIDC / SSO Login

Overlord supports generic OIDC login for homelab identity providers such as Authentik, Authelia, Keycloak, Zitadel, and Dex. Local username/password login stays enabled as a fallback.

Configure your OIDC provider with this redirect URI:

https://YOUR_OVERLORD_HOST/api/oidc/callback

Then set the relevant environment variables:

OVERLORD_OIDC_ENABLED=true
OVERLORD_OIDC_LABEL=Sign in with SSO
OVERLORD_OIDC_ISSUER=https://auth.example.com/application/o/overlord/
OVERLORD_OIDC_CLIENT_ID=overlord
OVERLORD_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET=change-me
OVERLORD_OIDC_REDIRECT_URI=https://overlord.example.com/api/oidc/callback
OVERLORD_OIDC_DEFAULT_ROLE=viewer
OVERLORD_OIDC_ALLOWED_DOMAINS=example.com
OVERLORD_OIDC_ADMIN_GROUPS=overlord-admins
OVERLORD_OIDC_OPERATOR_GROUPS=overlord-operators
OVERLORD_OIDC_VIEWER_GROUPS=overlord-viewers

New OIDC users are linked by the provider's issuer + sub identity. Email/username linking to an existing local account is disabled by default; enable OVERLORD_OIDC_ALLOW_EMAIL_LINK=true only if you trust your provider's verified email claims.

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Login Branding

Self-hosted and enterprise deployments can brand the login screen with environment variables:

OVERLORD_LOGIN_BRAND_NAME=Acme SOC
OVERLORD_NAV_BRAND_NAME=Acme Console
OVERLORD_BRAND_ACCENT_COLOR=#14b8a6
OVERLORD_LOGIN_TITLE=Welcome to Acme Overlord
OVERLORD_LOGIN_SUBTITLE=Sign in with your Acme identity
OVERLORD_LOGIN_LOGO_URL=/assets/acme-logo.png
OVERLORD_LOGIN_LOGO_ALT=Acme logo
OVERLORD_NAV_LOGO_URL=/assets/acme-nav-logo.png
OVERLORD_NAV_LOGO_ALT=Acme logo
OVERLORD_LOGIN_HERO_IMAGE_URL=/assets/acme-login.jpg
OVERLORD_LOGIN_HERO_IMAGE_ALT=Acme operations center
OVERLORD_LOGIN_FOOTER_TEXT=Authorized Acme access only
OVERLORD_LOGIN_SUPPORT_TEXT=Need access help?
OVERLORD_LOGIN_SUPPORT_URL=https://help.example.com
OVERLORD_LOGIN_ICON_CLASS=fa-solid fa-shield-halved

Logo, hero, and support URLs accept absolute http(s) URLs or root-relative paths. If no logo URL is set, the UI uses OVERLORD_LOGIN_ICON_CLASS. The same options can also be managed from Settings → Branding.

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Docker Notes (TLS, reverse proxy, cache)

Notes on configs and workarounds.

BuildKit cache for faster rebuilds

docker-compose.yml ships with build.cache_from and build.cache_to pointing at .docker-cache/buildx. Local builds reuse it automatically — no extra setup.

Runtime client build cache

The compose setup uses a persistent volume for runtime client builds:

• Volume: overlord-client-build-cache
• Mount: /app/client-build-cache
• Env: OVERLORD_CLIENT_BUILD_CACHE_DIR (default /app/client-build-cache)

macOS CGO builds on Linux/Docker

When a macOS target is selected with CGO enabled, the builder asks for a user-provided macOS SDK archive. Package the complete MacOSX*.sdk directory as .tar.xz, .tar.gz, .tgz, or .tar and upload it from the Build page. The archive must contain the SDK's System/Library/Frameworks and usr directories.

The upload is limited to 1 GB, belongs to the authenticated user, can be used for only one build, and is deleted after the build. Unused uploads expire after one hour. The Docker image supplies Clang and LLD; Apple SDK files are never bundled or downloaded by Overlord.

Certbot TLS

To use Let's Encrypt certificates in production Docker:

1. Set OVERLORD_TLS_CERTBOT_ENABLED=true
2. Set OVERLORD_TLS_CERTBOT_DOMAIN=your-domain.com
3. Mount letsencrypt into the container read-only, e.g. /etc/letsencrypt:/etc/letsencrypt:ro

Default cert paths:

cert: /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/fullchain.pem
key:  /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/privkey.pem
ca:   /etc/letsencrypt/live/<domain>/chain.pem

Override with:

• OVERLORD_TLS_CERTBOT_LIVE_PATH
• OVERLORD_TLS_CERTBOT_CERT_FILE
• OVERLORD_TLS_CERTBOT_KEY_FILE
• OVERLORD_TLS_CERTBOT_CA_FILE

Reverse proxy TLS offload

Overlord can serve HTTP only on loopback while nginx, Caddy, Traefik, IIS, or another trusted reverse proxy owns the public HTTPS certificate. Browsers and agents must still use the public https:// / wss:// address.

