Getting Started

This page covers installing rust-proxy on a server and getting the admin panel open for the first time. If someone else already installed it for you and gave you a web address to log into, skip to The Admin Panel.

Step 1: Install it

On a fresh Debian/Ubuntu-based server, run:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://repo.jpps.us/repo-signing-key.asc -o /etc/apt/keyrings/jpps-repo.asc
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/jpps-repo.asc] https://repo.jpps.us/stable /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jpps.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install rust-proxy

That's it — no other setup required. The installer:

Creates a dedicated system account for rust-proxy to run under (it never runs as an all-powerful "root" account, for safety)
Writes a working starter configuration file
Starts the service immediately

Step 2: Open the admin panel

In a web browser, go to:

http://<your-server's-address>:8084/

Replace <your-server's-address> with your server's actual IP address or hostname. Port 8084 is where the admin panel lives by default.

The very first time you visit, you won't see a login page — you'll see a setup wizard instead, because there's no admin account yet.

Step 3: Create your admin account

The wizard asks for:

Username — whatever you'd like to sign in with
Password — pick something strong; this protects your entire setup
DNS credential (optional, can be added later) — only needed if you plan to use wildcard certificates (see HTTPS Certificates, Explained) or want certificates issued without opening any extra ports. You can skip this for now and add it later from the admin panel.

Once you submit the form, you're logged in and looking at the main dashboard.

Step 4: You're ready

From here, the next thing most people do is add their first website.

A note on safety

Out of the box, the admin panel is reachable from anywhere on the network on port 8084 — this is intentional, so the setup wizard above actually works without you having to edit any files first. Once you're set up, it's worth narrowing this down:

Restrict which computers can even reach the admin panel — see the "Only these source IPs/CIDRs may reach the admin UI/API" setting mentioned in The Admin Panel
Or turn off the admin panel's network reachability altogether once you're comfortable managing it only from the server itself — see The Admin Panel's "Hiding the admin panel entirely" section

Neither of these is required to get started — they're hardening steps for later.