Host admin control plane

Plainwire has an optional host-level operator console. It manages the Plainwire instance itself, not individual community/server moderation.

Safe default#

PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_ENABLED=false
PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_BIND=127.0.0.1
PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_PORT=8090

Enable it only when you have an operator access plan.

Remote access#

The safest remote pattern is to keep the admin listener private and put a dedicated HTTPS origin in front of it:

PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_ENABLED=true
PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_BIND=127.0.0.1
PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_ALLOW_REMOTE=true
PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_PUBLIC_URL=https://control.example.com
PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_COOKIE_SECURE=true

Protect the control hostname with network policy, identity-aware access, VPN, or another operator boundary. Do not expose 8090 directly to the internet.

Instance secret#

Production defaults to:

/var/lib/plainwire/admin-instance.key

Persist and protect this file. It binds operator verification material to the instance.

Recovery mode#

PLAINWIRE_ADMIN_LOCAL_RECOVERY=true is an emergency-only option intended for loopback-bound recovery. Remove it after recovery.

Separation#

Do not give ordinary server moderators host-operator access. These are different trust domains.