A lightweight, open-source web hosting control panel for Linux servers.
Install a full LAMP/LEMP stack and manage your server from a clean, modern web interface.
Lite cPanel is a self-hosted, open-source server management panel built on Python (Flask). It is designed for developers and system administrators who need a simple, fast, and dependency-light alternative to heavy commercial control panels like cPanel/WHM or Plesk.
It bundles a full automated LAMP/LEMP stack installer alongside a browser-based management interface — all in a single deployable unit.
- Real-time CPU, RAM, and Disk usage meters
- Live Process View — auto-refreshing top-10 process table with CPU/Memory percentages and 1/5/15-min load averages
- System Services Monitor — live status badges (Active / Inactive / Failed / Uninstalled) for Apache, Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL, MongoDB, Mongo Express, CSF Firewall, ModSecurity, and Lite cPanel itself
- One-click Restart button for each service directly from the dashboard
- Add and remove Apache/Nginx virtual hosts with a single click
- Enable/Disable individual domains without deleting them
- SSL Certificate management — generate and renew Let's Encrypt certificates per domain
- Per-domain log viewer with live tail (Apache Error, Apache Access, Nginx Error, Nginx Access, Syslog)
- Create MySQL/MariaDB databases with a dedicated user and strong password
- Safe delete — automatically removes the associated MySQL user when a database is deleted (or revokes only the specific grants if the user is shared)
- Change database user passwords from the panel
- Toggle user host access between
localhost(local-only) and%(remote access) - One-click phpMyAdmin login via secure single-sign-on token bridge
- Create and delete Pure-FTPd virtual FTP users
- Change FTP user passwords
- Bind FTP users to specific web root directories with path traversal prevention
- One-click installer — installs MongoDB 8.x directly from the official repository
- Create MongoDB databases with a dedicated user and strong password
- Drop databases and automatically clean up associated users
- Change database user passwords from the panel
- Mongo Express — install, start, restart, and access the web-based MongoDB admin UI (
/mongo-express) with auto-generated credentials and Apache reverse proxy
- Browse the full server filesystem from the browser with breadcrumb navigation
- Upload files (multiple at once) and download any file
- Create folders, rename and delete files/folders
- Edit text files, configs, and code directly in-browser with a full-height editor
- Compress — select multiple files/folders and archive them as
.zip,.tar.gz,.tar.bz2, or.tar.xz - Extract — decompress any archive (
.zip,.tar.gz,.tar.bz2,.tar.xz,.tar,.gz,.bz2,.xz) in one click - Path traversal and forbidden directory protection (
/proc,/sys,/dev, etc.)
- Start, Stop, and Restart ConfigServer Security & Firewall (CSF)
- Allow/Deny IP addresses with a single click
- View and manage temporary allow/deny entries
- Edit the raw
csf.allow,csf.deny,csf.ignore, andcsf.conffiles in-browser - Live port overview
- One-click installer — installs
libapache2-mod-security2+ OWASP Core Rule Set directly from the panel with a live progress bar - Switch between On / Detection-Only / Off rule engine modes globally
- Toggle ModSecurity per-domain
- Activate rule profiles (OWASP CRS, Comodo WAF, Custom Rules)
- Edit main config, custom rules, and disabled rules list in-browser
- Live audit log viewer with domain filtering
- Auto-install WordPress on any configured domain with an optional sub-path
- Live streaming progress bar during installation
- Creates a secure, isolated MySQL database and user — credentials stored only in
wp-config.php - Detect existing and partial/broken WordPress installations
- One-click Uninstall — drops the WordPress database/user and removes all WordPress-specific files
- Node.js Process Manager — Full graphical interface for PM2
- Live Monitoring — Real-time CPU, Memory, and Uptime tracking for background Node.js applications
- Lifecycle Controls — Start, Stop, Restart, and Delete processes with one click