HTTP/3 is enabled automatically when Overlord terminates TLS itself. QUIC uses UDP on the same port as HTTPS (5173 by default), so direct deployments must allow both TCP and UDP on that port. HTTP/1.1 remains enabled for initial Alt-Svc discovery, health checks, clients without HTTP/3, and WebSocket upgrades. When OVERLORD_TLS_OFFLOAD=true, the reverse proxy owns public HTTP/3 support because Bun's internal listener has no TLS.

To verify both advertisement and an actual QUIC transfer with an HTTP/3-capable curl build:

.\scripts\test-http3.ps1 https://YOUR_OVERLORD_HOST:5173/health

For a self-signed certificate, add -AllowUntrustedCertificate.

To compare cold HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/3 request timings:

.\scripts\benchmark-http3.ps1 https://YOUR_OVERLORD_HOST:5173/health -Requests 30

The benchmark selects an HTTP/3-capable curl automatically, validates the protocol used by every sample, prints average/p50/p95 timing, and saves the raw measurements as CSV.

For a native install or Linux Docker with host networking, add this to .env:

HOST=127.0.0.1
OVERLORD_TLS_OFFLOAD=true
OVERLORD_HEALTHCHECK_URL=http://127.0.0.1:5173/health

For Docker Desktop (docker-compose.windows.yml), the container must listen on all of its own interfaces while Docker publishes the port on host loopback:

HOST=0.0.0.0
OVERLORD_PUBLISH_HOST=127.0.0.1
OVERLORD_TLS_OFFLOAD=true
OVERLORD_HEALTHCHECK_URL=http://127.0.0.1:5173/health

Restart Overlord after changing .env. The reverse proxy upstream is then http://127.0.0.1:5173. It must preserve Host, set X-Forwarded-Proto: https and X-Forwarded-For, support WebSocket upgrades, and use timeouts/body limits suitable for long sessions and file uploads.

Ready-to-copy Caddy and nginx configurations are in deploy/reverse-proxy/.

When enabled:

• Overlord skips certificate generation and serves internal HTTP.
• Authentication cookies remain Secure because public TLS terminates at the proxy.
• Proxy source-IP headers are trusted for auditing, bans, and rate limiting.
• The internal HTTP listener must never be exposed directly to the internet.

Source IP behind a domain / reverse proxy

If the dashboard, audit log, or IP bans show all agents as 172.x.x.x (or some other proxy/bridge IP), something between the agent and Bun is rewriting the source IP. Two independent flags govern this:

• OVERLORD_TLS_OFFLOAD — TLS terminates at the proxy; Overlord runs plain HTTP internally.
• OVERLORD_TRUST_PROXY — honor X-Forwarded-For / X-Real-IP / CF-Connecting-IP so dashboard/audit/IP-bans see the real client. Auto-enabled when TLS_OFFLOAD=true.

Common shapes:

Setup	TLS_OFFLOAD	TRUST_PROXY
Domain, no proxy (Linux host networking; certbot inside Overlord; Cloudflare DNS-only)	false	false
Domain, proxy does TLS (Render, nginx terminating TLS → http upstream)	true	auto (true)
Domain, proxy in front but Overlord still does TLS (Cloudflare orange-cloud Full Strict; nginx with proxy_pass https://)	false	true

Only enable OVERLORD_TRUST_PROXY when a trusted reverse proxy is in front. If Overlord is directly exposed and you enable it, agents can spoof their source IP by sending their own X-Forwarded-For header, breaking IP bans and audit accuracy. The upstream proxy also has to be configured to inject the header (Cloudflare does by default; nginx/Caddy/Traefik need explicit directives).

If you're using docker-compose.windows.yml or docker-compose.quickstart.yml (Docker Desktop bridge networking) with no reverse proxy, Docker itself rewrites source IPs to the bridge gateway and there is no header to recover from — TRUST_PROXY cannot help. Either switch to Linux host networking or put a real reverse proxy in front.

Notes

• Keep HOST=0.0.0.0 inside the container. Limit exposure with OVERLORD_PUBLISH_HOST, not the bind host.
• If your .env secret/password contains $, escape it as $$ to avoid Docker Compose variable-expansion warnings.