Anso
b9d8e9f490
* feat(stacks): browse and edit mounted volume files in the explorer Reposition the stack file explorer around runtime configuration access: discover a stack's declared mounts and expose each as a safe, stack-scoped file root. The explorer opens on a Volumes group (bind mounts and named Docker volumes) by default, with the stack source directory as a secondary group, on a "Files & Volumes" tab. - Discover roots from the rendered effective compose model; resolve named volumes to their Docker name and browse/edit them through the hardened helper container, with bind mounts handled directly when reachable. - Re-derive the allowed roots server-side on every file operation and match the client root id against them, so a request can never address a path the stack did not declare. Block dangerous host mounts and binds that overlap Sencho's managed directories; reject writes to read-only mounts. - Thread an optional root id through the existing file endpoints and an opaque, parseable optimistic-concurrency token through read, conflict, and write, for both filesystem and helper backends. - Keep compose and env file protection on the stack source root only. * fix(stacks): theme the Files & Volumes root switcher Replace the raw native select in the file-root switcher with the design system Select component. The native control did not honour the dark theme, so the panel rendered white with unreadable text. The themed Select gives a dark popover with grouped Volumes / Stack source labels and disabled items. * fix(stacks): contain the bind-root probe and de-taint the file-op error log Gate the volume-root bind probe's realpath/stat behind a compose-base containment check (mirroring the storage host-path probe) so they never run on an unvalidated host path; a source outside the compose dir is unreachable in the containerized deployment anyway and is reported non-accessible without touching the filesystem. Log the helper-backed file-op failure through a constant format string with sanitized arguments instead of an interpolated template literal. * fix(stacks): inline the bind-probe containment guard at the fs sinks The wrapped containment predicate was not recognized as a path barrier, so the bind probe's realpath/stat still flagged as uncontrolled-data-in-path. Inline the path.resolve + startsWith check directly at each filesystem sink (and re-check the resolved canonical before stat, so a within-base symlink that resolves outside the compose dir is also rejected). * fix(stacks): harden file-root lifecycle, upload race, and helper errors Address review findings on the Files & Volumes feature: - Invalidate the file-root allowlist on stack create/delete/import/from-git (wire StackFileRootsService.invalidateNode into invalidateNodeCaches), so a stack deleted and recreated under the same name cannot serve the old stack's roots from the 15s cache. - Use the atomic exclusive write for a non-overwrite upload so a file created by another writer after the existence check is not silently clobbered. - Let the helper's real cd errno through and map permission failures to 403 consistently across list/stat/read/write/mkdir/delete/pathKind, instead of reporting EACCES as 404/500; pathKind no longer reports a permission-denied parent as absent. - Document the realpath-then-open TOCTOU as a known, pre-existing limitation of every file op (O_NOFOLLOW is not viable because config volumes legitimately contain symlinks); the bind root is contained to the compose dir and the op requires stack:edit. - Docs: drop a missing screenshot reference and correct the protected-file delete behavior (stack-root compose/.env cannot be deleted via the explorer).
Self-hosted Docker Compose management for one machine or a fleet.
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Note
Sencho is used in production for day-to-day Docker Compose and fleet management. As a pre-1.0 project it still evolves quickly, so review the known limitations and validate against your own setup before deploying it on critical infrastructure.
What Sencho is
Sencho is for homelab operators, small DevOps teams, and platform engineers who run services on Docker Compose, want a graphical interface without giving up file-on-disk workflows, and need to manage more than one machine without SSH gymnastics or a VPN.
It runs as a single container on your hardware and gives you a UI for the work you currently do over SSH on compose stacks: deploying, editing files, watching logs, restarting containers, browsing volumes, and recovering from failures. Your compose files stay on the host filesystem and remain the source of truth.
A Sencho instance is autonomous. To manage another machine, you install a second Sencho on it and connect them with a long-lived API token; the primary dashboard then acts as an authenticated HTTP and WebSocket proxy across your fleet. Use TLS, a VPN, or a private network for any untrusted link. Each node still uses its local Docker socket (see Quick start), but Sencho does not require SSH and does not expose a remote Docker socket on the network. For nodes behind NAT or strict firewalls, the Pilot Agent establishes a single outbound WebSocket tunnel to the primary, so the remote host opens no inbound port at all.
Most capabilities are free in the Community tier. A few advanced governance, security, and fleet-control features ship in the paid Admiral tier; pricing lives at sencho.io/pricing.
What Sencho is not (yet)
Sencho is a Docker Compose control plane focused on homelab and small-fleet operators. It is intentionally not:
- A Kubernetes scheduler or replacement.
- A reverse proxy. Front Sencho with your existing proxy (Caddy, Traefik, nginx) for TLS and authentication on the public edge.
- A monitoring stack. Sencho surfaces container and host metrics in the dashboard but does not replace Prometheus, Grafana, or your existing alerting pipeline.
- A CI / CD pipeline. Use webhooks, the API, or Git-sourced stacks to connect Sencho to your build system.
See KNOWN_LIMITATIONS.md for the current limitation list.
Tier coverage: All bullets below are available in the free Community tier unless marked (Admiral). Full breakdown at sencho.io/pricing.
