Rconsole
Rconsole is a Linux console in your browser that you can host for free. You put it on one small web service (Render's free tier is the reference setup) and get a terminal, your own Linux systems, a process supervisor and a way to publish what you run, all usable from a phone.
Quick startRunning locally in five minutes, or on a server.
Free hosting on RenderBots, sites and workers with no budget.
Deploy anywhereRailway, Fly.io, a VPS, Kubernetes, a Raspberry Pi.
Command referenceEvery command, option and example.
ConfigurationEvery environment variable, in one list.
Security modelWhat is isolated and what is not.
What you get
- A real terminal (line-mode commands plus full-screen programs such as
nano,vimandtop), a file manager and a code editor, all in the browser and laid out for small screens. - Your own Linux environments (Debian, Ubuntu, Kali, Arch, Alpine): per-user, root inside, no host privileges needed. They are PRoot-based environments, not virtual machines (see the security model).
service: named commands that Rconsole starts when it starts and restarts when they crash, with logs.expose: publish a web server you run (static or dynamic) athttps://<your-domain>/<name>/.- Free-tier helpers: a keep-alive ping, encrypted backups to a private git repository, automatic restore on a
blank instance, and
sudo rebootto restart in place. rconsole update: checksum-verified self-update with automatic rollback.
What it is not
Be clear about these before you rely on it:
| It is not... | What is true instead |
|---|---|
| A guarantee of uptime | The keep-alive ping only prevents inactivity-based suspension. The provider can still restart, suspend or stop your instance (maintenance, quota or hours used up, policy changes). Expect a few minutes of downtime after a restart. |
| Free on every host | Free means free on a platform that has a free tier. Only Render's free plan is a tested reference. Other hosts in the deploy guide may charge for compute, storage or both, and their free offers change. |
| Persistent storage on a free tier | Free instances lose their disk on every restart. Rconsole restores from an encrypted backup, so you can lose everything changed since the last backup (up to 15 minutes by default). See Backups. |
| Uninterrupted services across a redeploy | Processes are stopped when the instance stops. Service definitions and their files are restored, and the supervisor starts the services again once their Linux environment is rebuilt. |
| A hard security boundary | Each Linux environment has its own root filesystem, home and, where the host allows it, its own PID namespace. All of them still run under the server's one user id. Give accounts only to people you trust. |
| A public multi-user hosting platform | It is built for one person or a small trusted team (10 accounts by default). |
Where to read next
- Quick start to get something running.
- Free hosting if you have no budget, or Deploy anywhere if you do.
- Backups and Updating before you depend on it.
- Configuration, the command reference and the security model.
Source code and issues: github.com/Salehin-07/rconsole-ark · MIT licensed.