dedctl

Dedctl is a Dedicated Game Controller for managing Steam game servers on Linux. It provides a web-based dashboard to start, stop, restart, and monitor game servers managed by systemd, along with real-time log streaming.

Backend | Frontend | Contributing

Overview

dedctl consists of two components:

• Backend (backend/dedctl/) — A Go CLI tool and REST API that interacts with systemd to manage Steam game servers (steam-<game>.service), handle authentication via JWT, serve game cover images, and stream logs via systemd journal.
• Frontend (frontend/games-frontend/) — A SvelteKit web application with a dark-themed dashboard for game server management, login, and log viewing.

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Go 1.26.1 or higher
• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Linux system with systemd and user D-Bus
• Steam game servers running as systemd user services (steam-<game>.service)

Backend

cd backend/dedctl
go mod tidy
go run main.go server

Frontend

cd frontend/games-frontend
cp .env.example .env  # Set VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://127.0.0.1:8080 — the URL where the backend API is running
npm install
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:5174 to access the dashboard.

Setup

After cloning, copy the config and metadata files to your home directory:

mkdir -p ~/.dedctl
cp backend/dedctl/configs/config.yaml ~/.dedctl/
cp backend/dedctl/configs/metadata.yaml ~/.dedctl/

Edit ~/.dedctl/config.yaml to set your own JWT secret key and password hashes (generate them with dedctl hash <password> sha512).

Note: VITE_API_BASE_URL must point to the address and port where the backend is listening. If the backend is running on the same machine, use http://127.0.0.1:8080 (or whichever port you configured). If the frontend and backend are on different machines, use the backend's IP address.

Project Structure

dedctl/
├── backend/dedctl/          # Go backend
│   ├── cmd/dedctl/          # CLI commands (hash, cache-images)
│   ├── internal/
│   │   ├── app/             # Server setup and routing
│   │   ├── config/          # Configuration and metadata loading
│   │   ├── handler/         # HTTP request handlers
│   │   ├── service/         # Business logic (game, auth, images)
│   │   └── utils/           # JWT utilities
│   ├── configs/             # Default config and metadata files
│   └── main.go
├── frontend/games-frontend/ # SvelteKit frontend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib/             # API client, stores, assets
│   │   └── routes/          # Pages (login, dashboard, game details, logs, admin)
│   └── static/
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
└── Makefile

Architecture

┌──────────────┐     HTTP/REST      ┌────────────────┐     systemd D-Bus    ┌──────────────┐
│   Frontend   │ ◄────────────────► │   Backend API   │ ◄──────────────────► │  systemd      │
│  SvelteKit   │     API calls      │   Go + Gorilla  │   service mgmt      │  user session │
│              │                    │                 │   journal streaming │               │
└──────────────┘                    └────────────────┘                     └──────────────┘

Configuration

The backend configuration file (~/.dedctl/config.yaml) defines:

• Server — host, port, and CORS origins
• JWT — secret key and token expiry
• Game — base path for game servers
• Users — usernames, password hashes, and admin flags

API Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description	Auth
POST	/auth/login	Authenticate and get JWT	No
GET	/server-info	Get global server metadata	No
GET	/games	List all game servers	Yes
POST	/games/{game}/start	Start a game server	Yes
POST	/games/{game}/stop	Stop a game server	Yes
POST	/games/{game}/restart	Restart a game server	Yes
GET	/games/{game}/status	Get game server status	Yes
GET	/games/{game}/logs	Stream logs (SSE)	Yes
PATCH	/games/{game}/metadata	Update game metadata	Yes
POST	/games/{game}/update-art	Download game cover art	Yes
PATCH	/games/settings	Update global settings	Yes
GET	/images/{name}	Serve game cover images	No

License

See LICENSE.