Quick Start

Get coreX Manager running in minutes with Docker Compose. This guide covers deployment, first login, and your first config apply.

Prerequisites

A Linux host with Docker and the Docker Compose plugin installed
Ports 80, 443, 3000, 8000, and 8404 available (configurable)

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/ne4u/corex_manager.git
cd corex_manager

2. Configure Environment

Copy the example environment file and edit it:

cp .env.example .env

Key settings to review:

Variable	Default	Description
`ADMIN_PASSWORD`	(random)	Admin user password. Set this for production.
`SECRET_KEY`	(random)	JWT signing key. Set this for production.
`HAPROXY_MAXCONN`	`100000`	Max HAProxy connections. Lower if memory is limited.
`CORAZA_SPOA_ENABLED`	`true`	Enable the Coraza WAF SPOA.

3. Start the Stack

docker compose up -d --build

This starts five services:

Service	Port	Description
`frontend`	3000	React web GUI
`api`	8000	FastAPI control plane
`corex`	80, 443	HAProxy data plane
`coraza-spoa`	—	Coraza WAF SPOA
`valkey`	—	In-memory store (caching, rate limits, tokens)

4. Log In

Open your browser to http://<host>:3000 and log in with:

Username: admin
Password: the value of ADMIN_PASSWORD from your .env file (or admin if unset)

Change the default password

For production deployments, always set ADMIN_PASSWORD in your .env file before starting the stack. If left unset, a random password is generated and printed in the API logs.

5. Add a Listener

Navigate to Configuration > Listeners
Click Add Listener
Enter a name (e.g. web-frontend)
Set bind address to 0.0.0.0 and port to 80
Select protocol http
Click Save

6. Add a Backend

Navigate to Configuration > Backends
Click Add Backend
Enter a name (e.g. web-servers)
Select protocol http
Select algorithm roundrobin
Click Save
Click Servers on the backend row
Add a server: name web1, address 127.0.0.1, port 8080
Click Save

7. Apply Configuration

Navigate to the Dashboard (home page)
Click Preview to see the generated HAProxy config
Review the config, then click Apply Config
Watch the task toast in the bottom-right corner for progress
Once applied, HAProxy is live and routing traffic

Config snapshots

Every Apply Config creates a config snapshot. You can revert to any previous snapshot from Management > Snapshots.

Service URLs

After deployment, the services are available at:

Service	URL
Web GUI	`http://<host>:3000`
API	`http://<host>:8000`
HAProxy	`http://<host>:80` / `https://<host>:443`
HAProxy Stats	`http://<host>:8404`

Next Steps

Listeners & Backends — Configure TLS, HTTP/2, QUIC, and load balancing
Certificates & TLS — Set up Let’s Encrypt and cipher suites
Security Rules — Create ordered rules with the coreX expression language
WAF — Enable Coraza WAF with OWASP CRS