# Vacuum Wall

A zone-based firewall appliance with a built-in SSL reverse proxy. Combines firewalld policy control, DHCP/DNS, WireGuard VPN, and automated certificate provisioning into a single device managed through one web UI.

## Tech Stack

- Debian 13 (trixie) target platform
- Python 3.13+, Flask 3.x web UI
- firewalld (nftables backend), dnsmasq, nginx, WireGuard
- acme.sh for ACME certificates (ZeroSSL)

---

## For Operators

### Prerequisites

- Clean Debian 13 system with root access
- git installed
- One public-facing NIC (external) and at least one LAN NIC (internal)
- A DNS A record pointing to the appliance's public IP for the management domain
- Minimum hardware: 1 CPU, 512 MB RAM, 4 GB disk

### Install (Production)

```bash
MGMT_DOMAIN=wall.example.com \
MGMT_PASS="strongpassword" \
MGMT_USER="admin" \
ACME_EMAIL="admin@example.com" \
bash install.sh
```

### Install (Development)

```bash
./install.sh --dev --mgmt-pass strongpassword --acme-email "admin@example.com"
```

`--dev` auto-detects the repo's file owner as the service user, skips the safety warning about running as a regular user, and keeps file ownership dev-friendly.

| Flag | Env Var | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| -- | `MGMT_DOMAIN` | No | Public domain for the management WebUI (auto-detected as `hostname.local`) |
| `--mgmt-pass` | `MGMT_PASS` | Yes | HTTP basic auth password for the WebUI |
| `--mgmt-user` | `MGMT_USER` | No | WebUI username (defaults to `admin`) |
| `--acme-email` | `ACME_EMAIL` | Yes | ACME registration email (ZeroSSL by default) |
| `--user, -u` | `USER_NAME` | No | System user for service (default: `vacuum-wall`) |
| `--path, -p` | `INSTALL_DIR` | No | Install directory (default: repo root) |
| `--dev` | -- | No | Auto-detect repo owner as service user, skip safety warning |
| `--mgmt-domain` | `MGMT_DOMAIN` | No | (alias for env var) |
| `--wan-iface` | `WAN_IFACE` | No | WAN interface (auto-detected) |
| `--lan-ifaces` | `LAN_IFACES` | No | LAN interfaces, comma-separated (auto-detected) |

CLI flags take precedence over environment variables. Run `./install.sh --help` for full usage.

After installation, access the WebUI at `https://<MGMT_DOMAIN>`. The initial certificate is self-signed — use the Certs tab to issue a real one once DNS is propagating.

### Next Steps

1. **Assign interfaces** to zones from the Interfaces tab
2. **Configure DHCP** ranges for your LAN
3. **Add proxy domains** with ACME certificates
4. **Set up WireGuard** (optional)

See [docs/deployment.md](docs/deployment.md) for the full guide, including troubleshooting.

---

## For Developers

### Local Development

```bash
git clone <repo-url> && cd vacuum-wall
python3 -m venv .venv && . .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[dev]"
```

Start the WebUI locally (binds to 127.0.0.1:9090):

```bash
.venv/bin/python webui/server.py
```

### Lint and Format

```bash
.venv/bin/ruff check lib/ webui/ tests/
.venv/bin/ruff format lib/ webui/ tests/
```

All `lib/` modules share `lib.common` utilities (`run`, `run_proc`, `load_json`, `save_json`, `deep_merge`, `ensure_dirs`) and have full type hints and `__all__` exports. API blueprints share `_ok`/`_error` from `webui.api.common`.

### Tests

```bash
.venv/bin/python -m pytest tests/ -v
```

Tests mock all subprocess calls (firewalld, acme.sh, WireGuard, nginx, dnsmasq) — no system services required. 192 tests across 5 test modules.

### Documentation MCP Server

This project uses `docs-mcp-server` for grounded, real-time documentation lookups during development.

```bash
pipx install docs-mcp-server
docs-mcp init
```

Then run with Claude Code or Opencode to activate it. It automatically checks live docs before answering technical questions — no manual doc search needed.

### Architecture

```
Client ──→ nginx (SSL + basic auth) ──→ Flask (127.0.0.1:9090)
Flask ──→ lib/*.py ──→ sudo <cmd> ──→ system service
```

| Blueprint | URL prefix | Backend module |
|---|---|---|
| `webui/api/firewall` | `/api/firewall/` | `lib.firewall` |
| `webui/api/dhcp` | `/api/dhcp/` | `lib.dnsmasq` |
| `webui/api/proxy` | `/api/proxy/` | `lib.nginx` |
| `webui/api/certs` | `/api/certs/` | `lib.acme` |
| `webui/api/wireguard` | `/api/wireguard/` | `lib.wireguard` |

See [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md) for detailed request flow, zone model, and shared utility patterns.

---

## Documentation

- [Overview](docs/overview.md) — Feature summary and tech stack
- [Deployment Guide](docs/deployment.md) — Full installation and post-install configuration
- [Architecture](docs/architecture.md) — Request flow, subsystems, zone model, shared utilities
- [API Reference](docs/api.md) — REST API endpoints
- [Security Model](docs/security.md) — Privilege model and sudo whitelist
- [Configuration](docs/config.md) — Declarative config file formats and locations