- Integrated Log Viewer — View stdout/stderr logs in a beautiful modal for instant debugging
- One-Click Startup — Quickly launch Next.js apps on custom ports with automatic persistence
- NVM Awareness — Automatically detects and supports Node.js versions installed via NVM
- Smart SSL Generation — Automatically detects which webserver (Apache/Nginx) is serving port 80 to choose the correct Certbot plugin
- DNS Verification — Automatically verifies DNS resolution for the
wwwsubdomain before including it in the SSL request, preventing validation failures - Snap Certbot — Uses the official, more robust Snap-based Certbot installation method
- Domain-Specific Logs — Enhanced per-domain log viewer with live tailing and fallback support
- Reverse Proxy — Automatically generate Nginx/Apache reverse proxy configurations for Next.js applications
- Inline Editor — Advanced configuration editor with built-in SSL generation support
- Real-time Monitoring — Integrated GoAccess engine for live parsing of Nginx and Apache access logs
- Traffic Overview — Per-domain hits, unique visitors, and bandwidth usage statistics
- Deep-Dive Reports — One-click generation of full interactive HTML reports for every domain
- Automated Log Mapping — Automatically detects log locations for proxy domains and Next.js applications
- Fully interactive root shell directly in the browser (via xterm.js)
- Real-time bi-directional communication over WebSockets (flask-sock)
- Slick Modern UI — Custom minimalist scrollbars and improved terminal container styling
- Automatic terminal resizing and window management
- Run interactive console tools like
nano,htop, ortopnatively
- View, add, and delete system scheduled tasks directly from the UI
- Beginner-friendly dropdown scheduler (Minute, Hour, Day, Month, Weekday)
- 1-Click Let's Encrypt auto-renewal setup
- Safely parses and preserves existing cron comments and advanced macros
- Automate scheduled backups via cron or trigger manual backups instantly
- Generates precise, individual database dumps and domain-specific archives
- Local Storage: Keep backups locally with automated retention rules to save disk space
- Remote Storage: Upload backups securely to external FTP servers or S3-compatible object storage (e.g., DigitalOcean Spaces, AWS S3)
- Built-in updater to seamlessly pull the latest features and bug fixes via Git directly from the UI
- Edit core system configuration files (Apache, Nginx, MariaDB, PHP, FTP) directly in-browser with auto-reload on save
- System Log Viewer — tabbed viewer for Apache Error/Access, Nginx Error/Access, Syslog, and MySQL Error logs with auto-scroll and one-click refresh
- System-user authentication — PAM-based login using the server's existing Linux user accounts
- Jailed SFTP (Chroot) — Secure file transfer isolation for virtual users, preventing access to the root filesystem
- Private Group Isolation — Each user operates in a private group, ensuring total data privacy between accounts while maintaining web server compatibility
- Automatic Security Hardening — Global protection for
.envand sensitive dotfiles, plus automatic disabling of directory indexing (Autoindex) across Nginx and Apache - Framework Optimization — Automated permission management (770/660) specifically tuned for Laravel, WordPress, and other modern PHP applications
- CSRF Protection on all forms (Flask-WTF)
- Session-based login with configurable secret key
- phpMyAdmin SSO via secure time-limited token files
- Credential-free panel — database passwords for web apps are managed securely, never stored in plaintext shared files
- File Manager path boundary enforcement — all operations validated against forbidden system paths
| OS | Version | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu | 20.04 LTS (Focal) | ✅ Fully Supported |
| Ubuntu | 22.04 LTS (Jammy) | ✅ Fully Supported |
| Ubuntu | 24.04 LTS (Noble) | ✅ Fully Supported |
| Debian | 11 (Bullseye) | |
| Debian | 12 (Bookworm) | |
| Other Linux | Any | ❌ Not Tested |
Note: The automated stack installer (
install.sh) is written specifically for Ubuntu/Debianapt-based systems. The panel itself (Flask app) will run on any Linux distribution with Python 3.10+.
