Quick Start#

This guide walks you through the most common first-day tasks after installation.

1. Log in and change the default password#

Open http://<server-ip>:81 in your browser.

On first boot, PosternProxy generates a random admin password and prints it to the service logs. Retrieve it before logging in:

journalctl -u posternproxy --no-pager | grep -A5 "INITIAL SETUP"

Log in with:

  • Email: admin@posternproxy.local (or the value of POSTERNPROXY_ADMIN_EMAIL)
  • Password: the generated password from the startup banner above

Immediately navigate to Users → (your account) → Change Password and set a strong password.

**Can't find the password?** Run `posternproxy reset-password` on the server to generate and print a new one without restarting the service.

2. Add your first proxy host#

Proxy hosts route incoming domain traffic to upstream services.

  1. Click Proxy Hosts in the sidebar
  2. Click + Add Proxy Host
  3. Fill in the Details tab:
    • Domain Names — type app.example.com and press Enter
    • Forward Scheme — http or https depending on your upstream
    • Forward Hostname / IP — the internal address of your service (e.g. 192.168.1.10)
    • Port — the upstream port (e.g. 3000)
  4. Click SSL tab and select a certificate (or leave blank for Caddy automatic Let’s Encrypt)
  5. Click Create

Caddy will immediately start routing traffic for your domain.

3. Verify traffic is flowing#

curl -I https://app.example.com

You should see a 200 OK (or whatever your upstream returns) along with Caddy-managed TLS.

4. Set up a certificate#

For domains Caddy cannot automatically obtain a Let’s Encrypt certificate (e.g. wildcard domains), go to Certificates → Add Certificate and either:

  • Choose Let’s Encrypt DNS challenge and enter your DNS provider credentials
  • Choose Custom and upload your own certificate and key files

See Certificates for full details.

5. Restrict access with an access list#

To protect a proxy host with IP allowlisting or HTTP Basic Auth:

  1. Go to Access Lists → Add Access List
  2. Add client IP rules (CIDR ranges) or authentication credentials
  3. Edit your proxy host and select the access list on the SSL tab

6. Enable the API for automation#

To use the REST API from scripts or CI/CD:

  1. Go to Access Tokens → Create Token
  2. Copy the token — it is only shown once
  3. Use it as a Bearer token:
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer <token>" http://your-server:81/api/proxy-hosts

See Access Tokens for the full API reference approach.

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