CCAI : Cloudron Custom App Installer

[timconsidine]

Attempting to be concise, I have completed changes to the CCAI environment.

CCAI

1. original "hosted-as-a-service" ccai.appx.uk is now disabled and now a placeholder to avoid broken forum links
2. new "entry point" is customappgateway.appx.uk

CustomAppGateway

1. previously just an installer for CCAI-P, via browser or binary
2. deliberate web UI change to create distance from old system/concept

3. no more browser-based installations involving submission of creds in a browser
4. only supported deploy route is an installer script using a binary (Mac, Linux, Windows as needed), which cleans up by removing the binary on completion
5. now can install not just CCAI-P but other custom apps
6. custom apps master catalogue now lives in customappgateway
7. recommended to install CCAI-P and then install apps from there to enable updates
8. but there is also an option to install a single custom app from customappgateway, for those who don't want CCAI-P and don't care about updates
9. I re-factored the installer binary to be available for use by others - driven by run-time arguments, no custom app meta-data baked into the installer : see customappgateway.appx.uk Advanced section

CCAI-P

1. CCAI-P now supports updates to installed custom apps ... providing they were installed using the new CCAI-P version (uses local 'installed.json' to know what to check)
2. Master App Catalogue now maintained (only) by me - I will attempt to keep populated & updated, but let me know if something needs adding or changing - happy to do so
3. CCAI-P now supports a Local Catalogue, maintainable by you ! Independence, privacy, experimentation - whatever !

4. CCAI-P app update checking and processing is not fully checked (I haven't got any apps to update and I haven't invested time in faking a test). Let me know if any issues. Will try to do some real or fake testing.

Given Cloudron 9.1 upcoming support for custom apps, I am not planning any further major changes, just fixing any reported issues.

[timconsidine]

@humptydumpty I finished the upgrade !
Apologies again that you got caught up in the middle of it

[humpty]

@timconsidine I can't help with code, but more than happy to help with testing!

• I reinstalled CCAI-P via the Windows.exe installer and that went smoothly.
• I reinstalled Zoneminder via the new CCAI-P and that also went smoothly.
• Attempted to install Excalidraw but that didn't work (I logged out in CCAI, restarted app, and clicked on start-over). Here's the log from the CCAI page.

[12:51:13 PM] Repository URL provided: https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw
[12:51:13 PM] Server will auto-detect default branch and construct manifest URL
[12:51:13 PM] Starting installation process...
[12:51:13 PM] Installation started. Streaming logs...
[12:51:13 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] Cleaning up any existing installer directory...
[12:51:13 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] Creating temporary directory for installation files...
[12:51:13 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] Repository URL provided: https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw
[12:51:13 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] Server will auto-detect default branch and construct manifest URL
[12:51:13 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] Trying https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw/-/raw/main/CloudronManifest.json (Attempt 1/3)
[12:51:13 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] DEBUG: Starting download for https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw/-/raw/main/CloudronManifest.json
[12:51:16 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] CloudronManifest.json downloaded successfully
[12:51:16 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] Fetching asset logo.png from https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw/-/raw/main/logo.png
[12:51:16 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] DEBUG: Starting download for https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw/-/raw/main/logo.png
[12:51:16 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] Fetching postInstallMessage file POSTINSTALL.md from https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw/-/raw/main/POSTINSTALL.md
[12:51:16 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] DEBUG: Starting download for https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-excalidraw/-/raw/main/POSTINSTALL.md
[12:51:16 PM] [2026-02-05 18:51:14] postInstallMessage download failed for POSTINSTALL.md: HTTP 404
[12:51:16 PM] ERROR: Installation failed: Unknown error

[timconsidine]

@humptydumpty let me try it here ....

[timconsidine]

Fixed the issues reported by @humptydumpty

Going to test installation of every app in catalogue, which will take a little time, feel free to report any issues you find.

[timconsidine]

Pushed couple more fixes, continuing to test installation of every app

[humpty]

I can confirm all reported bugs are fixed! Thanks Tim!

[timconsidine]

Public service announcement to minimise chance of pulling the rug from under @humptydumpty or others again

Testing of all custom apps in catalogue reveal some stubborn issues on a couple of apps. So ...

Breaking changes to refactor CCAI-P and CustomAppGateway - they are going to go down for a short while

Will post here when back up.

[timconsidine]

CustomAppGateway and CCAI-P back in service.

As part of testing installation of all apps in the catalogue, I discovered gremlins (such as what happens if a source repo becomes unavailable or project abandoned, as well some "bound-to-fail-eventually" parsing and other "cleverness").

