The latest articles on Forem by duckeydev (@duckdev). https://forem.com/duckdev https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3391678%2F20fa2626-5c9d-47ba-95bb-aacf68cbcac0.png https://forem.com/duckdev en duckeydev Sun, 27 Jul 2025 12:46:36 +0000 https://forem.com/duckdev/introducing-netgoat-a-self-hostable-reverse-proxy-that-goes-beast-mode-2pj2 https://forem.com/duckdev/introducing-netgoat-a-self-hostable-reverse-proxy-that-goes-beast-mode-2pj2 <h1> 🐐 Introducing NetGoat: A Self-Hostable Reverse Proxy That Goes Beast Mode </h1> <blockquote> <p>TL;DR: NetGoat is a next-gen, high-performance reverse proxy engine that acts like a Cloudflare Zero Trust layer — but runs on your homelab or cloud for <strong>free</strong>, with full customization, real-time metrics, and god-mode traffic control.</p> </blockquote> <h2> 🧠 What is NetGoat? </h2> <p>NetGoat is an open-source <strong>reverse proxy</strong> designed for homelabbers, indie devs, and sysadmins who want <strong>Cloudflare-level protection and features</strong>, without the limitations or price tag.</p> <p>Whether you’re running a portfolio site, self-hosted services, or full-on production infra — NetGoat gives you:</p> <ul> <li>🔥 High performance powered by <a href="https://bun.sh" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bun</a> </li> <li>🛡️ Smart Anti-DDoS, WAF rules, and bot filtering</li> <li>📊 Real-time traffic dashboards</li> <li>🔒 Auto SSL/TLS termination</li> <li>🔁 Load balancing and failover logic</li> <li>🧠 Plugin-based architecture for custom logic</li> </ul> <p>... and yeah, it even supports <strong>WebSockets</strong>, <strong>HTTP/2</strong>, and <strong>Cloudflare Zero Trust mode</strong>.</p> <h2> 🧪 Why I built this </h2> <p>I was tired of reverse proxies being either:</p> <ul> <li>🧊 Too barebones (Nginx, Caddy),</li> <li>🔒 Too limited (Cloudflare Free Tier),</li> <li>💸 Too expensive (Enterprise tools), So I made <strong>NetGoat</strong> — a powerful layer that can run <em>with</em> or <em>without</em> Cloudflare, giving you full flexibility, freedom, and no vendor lock-in.</li> </ul> <p>It’s built with:</p> <ul> <li>🧪 <strong>Bun</strong> for insane speed</li> <li>⚡ <strong>Fastify</strong> for scalable routing</li> <li>💻 <strong>Next.js</strong> and <strong>TailwindCSS</strong> for the optional UI</li> </ul> <h2> 🚀 Key Features </h2> <ul> <li>🛡️ <strong>WAF &amp; DDoS Filtering</strong> </li> <li>⚙️ <strong>Rate Limiting &amp; Queuing</strong> </li> <li>🔐 <strong>Free SSL with Auto-Renew</strong> </li> <li>📦 <strong>Smart Caching Rules</strong> </li> <li>🌐 <strong>Multi-domain support</strong> </li> <li>🧩 <strong>Plugin system for custom logic</strong> </li> <li>💾 <strong>Runs on any VPS or homelab box</strong> </li> </ul> <h2> 👀 Demo / Screenshots </h2> <blockquote> <p>Coming soon! UI preview and demo server in the next update.</p> </blockquote> <h2> 🐳 Quick Start </h2> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>git clone https://github.com/cloudable-dev/netgoat <span class="nb">cd </span>netgoat bun <span class="nb">install </span>bun run start </code></pre> </div> <ul> <li>⚠️ Make sure ports 80/443 are open</li> <li>🌐 Point your domain to your VPS IP</li> <li>🔥 Watch traffic flow and flex</li> </ul> <h2> 📦 Tech Stack </h2> <ul> <li><a href="https://bun.sh" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bun</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.fastify.io/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fastify</a></li> <li><a href="https://nextjs.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Next.js</a></li> <li><a href="https://tailwindcss.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">TailwindCSS</a></li> <li><a href="https://www.mongodb.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">MongoDB</a></li> </ul> <h2> 📣 Call to Action </h2> <p>If this project sounds interesting, I’d love your feedback. Star it, fork it, break it, and PR it:</p> <p>👉 <strong>GitHub Repo</strong>: <a href="https://github.com/cloudable-dev/netgoat" rel="noopener noreferrer">github.com/cloudable-dev/netgoat</a></p> <h2> 💬 Let’s talk </h2> <p>Got a feature idea?</p> <p>Hit me up here or on GitHub - let’s build this wild tool together.</p> <h3> Tags </h3> bunjs opensource homelab networking