packaging update :

• basic functionality working
• further testing needed

Will share package and deployment instructions when proven stable.

@bartmathijssen said in Forgejo:

@ruihildt I found some time, and was able to create a working package based on the Gitea package. The source code can be found on my Codeberg profile.

https://codeberg.org/bart/forgejo-app

I tried to take a look but got 404'ed.

The page you are trying to reach either does not exist, has been removed or you are not authorized to view it.

Is there a different place ? Or private ?

I have just pushed an update (fixing some ZM UI rendering)

latest docker image build : tcmbp132021/cloudron-zoneminder:v2.0.27

Anyone with an existing installation of CCAI-P and using that to deploy :

• press logout
• connect
• import catalogue
• select Zoneminder and ensure the build is v2.0.27

@girish that's good analysis.
That's good example of why we need review before adopting it into AppStore.

Honestly ... I didn't encounter the issues you raised, simply because I never work in the way that I sign up to the SaaS aspect. I just use the UI, save a PNG or screenshot and throw away the design. Only use it for quick sketches and explainer diagrams.

My package was purely to get it off my Traefik/docker-compose VPS onto Cloudron, because might shut down the Traefik VPS.

Yes, entirely viable to just use the main website and did that for a while.

Should it go in the AppStore ?
I don't have a strong view.
Others might, because, as you say, privacy issues.
But they don't crop up for me in this app.

[Announce] CustomAppGateway (CAG) – Solving the "Chicken & Egg" for Custom Apps

Hi everyone,

I'm excited to share a new project that I hope will be a valuable addition to our ecosystem: CustomAppGateway (CAG).

Available now at CAG Website

The "Chicken & Egg" Problem

For a while now, I've been working on CCAI and then CCAI-P (Cloudron Custom App Installer - Personal), a tool designed to be the primary "Install UI" for custom apps. It empowers you to easily install packaged custom apps that aren't yet in the official store.

However, there is a catch-22: How do you install the installer (CCAI-P) without using the CLI ?

Enter CustomAppGateway (CAG)

CustomAppGateway is the solution to that problem. It is a specialized, lightweight run-once tool designed solely to deploy CCAI-P to your Cloudron instance securely and easily.

It provides three simple methods:

1. CAG Online (Hosted): A web-based installer that runs securely in your browser (using a proxy to handle CORS, with tokens processed in memory only).
2. CAG Web (self-hosted) : same as above but made easy to deploy to your own server.
3. CAG App (Downloaded): A standalone terminal executable for Mac, Windows, and Linux for those who prefer a local utility.

AppStore Independence

CAG and CCAI-P are about AppStore Independence. You are not reliant on waiting for an app to be officially adopted or packaged by the Cloudron team to use it, if you need it NOW.

That said, the Cloudron App Store remains vital. It provides the seamless, tested update mechanism we all rely on. While custom apps give us freedom and immediacy, the App Store is still the gold standard for long-term maintenance and stability.

Updates & Housekeeping

• CCAI-P is now the primary interface for installing custom apps and will receive further updates and improvements.
• The old CCAI open hosted version is effectively deprecated and will be archived/deleted. I encourage everyone to switch to using CCAI-P.

Security

A hot topic which I’ve taken seriously.
CAG leverages the excellent security baked into the Cloudron platform.
We focus on :

• using a dedicated one-time token which you create and subsequently delete
• restricting the token to use only on your IP address
  The footprint for attack is tiny.

A Note to the Cloudron Team

I want to extend a huge and ongoing thank you to the Cloudron team for their continued, tireless efforts. Cloudron remains the #1 self-hosting platform because of your hard work.

We know you face time and effort constraints with a small team. My hope is that CustomAppGateway and CCAI-P can ease your burden a little by empowering the community to self-service their custom app needs, allowing you to focus on the core platform and official apps.

Where to get it

CAG Website

Status

• hosted installer : zero setup : tested
• web installer : private setup : tested
• desktop installer : minimal setup : tested on MacOS
• TODO :
  • test desktop installer on Windows
  • test desktop installer on Linux

Feedback is always welcome!
And in doing so, please cut me some slack - it's a ground-breaking project, and as such may have some gremlins for a short (hopefully) while.

