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HomeButler

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🏠 Manage your homelab from chat. Single binary, zero dependencies.

HomeButler

Manage your homelab from any AI — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, or terminal. One binary. Zero dependencies.

GoGo Report CardLicense: MITRelease

A single-binary CLI + MCP server that lets you monitor servers, control Docker, wake machines, and scan your network — from chat, AI tools, or the command line.

▶️ Click to watch demo — Alert → Diagnose → Fix, all from chat (34s)

Architecture

Goal: Engineers manage servers from chat — not SSH.

Alert fires → AI diagnoses → AI fixes → you get a summary on your phone.

homebutler is the tool layer in an AI ChatOps stack. It doesn't care what's above it — use any chat platform, any AI agent, or just your terminal.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│  Layer 3 — Chat Interface                        │
│  Telegram · Slack · Discord · Terminal · Browser │
│  (Your choice — homebutler doesn't touch this)   │
└──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                       │
┌──────────────────────▼───────────────────────────┐
│  Layer 2 — AI Agent                              │
│  OpenClaw · LangChain · n8n · Claude Desktop     │
│  (Understands intent → calls the right tool)     │
└──────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
                       │  CLI exec or MCP (stdio)
┌──────────────────────▼───────────────────────────┐
│  Layer 1 — Tool (homebutler)       ← YOU ARE HERE │
│                                                   │
│  ┌─────────┐  ┌─────────┐  ┌─────────┐           │
│  │   CLI   │  │   MCP   │  │   Web   │           │
│  │ stdout  │  │  stdio  │  │  :8080  │           │
│  └────┬────┘  └────┬────┘  └────┬────┘           │
│       └────────────┼────────────┘                 │
│                    ▼                              │
│             internal/*                            │
│   system · docker · ports · network               │
│   wake · alerts · remote (SSH)                    │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Three interfaces, one core:

Interface Transport Use case
CLI Shell stdout/stderr Terminal, scripts, AI agents via exec
MCP JSON-RPC over stdio Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Cursor, any MCP client
Web HTTP (go:embed) Browser dashboard, on-demand with homebutler serve

All three call the same internal/ packages — no code duplication.

homebutler is Layer 1. Swap Layer 2 and 3 to fit your stack:

  • Terminal only → homebutler status (no agent needed)
  • Claude Desktop → MCP server, Claude calls tools directly
  • OpenClaw + Telegram → Agent runs CLI commands from chat
  • Custom Python bot → subprocess.run(["homebutler", "status", "--json"])
  • n8n / Dify → Execute node calling homebutler CLI

No ports opened by default. CLI and MCP use stdin/stdout only. The web dashboard is opt-in (homebutler serve, binds 127.0.0.1).

Now: CLI + MCP + Web dashboard — you ask, it answers.

Goal: Full AI ChatOps — infrastructure that manages itself.

Features

  • Web Dashboard — Beautiful dark-themed web UI with homebutler serve
  • TUI Dashboard — Real-time terminal monitoring with homebutler watch (btop-style)
  • System Status — CPU, memory, disk, uptime at a glance
  • Docker Management — List, restart, stop, logs for containers
  • Wake-on-LAN — Power on machines remotely
  • Port Scanner — See what's listening and which process owns it
  • Network Scan — Discover devices on your LAN
  • Alerts — Get notified when resources exceed thresholds
  • Backup & Restore — One-command Docker volume backup with compose + env files
  • Multi-server — Manage remote servers over SSH (key & password auth)
  • MCP Server — Works with Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP client
  • JSON Output — Pipe-friendly, perfect for AI assistants to parse

Why homebutler?

Other tools give you dashboards. homebutler gives you a conversation.

3 AM. Your server disk is 91% full. Here's what happens next:

Alert fires → you check logs from bed → AI restarts the problem container → disk drops to 66%. All from your phone. No SSH, no laptop, no dashboard login.

This is what homebutler + OpenClaw looks like in practice.

📊 Comparison with alternatives
homebutler Glances/btop Netdata CasaOS
TUI dashboard ✅ Built-in ✅ ❌ Web ❌ Web
Web dashboard ✅ Embedded ❌ ✅ ✅
Single binary ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Optional web server ✅ On-demand Always-on Always-on Always-on
Multi-server SSH ✅ Parallel ❌ ❌ ❌
MCP support ✅ Built-in ❌ ❌ ❌
Chat integration ✅ Native ❌ ❌ ❌
AI-friendly JSON ✅ ❌ ⚠️ API ⚠️ API
Docker control ✅ ⚠️ Monitor ❌ ✅
Wake-on-LAN ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Network scan ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Remote deploy ✅ One command ❌ ❌ ❌
Air-gapped install ✅ Copy binary ⚠️ apt/brew ❌ Docker ❌ Docker
Resource usage ~10MB, 0% idle Medium High High

Demo

🧠 AI-Powered Management (MCP)

One natural language prompt manages your entire homelab. Claude Code calls homebutler MCP tools in parallel — checking server status, listing Docker containers, and alerting on disk usage across multiple servers. See screenshots & setup →

🌐 Web Dashboard

homebutler serve — A real-time web dashboard embedded in the single binary via go:embed. Monitor all your servers, Docker containers, open ports, alerts, and Wake-on-LAN devices from any browser. Dark theme, auto-refresh every 5 seconds, fully responsive.

