Container Management UIs

Most homelabbers don't need full Kubernetes. They need a web UI that says "here are my containers, here's their state, restart this one, update that one." These tools fit that.

Web UIs

• ★ Portainer Community Edition — long-running classic; Docker / Swarm / Nomad / k8s; rich feature set; GitOps-style stacks. The default.
  • https://github.com/portainer/portainer
• ★ Dockge — modern, beautiful, by Uptime Kuma's author. Great for managing Compose stacks specifically.
  • https://github.com/louislam/dockge
• ★ Komodo — newer; Rust + Vue; multi-server; Compose + builds + git-driven. Rising fast in 2026.
  • https://github.com/moghtech/komodo
• Yacht — beta but actively maintained; Portainer alternative.
  • https://github.com/SelfhostedPro/Yacht
• Lazydocker — TUI, not a web UI; covered in container basics.
  • https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker

Auto-update / image refresh

• ★ Watchtower — auto-pull-and-restart containers on new image versions. The default. Configure carefully — auto-update can break.
  • https://github.com/containrrr/watchtower
• Diun — notify only; tells you about new images via Slack / Discord / email but doesn't update. Often safer.
  • https://github.com/crazy-max/diun
• Whats Up Docker (WUD) — alternative to Diun; more feature-rich.
  • https://github.com/getwud/wud
• Renovate / Dependabot — for tag bumps in compose.yaml files in git; see Dependency Updates.

Reverse proxy with Docker awareness

• ★ Nginx Proxy Manager — UI on top of Nginx + Let's Encrypt; the default for homelabbers.
  • https://github.com/NginxProxyManager/nginx-proxy-manager
• ★ Traefik — auto-discover Docker labels; see Reverse Proxy & LB.
  • https://github.com/traefik/traefik
• SWAG (LinuxServer.io) — Nginx + Let's Encrypt + fail2ban + many auth helpers in one image.
  • https://github.com/linuxserver/docker-swag
• Zoraxy — newer Go-based reverse proxy with web UI.
  • https://github.com/tobychui/zoraxy

Inspect / debug

• Lazydocker — TUI; per-container logs, stats, top.
• ctop — top-style live stats.
  • https://github.com/bcicen/ctop
• dive — image-layer inspector.
  • https://github.com/wagoodman/dive

Self-host PaaS-style (covered elsewhere)

For a fuller "git push to deploy" experience, see Self-Host PaaS — Coolify, Kamal, Dokku, CapRover, Easypanel.

Patterns to adopt

• ★ Stacks / Compose files in git, not in Portainer's editor. Portainer can pull from a repo on save.
• Watchtower with WATCHTOWER_LABEL_ENABLE=true — opt-in per container; don't auto-update everything.
• Pin tags — :latest + auto-update is a recipe for surprise outages.
• Run the management UI behind Tailscale / Access — never expose it publicly.

Pick this if…

• Default homelab UI: Portainer (mature) or Dockge (modern, focused).
• Multi-server, modern: Komodo.
• Friendly reverse proxy: Nginx Proxy Manager (UI) or Traefik (Docker labels).
• Auto-update opt-in: Watchtower.
• Notify only: Diun.