Instance Config Reference

Each gokrazy instance has a config.json file that contains the instance configuration.

You can open the instance config in your editor by running gok edit:

• gok edit will open the config of the default instance, which is named “hello”.
• gok -i scanner edit will open the config of instance “scanner”.

If you prefer, you can also locate and edit the file directly on disk: ~/gokrazy/hello/config.json

This document is a reference, explaining all configuration fields. You don’t need to read through it all before you first start using gokrazy — follow the other configuration guides in this section instead. In case anything should be unclear, you can look at the config.go source code (and send feedback, please!).

Older versions of gokrazy only used command-line flags and plain-text config files instead of a central instance configuration. See the design document gokrazy “instance-centric” config re-design for details on why the change was made, how old setups are kept working and how they can be migrated.

Here is a minimal instance configuration example:

{
    "Hostname": "hello",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

Most instance configuration files will be more complicated, for example:

{
    "Hostname": "ts",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscaled",
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscale",
        "github.com/gokrazy/mkfs",
        "github.com/stapelberg/dr"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscale": {
            "CommandLineFlags": [
                "up"
            ]
        },
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscaled": {
            "CommandLineFlags": [
                "--outbound-http-proxy-listen=localhost:9080"
            ]
        },
        "github.com/stapelberg/dr": {
            "Environment": [
                "HTTPS_PROXY=localhost:9080",
                "HTTP_PROXY=localhost:9080"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Hostname

(Corresponds to the former -hostname gokr-packer flag.)

The Hostname field sets the hostname of your gokrazy instance.

The gokrazy DHCP client sends this hostname when acquiring a lease, so if hostname resolution is working in your local network, you will be able to access the device in your browser by entering the hostname, e.g. http://hello/ (username gokrazy, password as configured in HTTPPassword or ~/.config/gokrazy/http-password.txt).

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "example",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

DeviceType

(Corresponds to the former -device_type gokr-packer flag.)

The DeviceType field specifies which kind of target device this gokrazy instance should be built for.

• empty (""): target the Raspberry Pi (default) or UEFI/BIOS PCs (router7 kernel), depending on the KernelPackage and FirmwarePackage you specify.

• odroidhc1: target the Odroid XU4/HC1/HC2 devices. This results in an MBR without a GPT (as the Odroid devices do not support GPT), and in extra bootloader files in the root partition.

The possible values are defined in github.com/gokrazy/internal/deviceconfig (→ config.go)

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "alternative",
    "DeviceType": "odroidhc1",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

Packages

(Corresponds to the former gokr-packer command line arguments.)

The Packages field lists the Go packages that should be built and included in your gokrazy instance.

Each listed package is a Go import path referencing an executable Go program (package main).

To add a package to a gokrazy instance, use the gok add command, which also works for packages that have not yet been published and are stored on your local disk.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "hello",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "github.com/stapelberg/scan2drive/cmd/scan2drive"
    ]
}

PackageConfig

The PackageConfig field specifies how each package listed in Packages will be built into your instance, and how it will be started at runtime.

PackageConfig is a map that is keyed by the package Go import path.

See also the Package Config page.

PackageConfig → GoBuildFlags

(Corresponds to the former buildflags per-package directory text files.)

The GoBuildFlags field configures extra arguments that the gok CLI passes to go build when building your Packages. See the cmd/go documentation for available flags.

To pass build tags, do not use -tags=mycustomtag, as that will overwrite gokrazy’s own build tags. Instead, set the GoBuildTags field.

Note that no shell escaping or quoting (with single or double quotes) is required. The build flags are passed when calling go build via the exec system call.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "scanner",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "github.com/stapelberg/scan2drive/cmd/scan2drive"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "github.com/stapelberg/scan2drive/cmd/scan2drive": {
            "GoBuildFlags": [
                "-ldflags=-linkmode external -extldflags -static"
            ]
        }
    }
}

PackageConfig → GoBuildTags

(Corresponds to the former buildtags per-package directory text files.)

The GoBuildTags field configures additional Go build tags (also known as build constraints) to use when building your program.

