Flame — Self-Hosted Startpage for Your Server

Introduction

Flame is a self-hosted startpage designed to be the landing page for your home server. It provides a clean dashboard for organizing application shortcuts, bookmarks, and Docker container status in one place. Built with React and Node.js, Flame focuses on simplicity and visual appeal with built-in theming and weather integration.

What Flame Does

• Displays a customizable grid of application shortcuts and bookmarks
• Monitors Docker containers and shows their status on the dashboard
• Provides a built-in search bar with configurable search engine defaults
• Supports custom themes, icons, and category organization
• Shows local weather information on the startpage

Architecture Overview

Flame is a single-container Node.js application with a React frontend and SQLite database for configuration storage. It communicates with the Docker socket to discover and monitor running containers. The application serves both the API and static frontend from the same process. All configuration and bookmark data persists in a mounted data volume.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Deploy with a single Docker container mounting a data volume
• Set the PASSWORD environment variable for dashboard access
• Connect the Docker socket to enable container monitoring
• Configure the weather widget with your city and API key
• Customize themes by editing CSS variables or using built-in presets

Key Features

• Docker integration with automatic container discovery
• Keyboard-driven search with customizable search providers
• Import and export bookmarks in JSON format
• Drag-and-drop reordering of apps and bookmarks
• Responsive design that works on mobile and desktop browsers

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Homer — YAML-configured; no Docker integration or built-in editing
• Dashy — more feature-rich but heavier resource footprint
• Homarr — deeper Docker/service integration but more complex setup
• Glance — feed-focused dashboard; less bookmark management

FAQ

Q: Can Flame auto-discover my Docker containers? A: Yes. Mount the Docker socket (/var/run/docker.sock) and Flame will list running containers with their ports and status.

Q: How do I add custom icons to my apps? A: Upload icons through the web UI or reference any URL. Flame also supports Material Design Icons by name.

Q: Does Flame support authentication? A: Flame uses a single password for dashboard access. For multi-user setups, place it behind a reverse proxy with SSO.

Q: Can I use Flame without Docker? A: Yes. Clone the repo, install Node.js dependencies, and run the application directly. Docker is optional.

Sources

• https://github.com/pawelmalak/flame