Show HN: Isaiah – open-source and self-hosted app to manage everything Docker | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: Isaiah – open-source and self-hosted app to manage everything Docker

github.com

196 pointswillmoss43 comments

    It is an attempt at recreating the lazydocker command-line application from scratch, while making it available as a web application without compromising on the features.

Wouldn't it be possible to directly use lazydocker with a browser terminal such as wetty?

I would think so! Looks like the author tried some similar approaches.

In the disclaimer section:

> Before creating Isaiah, I tried to "serve lazydocker over websocket" (trying to send keypresses to the lazydocker process, and retrieving the output via Websocket), but didn't succeed, hence the full rewrite.

> I also tried to start Isaiah from the lazydocker codebase and implement a web interface on top of it, but it seemed impractical or simply beyond my skills, hence the full rewrite.

Ha! At least OP is honest.

I took a crack at something like this a couple of weeks ago[0] except using ttyd. It’s been working pretty well since then and I actually really enjoy the setup.

[0] https://github.com/mattpowell/lazydocker-web

This reminds me of k9s, particularly the UI and full functionality. I use dockge https://github.com/louislam/dockge for managing stacks on a home server. Isaiah feels very admin oriented, or perhaps developer friendly for that full docker experience via the web.

I only had a brief play but I couldn't see how to deploy a new container. That would make this a companion tool alongside something like Dockge, portainer etc.

Thanks for the feedback!

To deploy a new container, you have two options :

- From an image (in the "Images" tab), you can open the menu, and run the image as is (or press "r"). You will be prompted for a container's name, and it will be created.

- You can press "C" (for Create stack), fill in a docker-compose.yml file content, and confirm. This will create a stack from your file!

Let me know if I can help!

Curious why people feel the need for tools like this. I think git benefits massively from a graphical tool but I don't really see the point for docker, docker compose or even kubernetes. I do find CLI completions essential, though.

CLI is good and the best way to manage docker containers, however editing that compose file from a browser tab and hitting recreate slaps different. A web GUI makes it so that users who are otherwise intimidated by CLI can still make use of docker.

I would be worried about where that compose file is being stored. I keep my compose files in a git repo and after I edit them just do `docker compose up -d` (in fact, I hit a key in my editor and it runs that for me, showing the output).

Those are 2 hops as opposed to editing and applying the changes from a single interface. With git, assuming you are talking about an online repo, there is always the worry of accidentally leaking credentials etc. Though I assume the project mentioned here is all local so the compose files will be saved in a local directory.

I suppose the two methods (CLI and GUI) don't make much difference but they appeal to different users, maybe even different occasions for the power user.

I haven't tried it yet, but if it cuts a step in my development process then yes please!

Check out k9s, if you use kubernetes. It made me 100x more efficient when working across multiple clusters and namespaces.

Docker benefits from a graphical tool for the same reason as git does; both CLI tools often require using long id strings from the output of one command as the input of another command.

Any users with usage reports? Looks interesting.

I use a combination of docker and remote explorer extension for visual code. This gives me an IDE that can control containers spanning multiple nodes.

For managing Docker installs another option could be portainer. Their community edition is open source https://docs.portainer.io/v/2.20/start/install-ce/server/doc...

Portainer is mentioned by the author in the README:

“What spurred me to build Isaiah in the first place is a bunch of comments on the Reddit self-hosted community, stating that Portainer and other available solutions were too heavy or hard to use.”

Yacht (https://yacht.sh/) is good too if anything about Portainer upsets you.

Looks like a clone or fork of the UnRaid docker interface

I had weird Windows boot lag with Portainer. Like minutes. No containers were even active or running. Uninstalled and it went away.

I like the idea of a web based text ui. But if it's a clone of an existing cli tool this seems to be going full circle, just use ssh or a web ssh client. Still a nice project though :)

I am curious why this name was chosen. Is there any connection between Isaiah and whales? Feels somewhat TempleOS-y.

Alright! I'll copy-paste an explanation I gave prior on Reddit. I legit had no idea this would spark so many conversations hahaha.

"I like to use a pen name generator, and use the generated name for my projects. It makes it easier for me to name things, rather than having to come up with new naming ideas for every new project. And also, I like the idea that every project has a person's name, as if, by using the project, you're getting the help of the person named X (X = Isaiah, Erin, Osmond, any other project I have published)."

I really had never thought of the religious aspect of Isaiah, I just went with a generated pen name I liked.

That makes sense, heh. I had thought you were going for a Moby Dick pun with “Ishmael” or something

To me names are important. I have to find a good name for a project or business before I start. Or at least good-enough. This is a great naming idea. I love it.

I also thought that there's a deeper meaning why you picked the name. Still a cool project. I love how you kept the terminal UI look.

> any connection between Isaiah and whales?

You are thinking of Noah and the Whale.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noah_and_the_Whale

> You are thinking of Noah and the Whale.

You are more likely thinking of Jonah and the Whale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonah

Fun fact. In French it’s distinctly not a whale. But a very large fish

I don't know of any translation in English that says whale either: https://www.biblegateway.com/verse/en/Jonah%201%3A17 I think the idea that it was a whale comes mostly from children's adaptations extrapolating from the fact that it says "big fish", whales are big, and the people of the time wouldn't have made a linguistic distinction between fish and fish-like marine mammals.

As long as we are on this line of thought, many children's books like to put an ending that sounds like Jonah was nice and happy at the end, which is not there at all. It ends with him being admonished for valuing the plant but not the 20k people. I use this as a litmus test when looking at children's Bibles.

Also the story of Jericho. "Then they devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword." is often glossed over!

Being mammals I firmly believe whales would have been on the ark, so I think Noah would have hung out with them. Some other people on the web disagree. It should come as no surprise this has been discussed.

What a bizarre comment.

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