🌵 Project Caktus

Hardware redemption arc. Deploy. Survive. Repeat.

Turn any laptop into a self-hosted server — no VPS, no domain purchase, no port forwarding. Uses ngrok to tunnel through CG-NAT and expose anything you deploy to the internet with free HTTPS.

Project Caktus is a zero-cost, Docker-based personal infrastructure stack designed to run entirely on your own hardware. All compute, storage, and applications stay on your machine, while a secure outbound tunnel makes them publicly accessible from anywhere. No cloud dependency. No vendor lock-in. Just a controlled, reproducible setup that turns spare hardware into reliable, internet-facing infrastructure.

Architecture

Internet → ngrok Edge (HTTPS) → caktus-ngrok → caktus-nginx :80 → your apps

Everything runs on your laptop. ngrok makes an outbound connection — no inbound ports, no static IP, no router config needed.

Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/your-user/caktus.git && cd caktus

bash scripts/setup-laptop.sh        # installs Docker, disables sleep, firewall

cp .env.example .env
nano .env                            # paste NGROK_AUTHTOKEN and NGROK_DOMAIN

docker compose up -d --build

# Local:  http://localhost
# Public: https://your-domain.ngrok-free.app

Get your free authtoken and static domain at dashboard.ngrok.com.

Deploy an App

Open your public URL — you'll see the deploy terminal. Fill in app name, port, image or Dockerfile, env vars. Click deploy. Get a public URL in seconds.

https://your-domain.ngrok-free.app/apps/{name}/

Port must match what your app listens on — 3000 for Next.js, 8000 for FastAPI, 80 for nginx.

Services

Service	Container	Access
Dashboard	caktus-dashboard	Public — /
nginx	caktus-nginx	Internal router
ngrok	caktus-ngrok	Outbound tunnel
Portainer	caktus-portainer	LAN — portainer.caktus.local
Uptime Kuma	caktus-uptime	LAN — status.caktus.local
Hello World	caktus-hello	LAN — hello.caktus.local

Scripts

Script	Purpose
scripts/setup-laptop.sh	One-time setup
scripts/health-check.sh	Services, tunnel, disk, memory
scripts/logs.sh	Log viewer for all services
scripts/backup.sh	Backup volumes and config

Stack

• ngrok — Tunnel, bypasses CG-NAT, free HTTPS
• nginx — Reverse proxy, path-based routing
• FastAPI — Dashboard backend
• Docker — Container orchestration
• Uptime Kuma — Monitoring
• Portainer — Docker UI

Structure

caktus/
├── docker-compose.yml        # All service orchestration
├── .env.example              # Environment template (NGROK_DOMAIN, tokens)
├── nginx/                    # Internal reverse proxy (public + LAN routing)
│   └── nginx.conf
├── caddy/                    # Local domain handling (*.caktus.local)
│   └── Caddyfile
├── apps/                     # User applications
│   └── dashboard/            # Public control interface (FastAPI)
├── scripts/                  # Automation & lifecycle management
│   ├── setup-laptop.sh
│   ├── add-app.sh
│   ├── remove-app.sh
│   └── backup.sh
└── docs/                     # Operational notes & runbook

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.