kern (always lowercase) is a cross-platform desktop server manager built with tauri v2 (rust backend + react frontend). it turns any folder on your computer into a managed server instance — with a live terminal, telemetry, and graceful lifecycle — and you teach it new server types by installing plugins.

think of it as a self-hosted alternative to cloud game-panel tools (pterodactyl, amp, pufferpanel) — but as a native desktop app driven by a plugin system.

• ·new to kern? start with getting-started — download, register your first instance, start it.
• ·building a plugin? read manifest-reference first, then lifecycle, config-schema, and plugin-ui.
• ·publishing? see distribution for the registry flow.

• ·instance — a registered project folder that kern manages. full crud, with orphaned-state detection.
• ·plugin — a .kern file that teaches kern how to run one type of server.
• ·lifecycle — start / stop / restart / install, declared per-plugin and resolved at launch by rust.
• ·host api — the bridge plugins use to talk to tauri commands, events, and the ui shell.