Note: Some Go packages use build tags to optionally build code which uses cgo. Because gokrazy intentionally does not include a C runtime environment, configuring such build tags results either in compilation failures, or in programs that compile but won’t start. But, for certain specific use-cases (scan2drive’s turbojpeg support, for example), you can enable just enough cgo to end up with a fully statically linked program, which does work on gokrazy.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "scanner",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "github.com/stapelberg/scan2drive/cmd/scan2drive"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "github.com/stapelberg/scan2drive/cmd/scan2drive": {
            "GoBuildTags": [
                "turbojpeg"
            ]
        }
    }
}

PackageConfig → Environment

(Corresponds to the former env per-package directory text files.)

The Environment field configures environment variables that will be set when starting your program.

Each entry is a key=value pair, like in Go’s os.Environ().

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "ts",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "github.com/stapelberg/dr"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "github.com/stapelberg/dr": {
            "Environment": [
                "HTTPS_PROXY=localhost:9080",
                "HTTP_PROXY=localhost:9080"
            ]
        }
    }
}

PackageConfig → CommandLineFlags

(Corresponds to the former flags per-package directory text files.)

The CommandLineFlags field configures command line flags that will be set when starting your program.

Note that no shell escaping or quoting (with single or double quotes) is required. The command line flags are passed when starting your program via the exec system call.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "ts",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscaled"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscaled": {
            "CommandLineFlags": [
                "--port=41641",
                "--outbound-http-proxy-listen=localhost:9080"
            ]
        }
    }
}

PackageConfig → DontStart

(Corresponds to the former dontstart per-package directory text files.)

Enabling the DontStart field makes the gokrazy init system not start your program automatically.

You can still start the program manually via the web interface, or interactively via breakglass.

This is useful for programs that are interactive command line tools, instead of permanently running services.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "ts",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscaled",
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscale"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "tailscale.com/cmd/tailscale": {
            "DontStart": true
        }
    }
}

PackageConfig → WaitForClock

(Corresponds to the former waitforclock per-package directory text files.)

The WaitForClock field makes the gokrazy init system wait for clock synchronization before starting the program. This is useful when modifying the program source to call gokrazy.WaitForClock() is inconvenient.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "scanner",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "github.com/stapelberg/scan2drive/cmd/scan2drive"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "github.com/stapelberg/scan2drive/cmd/scan2drive": {
            "WaitForClock": true
        }
    }
}

PackageConfig → ExtraFileContents

(Corresponds to the former extrafiles per-package directory text files.)

The ExtraFileContents field allows adding extra files into the root file system of your gokrazy instance. Any file aside from the built Go program (e.g. scan2drive) is considered extra.

ExtraFileContents is a map from root file system destination path (e.g. /etc/caddy/Caddyfile) to the plain text contents of the extra file.

The extra file will be created as a regular file (not executable) with default permissions (UNIX mode 644, or -rw-r--r--). Note that gokrazy’s root file system is read-only.

It can be more convenient to manage extra files as standalone, separate files (not as part of config.json), which the ExtraFilePaths field allows you to do.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "webserver",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2/cmd/caddy"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2/cmd/caddy": {
            "ExtraFileContents": {
                "/etc/caddy/Caddyfile": "http://:8080 {
	root * /tmp
	file_server browse
}
"
            }
        }
    }
}

PackageConfig → ExtraFilePaths

(Corresponds to the former extrafiles per-package directory text files.)

The ExtraFilePaths field allows adding extra files into the root file system of your gokrazy instance. Any file aside from the built Go program (e.g. scan2drive) is considered extra.

ExtraFilePaths is a map from root file system destination path (e.g. /etc/caddy/Caddyfile) to a relative or absolute path of the extra files to include. Relative paths are relative to the instance directory, e.g. ~/gokrazy/hello — the same directory in which config.json lives.

The extra file path can refer to one of:

• a regular file. File modes are retained, including the executable bit.
• a directory. All files and directories within the directory are recursively included.
• a .tar archive: <path>.tar. All files contained in the archive are included.
• an architecture-dependent .tar file: <path>_<target_goarch>.tar, for example firmware_amd64.tar

Go packages that target gokrazy can optionally include a _gokrazy directory, in which gokrazy will look for extrafiles. Conceptually, the directory is handled as if you had configured ExtraFilePaths: "/home/michael/go/src/github.com/gokrazy/wifi/_gokrazy/extrafiles".