Capabilities
Stacks
- Full Compose lifecycle: create, deploy, restart, stop, pull
- Monaco editor with diff preview before save and one-click rollback
- Health-gated updates that hold a rollout until health checks pass, with stalled-update detection and in-app recovery
- Git-sourced stacks pulled and synced from any repository, with ordered multi-file Compose
- File explorer for compose, env, and supporting files, with move and rename across directories
- Compose Doctor preflight checks that catch compose problems before deploy
- Stack labels for grouping and bulk operations
- App Store with LinuxServer.io templates
Observability
- Aggregated log search and stream across every container in the fleet
- Live container stats, health checks, and image-update notifications on a configurable cadence, with links from each image to its registry and source
- Threshold alerts for CPU, memory, and network
- Read-only audit log of every action (Admiral)
- Network topology view of containers, networks, and nodes
- Documentation-drift flags when a stack dossier diverges from the running stack
Fleet
- Multi-node management via authenticated HTTP and WebSocket proxy
- Fleet view with grid and topology layouts
- Fleet snapshots of compose and env across the fleet
- Pilot Agent for nodes behind NAT or strict firewalls
- Node compatibility checks before deploying
Automation
- Auto-heal policies for failed containers
- Auto-update policies for image rollouts
- Scheduled operations on cron
- Webhooks on stack lifecycle events
- Blueprints: declarative fleet templates with drift detection (Admiral)
- Encrypted Fleet Secrets pushed to labeled nodes (Admiral)
Security
- SSO: custom OIDC, presets for Google, GitHub, and Okta, plus LDAP and Active Directory
- Two-factor authentication with TOTP and backup codes
- RBAC with admin (full control) and viewer (read-only) roles; deployer, node-admin, and auditor roles plus scoped permissions (Admiral)
- Security overview with a chart-led scan summary, sortable images, and searchable scan history
- Vulnerability scanning via Trivy on every tier, with on-demand node-wide scans and VEX-based suppression; SARIF export and SBOM upload (Admiral)
- Compose network inspector with an exposure-intent guard for unintended published ports
- Scan policy packs for reusable security rules (Admiral)
- Private registries and deploy enforcement for non-compliant images (Admiral)
- API tokens for automation
Operations
- Host console in the browser (Admiral)
- Off-site stack archives via custom S3 (every tier) or Sencho Cloud Backup (Admiral) for managed storage
- Notification routing to Slack, Discord, email, and webhooks
- Global search across stacks, containers, and services
- Resources view for images, volumes, and networks with scoped prune actions
Before you install
Sencho talks to Docker through the host's /var/run/docker.sock. Mounting this socket grants Sencho the same privilege as sudo docker on the host. This is the same model used by Portainer, Dockge, Komodo, and other Compose dashboards. If your threat model requires stricter isolation, see running with a non-root container user and front Sencho with a reverse proxy that enforces authentication.
Quick start
Sencho runs in a single container.
services:
sencho:
image: saelix/sencho:latest
container_name: sencho
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- "1852:1852"
volumes:
- /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
- ./data:/app/data
# 1:1 Compose Path Rule: the host path MUST match the container path
- /opt/docker:/opt/docker
environment:
- COMPOSE_DIR=/opt/docker
- DATA_DIR=/app/data
docker compose up -d
Open http://your-server:1852 and create your admin account.
Always front Sencho with a TLS-terminating reverse proxy in production. See the self-hosting guide for hardening, environment variables, and reverse-proxy examples.
Run with docker run instead
docker run -d --name sencho \
-p 1852:1852 \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
-v sencho_data:/app/data \
# 1:1 Compose Path Rule: the host path MUST match the container path
-v /opt/docker:/opt/docker \
-e COMPOSE_DIR=/opt/docker \
saelix/sencho:latest
For the full walkthrough, see the quickstart guide.
Adding remote nodes
To manage a second machine, install Sencho on it the same way, then add it from the primary dashboard with its URL and a long-lived API token. The primary proxies authenticated HTTP and WebSocket requests to the remote instance. The remote node does not run SSH for Sencho, does not expose its Docker socket on the network, and does not run a separate agent process. The local Sencho on each node manages its own Docker through the standard socket mount described in Quick start. Nodes behind NAT or strict firewalls can opt into the Pilot Agent for outbound-only connectivity.
See the multi-node guide for the full token-bearer flow.
Screenshots
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Telemetry and data handling
Sencho does not emit telemetry, analytics, or crash reports. The only outbound traffic is license validation against Lemon Squeezy, and only when a paid license key is activated. Community-tier instances make no outbound calls to Sencho-controlled endpoints. Stack metadata, container inventory, and user activity never leave your instance.
Documentation, community, and license
- Documentation: docs.sencho.io
- If something breaks: the Recovery guide covers getting back to a working state when Sencho, a deploy, sign-in, Docker, or a node fails.
- Community: GitHub Discussions
- Contributing: CONTRIBUTING.md
- Security: SECURITY.md. Do not open public issues for security vulnerabilities.
- License: Business Source License 1.1. Free for most self-hosted production use under the BSL Additional Use Grant; see LICENSE and the license FAQ for exact terms. Converts to Apache 2.0 on 2030-03-25.