✨ Web Dashboard Highlights
  • Server Overview — See all servers at a glance with color-coded status (green = online, red = offline)
  • System Metrics — CPU, memory, disk usage with progress bars and color thresholds
  • Docker Containers — Running/stopped status with friendly labels ("Running · 4d", "Stopped · 6h ago")
  • Top Processes — Top 10 processes sorted by CPU usage
  • Resource Alerts — Threshold-based warnings with visual progress bars (OK / WARNING / CRITICAL)
  • Network Ports — Open ports with process names and bind addresses
  • Wake-on-LAN — One-click wake buttons for configured devices
  • Server Switching — Dropdown to switch between local and remote servers
  • Zero dependencies — No Node.js runtime needed. Frontend is compiled into the Go binary at build time
homebutler serve              # Start on port 8080
homebutler serve --port 3000  # Custom port
homebutler serve --demo       # Demo mode with realistic sample data

🖥️ TUI Dashboard

homebutler watch — A terminal-based dashboard powered by Bubble Tea. Monitors all configured servers with real-time updates, color-coded resource bars, and Docker container status. No browser needed.

Quick Start

# One-line install (recommended, auto-detects OS/arch)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Higangssh/homebutler/main/install.sh | sh

# Or via Homebrew
brew install Higangssh/homebutler/homebutler

# Or via npm (MCP server only)
npm install -g homebutler

# Interactive setup — adds your servers in seconds
homebutler init

# Run
homebutler status
homebutler watch             # TUI dashboard (all servers)
homebutler serve             # Web dashboard at http://localhost:8080
homebutler docker list
homebutler wake desktop
homebutler ports
homebutler status --all

Usage

homebutler <command> [flags]

Commands:
  init                Interactive setup wizard
  status              System status (CPU, memory, disk, uptime)
  watch               TUI dashboard (monitors all configured servers)
  serve               Web dashboard (browser-based, go:embed)
  docker list         List running containers
  docker restart <n>  Restart a container
  docker stop <n>     Stop a container
  docker logs <n>     Show container logs
  wake <name>         Send Wake-on-LAN packet
  ports               List open ports with process info
  network scan        Discover devices on LAN
  alerts              Show current alert status
  alerts --watch      Continuous monitoring with real-time alerts
  trust <server>      Register SSH host key (TOFU)
  backup              Backup Docker volumes, compose files, and env
  backup list         List existing backups
  restore <archive>   Restore from a backup archive
  upgrade             Upgrade local + all remote servers to latest
  deploy              Install homebutler on remote servers
  mcp                 Start MCP server (JSON-RPC over stdio)
  version             Print version

Flags:
  --json              JSON output (default: human-readable)
  --server <name>     Run on a specific remote server
  --all               Run on all configured servers in parallel
  --port <number>     Port for serve command (default: 8080)
  --demo              Run serve with realistic demo data
  --watch             Continuous monitoring mode (alerts command)
  --interval <dur>    Watch interval, e.g. 30s, 1m (default: 30s)
  --config <path>     Custom alert thresholds config file
  --local             Upgrade only the local binary (skip remote servers)
  --local <path>      Use local binary for deploy (air-gapped)
  --config <path>     Config file (auto-detected, see Configuration)
  --service <name>    Target a specific Docker service (backup/restore)
  --to <path>         Custom backup destination directory

Web Dashboard

homebutler serve starts an embedded web dashboard — no Node.js, no Docker, no extra dependencies.

homebutler serve                # http://localhost:8080
homebutler serve --port 3000    # custom port
homebutler serve --demo         # demo mode with sample data

📖 Web dashboard details →

TUI Dashboard

homebutler watch launches an interactive terminal dashboard (btop-style):

homebutler watch               # monitors all configured servers

Auto-refreshes every 2 seconds. Press q to quit.

Alert Monitoring

homebutler alerts --watch                  # default: 30s interval
homebutler alerts --watch --interval 10s   # check every 10 seconds

Default thresholds: CPU 90%, Memory 85%, Disk 90%. Customizable via config.

Backup & Restore

One-command Docker backup — volumes, compose files, and env variables.

homebutler backup                          # backup everything
homebutler backup --service jellyfin       # specific service
homebutler backup --to /mnt/nas/backups/   # custom destination
homebutler backup list                     # list backups
homebutler restore ./backup.tar.gz         # restore

⚠️ Database services should be paused before backup for data consistency.

📖 Full backup documentation → — how it works, archive structure, security notes.

Configuration

homebutler init    # interactive setup wizard

📖 Configuration details → — config file locations, alert thresholds, all options.

Multi-server

Manage multiple servers from a single machine over SSH.

homebutler status --server rpi     # query specific server
homebutler status --all            # query all in parallel
homebutler deploy --server rpi     # install on remote server
homebutler upgrade                 # upgrade all servers

📖 Multi-server setup → — SSH auth, config examples, deploy & upgrade.

MCP Server

Built-in MCP server — manage your homelab from any AI tool with natural language.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "homebutler": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "homebutler@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Works with Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Cursor, Windsurf, and any MCP client.

📖 MCP server setup → — supported clients, available tools, agent skills.

Installation

Homebrew (Recommended)

brew install Higangssh/homebutler/homebutler

Automatically installs to PATH. Works on macOS and Linux.

One-line Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Higangssh/homebutler/main/install.sh | sh

Auto-detects OS/architecture, downloads the latest release, and installs to PATH.

npm (MCP server)

npm install -g homebutler

Downloads the Go binary automatically. Use npx -y homebutler@latest to run without installing globally.

Go Install

go install github.com/Higangssh/homebutler@latest

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/Higangssh/homebutler.git
cd homebutler
make build

Uninstall

rm $(which homebutler)           # Remove binary
rm -rf ~/.config/homebutler      # Remove config (optional)

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

License

MIT

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