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Flame
MITFlame is a self-hosted startpage and app dashboard with visual GUI editing and Docker container discovery, replacing cloud bookmark portals like start.me.
Open-source alternative to — compare it against:
Overview
Flame is an application dashboard and startpage built for home servers and private networks. Rather than editing YAML manifests or restarting containers, administrators manage bookmarks and service shortcuts through in-browser editors. An integrated search bar queries local inventory or external search engines from one entry point.
Why Flame instead of start.me
start.me hosts bookmarks and dashboards on third-party cloud servers. For homelab operators, routing private RFC 1918 subnets, local DNS names, or tailnet addresses through an external SaaS exposes internal network topology and breaks navigation whenever internet connectivity drops. Flame runs locally as a Docker container on your own hardware, keeping application endpoints, bookmarks, and search queries inside your network perimeter. It delivers the core utility of start.me—a central browser homepage with grouped bookmarks and quick-launch icons—while running entirely on self-managed infrastructure.
Operationally, start.me removes host maintenance in exchange for monthly subscriptions covering custom domains and team sharing. Flame requires managing persistent storage and reverse proxy routing, but it integrates directly with the Docker daemon. Containers labeled with flame.type and flame.url appear on the dashboard automatically, eliminating manual entry. It trades start.me's cloud synchronization and RSS widgets for local network privacy and automated container tracking.
What it does well
- Docker and Kubernetes discovery: Inspects container labels and ingress annotations to register new services automatically on startup.
- In-browser GUI editing: Provides native visual forms to add, reorder, and update shortcuts without editing YAML configuration files or restarting services.
- Single-file SQLite storage: Saves all application entries and preferences to a solitary db.sqlite database, making backups as simple as copying one directory.
- Docker secrets support: Reads sensitive credentials from mounted secret files via environment flags like PASSWORD_FILE, avoiding plaintext credentials in compose files.
- Multi-engine search routing: Filters internal homelab applications or redirects web queries to external search engines using configurable prefix tags.
- Theme customization: Bundles fifteen color themes, a custom style builder, and custom CSS injection to align the dashboard with existing terminal environments.
