deft

deft

Server management that gets out of your way.

Deft is an open source panel for managing game servers and Docker applications across multiple nodes. Install the agent on any Linux server with one command and it connects back to your panel automatically. No open ports, no manual configuration, no 48-hour setup guides.

How it works

Deft has two parts: a panel you run once, and a lightweight agent you drop on each server node.

panel.yourdomain.com
    ↕ encrypted tunnel
your-game-server-1          # agent installed, zero inbound ports
your-game-server-2          # agent installed, zero inbound ports
your-game-server-3          # agent installed, zero inbound ports

The agent connects outward to the panel — not the other way around. This means your game server nodes need no open inbound ports and work behind NAT out of the box.

Features

• Zero inbound ports — agents connect outward, works behind any firewall or NAT
• One-command install — panel and agent both set up in under 5 minutes
• Game servers and apps — run Minecraft, Rust, CS2, or any Docker image side by side
• Live console — real-time server output and command input in the browser
• File manager — browse, edit, upload files without SSH
• Backups — scheduled or on-demand, to local disk or S3-compatible storage
• Resource limits — hard CPU, RAM, and disk limits per server via Docker cgroups
• Game templates — community-maintained configs for 50+ games, one-click install
• Self-hosted or cloud — run your own panel or use ours

Self-hosting

Deft is designed to run entirely on your own infrastructure. The panel requires a single Linux VPS. Nodes can be any Linux server — bare metal, VPS, home server, or cloud VM.

Architecture

agent/          Go binary — node daemon, Docker management, gRPC tunnel
panel/          Go binary — REST API, node orchestration, embedded frontend
panel/web/      SvelteKit SPA — the browser interface
proto/          Protocol Buffer definitions for agent-panel communication
templates/      YAML game server templates
scripts/        Install scripts

The panel and agent are both single static binaries with no runtime dependencies. The panel embeds the frontend — deploying Deft is copying one file and running it.

License

AGPL-3.0 — free to self-host forever. If you modify Deft and run it as a hosted service, you must publish your modifications under the same license.