The Problem :

The Solution :

NEW : CustomAppGateway

• no more technical or knowledge blocks

• no more excuses

• a whole new world of opportunity opened up

• available in your preferred approach

  • hosted service : zero setup
  • self-hosted deployment : private setup
  • binary tool : tiny run-once local setup

---

• security : single-use token (optionally also IP address limited to only you )

---

Release : 21st January 2026

Standby ....

@Kubernetes oooo, that's worrying
I don't see it on mine
Vaultwarden Web
2025.12.1

but it's an old install
not sure if that matters

@Kubernetes sometimes I just hate IT

@humptydumpty and I am working on another non-Cloudron way to get over the blockage of getting CCAI-P into the AppStore. One simple download.

But ssssh, don’t tell anyone yet

Update 20/01/2026 :

• I am deprecating installation of the open version of CCAI, as I don't really see that anyone would want to host their own open version.
  It's still available, but you will have to hunt for it or ask me.
  Basically I've removed it from the catalogue.

• I've updated CCAI-P which is the preferred self-host app.
  Runs on your own instance, credentials are stored in the app on your server

• timeouts removed from CCAI-P : you're logged in or you're not : logout button for security, but you can leave it running if it's only you have access to it

• added 3 new descriptors :

  • packageAuthor : previously implied, now explicit
  • appNote : extended explanation of the catalogue entry
  • appHomepage : clickable link to the app's Homepage so you can read about it

• it will take a little while for me to populate the new fields for all apps, but will get on with it.

@staff : can I modify the AppWishlist to the effect :

• please DO NOT add CCAI to the AppStore
• please DO add CCAI-P to the AppStore
• or please make your own version (which I am sure will be more lovely)

There are clear pain points in installing custom apps.
This is eminently resolvable.
The problem is without an official way to get CCAI-P, users still have to go through those pain points. Maybe only once, but that's enough to deter them.

The growing catalogue of custom apps (and there are many more that I am not aware of) shows that relying on the App Store only, and relying on approval of items into the App Store, is a clear bottle neck to maximum use and efficiency of a user's Cloudron instance.

EDIT : at the risk of over-selling the point, can Cloudron staff imagine this ? A daily workload where they never ever have to think about adding apps to the Cloudron AppStore, unless they really want to. No more user pressure.

@Kubernetes I never use the app id but that is an option

silly question : when you re-installed the app, did you populate the credentials in /app/data/config.json ?

If you did, then I'm confused and will have to investigate. But looks to me like CCAI-P can't find /app/data/config.json (installation / reinstallation provides /app/data/config.sample.json) or it find the file but it doesn't have the creds in it.

@James ok, maybe I jumped the gun - sorry !

@luckym totally understand
for that reason I made CCAI-P : Personal Edition
cloudron credentials are in the app - not entered anywhere -sits entirely on your server

there is the conundrum of how you get CCAI-P in the first place, but once you have it, no creds needed for future usage.

to get Seafile-CE for cloudron you can try :
cloudron install --image tcmbp132021/cloudron-seafile-ce:v1.0.1 and it will then prompt you for what app address you want to use.

but this presupposes you have Cloudron CLI installed - at least you don't need Docker installed

but I think you need the CloudronManifest.json also from the repo locally

to install CCAI-P manually, it's similar to:

• have cloudron CLI installed
• cloudron install --image tcmbp132021/cloudron-customapp-installer-personal:latest
• might need that repo's CloudronManifest.json locally

@kubernetes
timeout bug fixed in CCAI-P
new version pushed out
guess I should implement an update function as well as an install function.

in the interim, as you are a dev and probably have cloudron cli installed, you can do :
cloudron update --app <yourappname.domain.tld> --image tcmbp132021/cloudron-customapp-installer-personal:latest

This will (should ) mean your CCAI-P stays logged in, no auth timeouts, until you press Logout.

@kubernetes I just successfully installed ClouDNS Steward using CCAI-P.

