is kern free? yes. no accounts, no tiers, no telemetry.

what can it actually run? anything you can start from a folder with a command. officially-patterned plugins cover minecraft java (paper/purpur/fabric/forge/neoforge), discord bots in four runtimes, and generic node/rust/python services, but the engine is generic — a custom instance is just a command and a working directory.

does it need docker? no. one process tree per instance, supervised directly.

where does my data live? the app data dir (settings/plugins) and your instance folders (logs/backups/worlds). see config.json. deleting kern never deletes your servers.

does quitting kern stop my servers? no — they're deliberately detached and re-adopted on the next launch. use kern-cli stop / the stop button when you mean stop.

can i control it from my phone? yes — the web remote: the full panel (console, files, backups, tasks, metrics) over https, paired with one-scan invites, or published anywhere through a cloudflare tunnel.

can i script it? yes — `kern-cli` for shells, and the automation api for anything else, both on loopback with a bearer token.

is there a daemon / headless mode? not yet. the app is the daemon; it runs in the tray. a headless build is a roadmap item.

how is this different from pterodactyl / amp? those are web panels that manage servers on remote boxes with their own agents. kern is a native desktop app: your machine, your files, no docker, no browser, plus a plugin system for what "a server" means.

why is the installer unsigned? code-signing certificates cost money and the project is free. the installer is unsigned, but updates are minisign-signed and verified — the risky part (silent self-update) is protected.

intel macs? apple silicon only today. the dmg says so.

linux packages? appimage for now; .deb is on the roadmap.

can two people share one kern? it's a desktop app for one machine/user. multi-machine sync is export/import into a git repo, not real-time collaboration.

do health alerts and log alerts survive restarts? the rules live in config.json, yes. the rolling metric history is in-memory and resets on exit — it's telemetry, not a database.

what happens if i edit config.json by hand? with kern closed, it's honored on the next load; unknown fields are ignored and new fields default. with kern running, your edits race the app's writes — use the api or the ui.

can a plugin read my other servers or files outside its instance? only if you granted servers:read / files:read and it uses them; file commands resolve paths under server directories. see plugin security.

how do i uninstall cleanly? uninstall the app, then delete the app data dir and any instance folders you created. nothing else is left behind.