Changesets, as in Jarl: configuration changes are operations that can be staged in a changeset, checked as they are added (validation and nft -c), reviewed with the diff of the ruleset, and applied together as one history entry, then on probation like any change made over the network. The web UI collects edits for review by default (pending rows, a bar with Review and Apply now, a Changes page, a switch for live edits); hc stages with -C ID or HOUSECARL_CHANGESET (checked like JARL_CHANGESET) and has hc changeset create/list/show/diff/apply/discard/remove. Undo, import and takeover refuse a changeset. --dry-run shows the ruleset's diff. Bandwidth and quotas: rate limits in bytes, per source or destination; quotas per rule or per address that reset daily, weekly, monthly on a day, or by hand, with their usage carried across reloads, saved for reboots, shown by hc quotas and on the rules page, and reset with hc rule reset-quota. Rules that count traffic are checked before established connections are accepted (so they see every packet) and can't accept. Per-address limits group IPv6 by /64 by default (--group-v4/-v6). Per-source rate meters use update. The importer turns meters, byte rates and quotas into these fields. The examples in the web UI, hc's help and the docs use documentation addresses and generic names instead of the maintainer's network. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Configuration file
/etc/housecarl/housecarl.yaml says how housecarld runs. The firewall's
configuration (zones, sets, rules, NAT, settings) isn't here; it is in
the database, changed with the CLI, the API or the web UI.
housecarld config --example prints a commented file with the defaults.
Every setting is optional; unknown settings are an error. housecarld
reads the file when it starts.
| Setting | Default | |
|---|---|---|
listen |
["127.0.0.1:8070"] |
addresses of the web UI and API (host:port). Keep them on localhost or a management network, and write an input rule that lets you reach them |
tls.cert_file, tls.key_file |
none | serve HTTPS with this certificate; housecarld rereads it when the file changes, or on systemctl reload housecarl |
tls.acme.* |
off | get the certificate from Let's Encrypt, with Jarl publishing the challenge (certificates.md) |
jarl.server, jarl.token_file (or jarl.token), jarl.ca_cert, jarl.insecure |
none | the Jarl server for the certificate's challenge, and its token (jarl.md) |
ruleset |
/var/lib/housecarl/ruleset.nft |
the confirmed ruleset, which housecarl-ruleset.service loads at boot |
trusted_proxies |
[] |
addresses or prefixes of reverse proxies whose X-Forwarded-For and X-Forwarded-Proto are believed |
socket |
/run/housecarl/housecarl.sock |
the local API socket; "" turns it off |
database |
/var/lib/housecarl/housecarl.db |
the SQLite database: configuration, history, users, audit log |
log.level |
info |
debug (every HTTP request), info, warn or error |
log.format |
text |
text or json |
session.lifetime |
12h |
how long a web UI login lasts |
session.idle_timeout |
2h |
logged out after this long without use |
session.cookie_secure |
auto |
auto (secure over HTTPS), always or never |
backup.dir |
/var/backups/housecarl |
where housecarld backup writes |
backup.retention |
30d |
backups older than this are deleted… |
backup.keep_at_least |
7 |
…keeping at least this many |
Durations are written 15s, 12h or 30d.
The probation's length is a firewall setting, not here: hc settings set --probation 5m.
HTTPS
Over plain HTTP, passwords and tokens cross the network in the clear; housecarld warns when it listens on a non-loopback address without TLS. Let it get its own certificate through Jarl (certificates.md), or give it one:
listen: ["192.168.1.1:8070"]
tls:
cert_file: /etc/housecarl/tls/fullchain.pem
key_file: /etc/housecarl/tls/privkey.pem
Or keep it on 127.0.0.1 behind a reverse proxy that terminates TLS, and
list the proxy in trusted_proxies. With a certificate, the same port
answers HTTPS and redirects plain HTTP to it, except from the firewall
itself.