The External Controller: Driving the Core From Another Panel

The built-in interface is fine day to day, but some jobs suit an external panel better: managing a core running on another machine, using a different web UI, or scripting node switches. All of that rides on the external controller — an HTTP API the core exposes.

Enable it and set a secret

The most predictable place to declare it is the Merge section of the global extended config:

external-controller: 127.0.0.1:9097
secret: "generate a random string here"

Pick any free port that doesn't collide with your mixed port — see port conflicts if it does. Always set a secret. This API can rewrite the config, switch nodes and read your connection list; it is a remote control for the core.

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Connecting a third-party panel

Open the panel in a browser and fill in three fields: address, port, secret. Once connected you get live traffic, the connection list, logs and proxy groups — largely the same feature set as the built-in UI, with the advantage of working remotely.

If you do expose it, don't cut corners

Changing the listen address to 0.0.0.0 makes it reachable from the LAN — and also means every device on that subnet can try guessing your secret. At minimum:

• Use a random secret of 16 characters or more, not 123456;
• Only enable it on networks you trust; never expose it straight to the internet;
• Set it back to 127.0.0.1 when you're done.