[14:07:09] Repository URL provided: https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-cloudns-steward
[14:07:09] Server will auto-detect default branch and construct manifest URL
[14:07:09] Starting installation process...
[14:07:09] Installation started. Streaming logs...
[14:07:09] [2026-01-20 14:06:48] Verifying Cloudron credentials...
[14:07:09] [2026-01-20 14:06:49] Credentials verified successfully
[14:07:09] [2026-01-20 14:07:09] Cleaning up any existing installer directory...
[14:07:09] [2026-01-20 14:07:09] Creating temporary directory for installation files...
[14:07:09] [2026-01-20 14:07:09] Repository URL provided: https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-cloudns-steward
[14:07:09] [2026-01-20 14:07:09] Server will auto-detect default branch and construct manifest URL
[14:07:09] [2026-01-20 14:07:09] Trying https://git.cloudron.io/timconsidine/cloudron-cloudns-steward/-/raw/main/CloudronManifest.json
[14:07:11] [2026-01-20 14:07:09] CloudronManifest.json downloaded successfully
......

I'm pretty sure it is the legacy CCAI-P issue on auth timeouts - bad search string was a red herring. Your logs did not show my auth confirmation. Fixing it now.

In the interim, you can press the logout button and then press the Connect button in middle of page, and you can proceed to install ClouDNS Steward

@luckym ah, very good question !

To answer it, first I had to package Meilisearch but veered off path (ooops) to produce SRTD as a test and a need general purpose utility.

Having done that, I now need to work out how to add Meilisearch into or onto or alongside Seafile-CE for Cloudron.

It's one of my current dev tasks, so bear with me.

I'm also testing the robustness of the Clouron Seafile-CE app. Seems all fine currently.

@Kubernetes generally you don't have to check anything.
it is an internal check to deal with the fact that a custom app could come from GitHub, gitlab or gitea, and could be on main or master or even maybe another branch.

Coincidentally I am actually at this precise moment working on an update to CCAI-P to deal with an inherited (legacy CCAI) auth issue.

Disappointingly I got same result as you when seeking to replicate deployment of cloudns-steward. Not cured by :

• restarting CCAI-P
• replacing :latest tag with :v1.0.24

So give me a moment and I will look into it further.

@James absolutely ! Very cool !

That was actually a break-through moment to get over blind poking and assessing output. So thank you again.

This post might need a NSFW label.
Because I have added features which are so sexy !!
OK, sorry, too arrogant, just very happy with the results.

I've just pushed a major update to the ClouDNS Steward app. It now includes a Script Builder that allows you to automate DNS management tasks directly from a Cloudron app.

New Features:

• Script Builder: Create automation workflows using a simple drag-and-drop interface. No coding required for standard tasks.
• Conditional "On Failure" Logic: Build self-fixing scripts. For example, run a dns-check (what is a dns record value) and automatically trigger a dns-set (add or update dns record) only if the check fails.
• Scheduling: Run your scripts automatically on a schedule (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, or custom Cron). No separate cron needed - it's in-app
• Domain Filtering: Target specific domains using tags (e.g., only run checks on domains tagged "prod" or "cloudron" )
• Extensible Actions: The system comes with core actions (like DNS checks and updates, and a Cloudron email config checker), but you can easily add your own custom Javascript actions into /app/data/actions/user/ to extend functionality. [some tech coding needed but core actions code provided and an in-app guide under Reference tab]

Because I choose to use CloudDNS which has to be Wildcard in Cloudron platform, I had to spend time in ClouDNS portal which is functional but quite manual.

I totally get that this app is 90% scratching my own itch, but hopefully can help others.
And maybe serve as a base for use on other DNS providers who provide an API (seems almost all).

Whether a modified version can have any usefulness for domains which are Cloudron-supported, I have no idea, because I have never used a Cloudron-supported DNS provider.

Happy to consider requests for other DNS providers.
I think the starting point is : do you have an itch that needs scratching ?

Roadmap :

• take the Script Builder to the next level where custom user actions can be built with a UI, rather than copy paste/edit code approach.

CloudDNS Steward is in the CCAI master catalogue for ease of deployment.

EDIT : the current approach for building user actions technically raises the prospect of the user screwing up their app container (but not their Cloudron instance). Seeking to resolve this through the next version of Script Builder with a better Action Builder to avoid this risk.

@James yes !

Not only does it provide me with the expected settings (the GET that I originally wanted), it also makes the expected vs actual test. So I don't need to do so in my code ! That makes the whole job easier.

Many thanks for the link and for a nice implementation of the functionality