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "webserver",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass",
        "github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2/cmd/caddy"
    ],
    "PackageConfig": {
        "github.com/caddyserver/caddy/v2/cmd/caddy": {
            "ExtraFilePaths": {
                "/etc/caddy/Caddyfile": "Caddyfile"
            }
        }
    }
}

cat > ~/gokrazy/webserver/Caddyfile <<'EOT'
http://:80 {
	root * /tmp
	file_server browse 
}
EOT

SerialConsole

(Corresponds to the former -serial_console gokr-packer flag.)

The SerialConsole field controls whether the Linux kernel provides a serial console on the Raspberry Pi’s UART0 RX/TX ports (see pinout.xyz). To use this serial console, a popular option is to connect a USB-to-serial adapter.

Linux supports multiple consoles, but only one can be the default console. Kernel messages during boot will be printed to the default console. When you turn off the serial console, the default console will be shown on the HDMI output, and accept input from the USB keyboard.

The advantage of using a serial console is that you can easily save the entire boot output to a file on a separate computer (whereas with an HDMI console, text scrolls by very fast), and you can get debug output from the Raspberry Pi bootloader as well for debugging.

• serial0,115200 (default if unset) enables UART0 as a serial console with 115200 baud. This value is used as console= Linux kernel parameter, so use values like ttyS0,115200 if you want to use a different serial port for your console, e.g. when running gokrazy on a PC.
• disabled will disable the serial console (the default console will be HDMI), which frees up the serial port for usage by your applications.
• off sets enable_uart=0 in config.txt for the Raspberry Pi firmware, which will save a little bit of power by running the Pi at lower clock speeds.

If you want to write an application that uses the serial port, open /dev/serial0 (example), which is a symlink that points to the device handling the RX/TX pins (typically ttyAMA0 or ttyS0).

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "router7",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ],
    "SerialConsole": "ttyS0,115200"
}

GokrazyPackages

(Corresponds to the former -gokrazy_pkgs gokr-packer flag.)

Aside from the user-specified Packages, a gokrazy instance also includes a couple of packages that are considered part of the system, because they are needed to boot the system into a useful state. These are placed in the /gokrazy directory (other packages are placed in the /user directory).

If unset, the following packages will be included by default:

• github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy/cmd/dhcp sets the IP address after obtaining a DHCPv4 lease.
• github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy/cmd/ntp synchronizes the hardware clock via NTP.
• github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy/cmd/randomd stores/loads a kernel random seed across boots.

Typically you don’t need to configure this field, but it can be useful to overwrite the GokrazyPackages if some component clashes with how you want to use your device. For example, for router7, I need to remove the gokrazy dhcp package as router7 has its own DHCP client. Or, if you were building a local NTP server, you might want to remove the gokrazy ntp package.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "router7",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ],
    "GokrazyPackages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy/cmd/ntp",
        "github.com/gokrazy/gokrazy/cmd/randomd"
    ]
}

KernelPackage

(Corresponds to the former -kernel_package gokr-packer flag.)

The KernelPackage field specifies a Go import path that references a package which does not contain any Go code, but instead contains a Linux kernel image (vmlinuz).

The following files are taken from the kernel package directory and are included in the boot file system of your gokrazy instance:

• vmlinuz, a compiled Linux kernel image
• *.dtb, Linux device tree files
• boot.scr, U-Boot script

Additionally, the lib/modules subdirectory (containing loadable Linux kernel modules) is included in the root file system. Note that these modules are only included, but not automatically loaded (there is no udev or equivalent on gokrazy). If you need to load modules for your hardware, see bluetooth.go for an example program that loads kernel modules.

Default if unset: github.com/gokrazy/kernel

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "router7",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ],
    "KernelPackage": "github.com/rtr7/kernel"
}

FirmwarePackage

(Corresponds to the former -firmware_package gokr-packer flag.)

The FirmwarePackage field specifies a Go import path that references a package which does not contain any Go code, but instead contains Raspberry Pi firmware files.

