Installation

Installation

Clone the repository and build the binary:

git clone https://github.com/IdanKoblik/packster
cd packster
make build

The binary is written to bin/packster.

Configuration

Packster is configured with a YAML file. Point to it with the CONFIG_PATH environment variable:

CONFIG_PATH=/etc/packster/config.yml ./bin/packster

Example config:

file_upload_limit: 100  # MB, maximum size of an uploaded artifact

mongo:
  connection_string: mongodb://localhost:27017
  database: packster
  token_collection: tokens
  product_collection: products

redis:
  addr: localhost:6379
  password: ""
  db: 0

metrics:
  addr: 0.0.0.0:9091  # Prometheus scrape endpoint (optional, defaults to 0.0.0.0:9091)

Field	Description
file_upload_limit	Max upload size in MB
mongo.connection_string	MongoDB connection URI
mongo.database	Database name
mongo.token_collection	Collection used to store tokens
mongo.product_collection	Collection used to store products
redis.addr	Redis address (host:port)
redis.password	Redis password (optional)
redis.db	Redis database index (optional)
metrics.addr	Address for the Prometheus /metrics endpoint (optional, defaults to 0.0.0.0:9091)

Running

Start the server:

CONFIG_PATH=./config.yml ./bin/packster

To also enable the web UI:

CONFIG_PATH=./config.yml ./bin/packster --ui

By default the server listens on 0.0.0.0:8080. Override with SERVER_ADDR:

SERVER_ADDR=0.0.0.0:9090 CONFIG_PATH=./config.yml ./bin/packster

Starting dependencies with Docker Compose:

A docker-compose.yml is included to spin up MongoDB, Redis, Prometheus, and Grafana locally:

docker compose up -d

This starts:

Service	Port	Notes
MongoDB	27017	Primary data store
Redis	6379	Token cache
Prometheus	9090	Scrapes host.docker.internal:9091 every 15 s
Grafana	3000	Pre-provisioned dashboard at http://localhost:3000 (admin / admin)

Prometheus scrapes the /metrics endpoint exposed by the running packster binary on port 9091. Make sure packster is running before expecting data in Grafana.

Flags

Flag	Description
--init-admin-token	Generates an initial admin token on first run. No-op if an admin token already exists.
--ui	Enables the web UI served at /ui. Requires an admin token to log in.

Authentication

Every request must include an X-Api-Token header with a valid token.

There are two token types:

• Admin — can register and manage tokens, create/delete products, and perform all operations.
• Non-admin — access is controlled per-product through token permissions (upload, download, delete, maintainer).

Creating the first admin token

On first run, pass --init-admin-token to generate an initial admin token:

CONFIG_PATH=./config.yml ./bin/packster --init-admin-token

The token is printed to the log output. Remove the flag after the first use — it is a no-op if an admin token already exists.

Use this token in the X-Api-Token header for all subsequent admin operations, such as registering additional tokens via PUT /api/register.