The automated installer supports three web stack configurations:
| Stack | Web Server | PHP | Use Case |
|---|---|---|---|
| LAMP | Apache 2 | mod_php |
Classic shared hosting setup |
| LEMP | Nginx | PHP-FPM | High-performance modern sites |
| Hybrid | Nginx (port 80) + Apache (port 8080) | PHP-FPM | Best of both — Nginx as proxy, Apache for .htaccess compatibility |
All stacks include MariaDB, phpMyAdmin, and optional MongoDB.
- Ubuntu 20.04+ or Debian 11+
- Root or
sudoaccess - Internet connection
- Git
git clone https://github.com/tysonchamp/Lite-cPanel.git
cd Lite-cPanelsudo bash install.shThe installer will:
- Prompt you to choose your preferred web stack (LAMP / LEMP / Hybrid)
- Install all required packages non-interactively
- Configure Apache and/or Nginx with a default virtual host
- Set up MariaDB with a secure root password
- Install phpMyAdmin with auto-generated credentials
- Deploy and start the Lite cPanel panel as a system service on port 2083
Open your browser and navigate to:
http://<your-server-ip>:2083
Log in with any Linux system user account on that server (e.g. your SSH username/password).
If you already have a web stack and just want the panel:
cd cpanel
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Set a persistent secret key (recommended)
echo "FLASK_SECRET_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)" > app/.env
# Run with Gunicorn (production)
gunicorn --worker-class gthread --threads 10 --timeout 3600 --workers 3 --bind 0.0.0.0:2083 app.cpanel:app
# Or for development only
python3 app/cpanel.pyLite-cPanel/
├── install.sh # Main orchestrator installer
├── scripts/
│ └── lamp-installer.sh # Core LAMP/LEMP/Hybrid stack installer
├── cpanel/
│ ├── requirements.txt
│ └── app/
│ ├── cpanel.py # Flask application & routing
│ ├── auth.py # PAM authentication
│ ├── backup_mgr.py # Automated Backup Manager (Local, FTP, S3)
│ ├── cron_mgr.py # Cron job scheduling
│ ├── database_mgr.py # MySQL management
│ ├── domains_mgr.py # Virtual host management
│ ├── filemanager_mgr.py # File Manager (browse, edit, upload, compress, extract)
│ ├── ftp_mgr.py # Pure-FTPd user management
│ ├── modsec_mgr.py # ModSecurity management & installer
│ ├── mongodb_mgr.py # MongoDB & Mongo Express management
│ ├── nextjs_mgr.py # Next.js Apps Manager (PM2 + proxy)
│ ├── run_backup.py # Automated backup execution script
│ ├── security_mgr.py # CSF Firewall management
│ ├── settings_mgr.py # Config editor & log viewer
│ ├── terminal_mgr.py # Web-based root terminal via WebSockets
│ ├── updater_mgr.py # Git-based automated panel updater
│ ├── wordpress_mgr.py # WordPress installer & manager
│ ├── static/
│ │ ├── logo.png # Lite cPanel logo
│ │ └── favicon.png # Browser favicon
│ └── templates/ # Jinja2 HTML templates
│ ├── dashboard.html
│ ├── domains.html
│ ├── databases.html
│ ├── mongodb.html
│ ├── filemanager.html
│ ├── ftp.html
│ ├── firewall.html
│ ├── modsecurity.html
│ ├── wordpress.html
│ ├── nextjs.html
│ ├── terminal.html
│ ├── cron.html
│ ├── backups.html
│ ├── settings.html
│ └── login.html
├── screenshot.png
└── README.md
Contributions are welcome! This project is fully open-source under the GPL-3.0 License.
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch:
git checkout -b feature/my-feature - Commit your changes:
git commit -m "feat: add my feature" - Push to your branch:
git push origin feature/my-feature - Open a Pull Request
Please follow Conventional Commits for commit messages.
- Email server management (Postfix/Dovecot)
- Automated backups (scheduled tar/mysqldump with remote upload)
- Multi-user support with role-based access control
- Let's Encrypt auto-renewal via cron
- Docker containerization support
- Web-based terminal (xterm.js integration)
- MongoDB & Mongo Express management
- File Manager with compress/extract support
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
See the LICENSE file for full details.