So I refactored both projects to be simpler and more robust, which needed them to go down.

I probably should do another round of testing all listed apps install correctly. That's on the ToDo list. I think it is all working (ha ha ha, famous last words).

if you already installed CCAI-P, I strongly recommend you reinstall it from customappgateway.appx.uk

Custom apps already installed should not need re-installation.
It's just the installers which have changed.

[DualOSWinWiz]

@timconsidine i would like to thank you for your efforts and contributions. Please try to do windmill https://github.com/windmill-labs/windmill
And Dify

https://github.com/AshleyDelph84/dify-self-host

I spend 2 weekends and still not successful

[timconsidine]

@DualOSWinWiz said in CCAI : Cloudron Custom App Installer:

I spend 2 weekends and still not successful

Well, don't assume I will do better !

Have to finish my VAT return but will look at them afterwards

[crazybrad]

@timconsidine Personally want to thank you for pushing CCAI and moving the development to the point where the Cloudron Team is taking this the next part of journey. In my mind, this makes Cloudron THE platform for hosting custom apps.

[timconsidine]

@crazybrad thank you.
Almost always I am scratching my own itches, but glad to be able to help others in process.

I'm excited to see how Cloudron delivers the functionality, I'm sure it will be more slick than mine.

And I don't think they have ever been 'opposed' to it (it's been in cloudron CLI for yonks), it's just there's always been something more important / higher up on the list. A familiar dilemma.

Even though my project's lifetime will turn out to have short-lived usefulness, it's been a fun project.

[robi]

@timconsidine not sure why it needs to be retired so soon. It can still work as is for many moons.

Perhaps monitoring access would be a better metric for when it becomes obsolete and unused.

[timconsidine]

@robi you're right, and I am not rushing to remove it. Hopefully it is robust enough for a while.

I didn't put any metrics in it, so will have to guess, but maybe I will add some basic traffic analysis on CustomAppGateway .

[girish]

I have done some initial work last 2-3 days, I will create a separate post to discuss it. I don't know all the details about CCAI to give suggestions, but hopefully you can be informed better as to what we are doing.

[LoudLemur]

@timconsidine
Thank you for your work on this. It really leverages Cloudron's capabilities and helps make more applications deployable using Cloudron.

Feedback:

[LoudLemur]

said in CCAI : Cloudron Custom App Installer:
@timconsidine
Thank you for your work on this. It really leverages Cloudron's capabilities and helps make more applications deployable using Cloudron.

Feedback:

Edit /app/data/config.json with your Cloudron URL and a NEW Long-Lived Token.

This part is a bit confusing for me. Let me show why:

1. We create token 1 when we first install CCAI to access our Cloudron.
2. We create token 2 when we install our first application, Application A.
3. After our first application installation is completed, we are asked to update its token, so we create token 3
4. Then we might need to install an additional app, Application B. So we launch the CCAI on our local machine and ... create token 4?

Also:

Should the tokens be read-only or read and write?

Also:

Could we please also include a pretty icon for that specific application so we have one readily available instead of the generic cloudron one in our panel? Perhaps that could be included inline with the apps list on CCAI. As that list grows, it might help people find the ones they want more quickly, too.

[timconsidine]

@LoudLemur thank you

• the tokens : this kinda reflects the "journey" that CCAI went on. Initially it was browser-only ... and not user's site. I acknowledge users' cautions about this. Hence recommending a short-lived token disposable for use in CCAI open browser

Then we had CCAI-P deployed on your own cloudron, and interacting with your own Cloudron. In this case a multi-use long-life token was OK and so recommended. I think the quote you included in your question is from CCAI-P.

Then CustomAppGateway got rid of browsers completely for initial install and you enter a token into the binary on your local device. So not needed to use single-use short-term token. But hey everyone's paranoid these days so no harm in doing so.

I don't recognise the need for a 3rd token, but it might an academic question, as Cloudron 9.1 will make all this redundant. A much smoother and less problematic security approach, because it's all "on platform"

• RO vs RW : it needs to make changes to your Cloudron, so RW.

• pretty icons : that all comes down to the app being deployed. CCAI-P uses a similar but deliberately different logo to Cloudron.
  Let me know which apps are not rendering a nice icon, and I can look at it.

Cloudron :

CCAI / CCAI-P :

[IniBudi]

Hi @timconsidine, thank you for your efforts in making CCAI. However, is there any tutorial video on how to install it and update the application if we use CCAI? So, the newbie like me can understand the whole process.