The following files are taken from the firmware package directory and are included in the boot file system of your gokrazy instance:

• *.bin, Raspberry Pi firmware files
• *.dat, Raspberry Pi firmware files
• *.elf, Raspberry Pi firmware files
• *.upd, Raspberry Pi EEPROM update files
• *.sig, Raspberry Pi EEPROM update signatures
• overlays/*.dtbo, Device Tree overlay files for the Raspberry Pi OS kernel

Default if unset: github.com/gokrazy/firmware

If empty, no files will be included.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "router7",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ],
    "FirmwarePackage": ""
}

EEPROMPackage

(Corresponds to the former -eeprom_package gokr-packer flag.)

The EEPROMPackage field specifies a Go import path that references a package which does not contain any Go code, but instead contains Raspberry Pi EEPROM update files.

The following files are taken from the firmware package directory and are included in the boot file system of your gokrazy instance:

• pieeprom-*.bin, Raspberry Pi EEPROM update files
• recovery.bin, Raspberry Pi EEPROM update files
• lv805-*.bin, Raspberry Pi EEPROM update files

Default if unset: github.com/gokrazy/rpi-eeprom

If empty, no files will be included.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "router7",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ],
    "EEPROMPackage": ""
}

Bootloader configuration

The Raspberry Pi’s “system configuration parameters” (interpreted by the bootloader, or “boot firmware”) can be configured via the config.txt file on the boot file system.

The BootloaderExtraLines array contains one string per extra line that should be added to config.txt when the gokrazy packer creates the boot file system.

This allows enabling the Raspberry Pi-provided Device Tree Overlays — the example below enables 1-Wire support. Note that not all Device Tree Overlays are guaranteed to work; compatibility depends on whether the upstream Linux driver matches the Raspberry Pi OS Linux driver.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "hello",
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ],
    "BootloaderExtraLines": [
	    "dtoverlay=w1-gpio"
	]
}

Update

The Update field contains a struct that configures how gokrazy updates are done.

You typically don’t need to configure the Update field.

Update → Hostname

Hostname (in UpdateStruct) overrides Struct.Hostname, but only for deploying the update via HTTP, not in the generated image.

Update → UseTLS

The UseTLS field accepts the following values:

• empty (""): use TLS if certificates already exist on disk
• off: disable TLS even if certificates exist
• self-signed: create (self-signed) TLS certificates if needed

See Using TLS in untrusted networks for more details.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "webserver",
    "Update": {
        "HTTPPassword": "secret",
        "UseTLS": "self-signed"
    },
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

Update → HTTPPort

(Corresponds to the former -http_port gokr-packer flag.)

The HTTPPort field sets the HTTP port (port 80 by default) on which the gokrazy web interface will be available. This field controls both: which port your gokrazy instance listens on (server), and which port the gok CLI will use for updating your instance (client).

It can be useful to configure a different port if you want to run a web server on port 80, for example.

If UseTLS is enabled, this field is ignored and HTTPSPort is used instead.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "webserver",
    "Update": {
        "HTTPPassword": "secret",
        "HTTPPort": "1080"
    },
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

Update → HTTPSPort

(Corresponds to the former -https_port gokr-packer flag.)

See HTTPPort, but when TLS is enabled (default 443).

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "webserver",
    "Update": {
        "HTTPPassword": "secret",
        "UseTLS": "self-signed",
        "HTTPSPort": "8443"
    },
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

Update → HTTPPassword

(Corresponds to the former http-password.txt host-specific config file.)

The HTTPPassword field configures the secret password that allows accessing and updating your gokrazy instance.

When creating a new gokrazy instance (gok new), the gok CLI will create a random password.

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "webserver",
    "Update": {
        "HTTPPassword": "secret"
    },
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

Update → CertPEM

(Corresponds to the former cert.pem host-specific config file.)

When enabling TLS, the CertPEM field allows you to use a custom certificate file. This can be useful if you already have a certificate setup for your environment (self-signed or otherwise).

Example:

{
    "Hostname": "webserver",
    "Update": {
        "HTTPPassword": "secret",
        "CertPEM": "/home/michael/.ca/webservercert.pem",
        "KeyPEM": "/home/michael/.ca/webserverkey.pem"
    },
    "Packages": [
        "github.com/gokrazy/fbstatus",
        "github.com/gokrazy/hello",
        "github.com/gokrazy/serial-busybox",
        "github.com/gokrazy/breakglass"
    ]
}

Update → KeyPEM

(Corresponds to the former key.pem host-specific config file.)

Like CertPEM, but for the private key instead of the certificate.