---
title: overview
group: Getting started
slug: overview
order: 0
description: what kern is, and where to go next.
---

# kern docs

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**.

## where to start

- **new to kern?** start with `getting-started` — download, register your first instance, start it.
- **running servers daily?** `cli` for the terminal and dashboard, `backups` and `tasks` for the overnight safety net.
- **building a plugin?** read `manifest-reference` first, then `lifecycle`, `config-schema`, and `plugin-ui`.
- **writing scripts?** `automation-api` is the full JSON surface, `cli` is the friendly client.
- **publishing?** see `distribution` for the registry flow.
- **stuck?** `troubleshooting` maps symptoms to fixes; `recipes` has copy-paste setups.

## the big ideas

- **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.

> **note** these docs are the source of truth for plugin developers. the app itself ships with two sample plugins — a game server plugin and a bot runner — that exercise nearly every feature.

## beyond the basics

- **preflight** — before a start, kern checks ports the instance used last time (with the owning pid), a pending minecraft eula, and low disk space.
- **crash watchdog** — auto-restart with backoff after unexpected exits, plus a last-crash report (exit code + log tail) on the monitor tab.
- **notifications** — in-app center, native os toasts when unfocused, discord/slack webhooks, and regex log alerts. see `notifications`.
- **schedules** — interval, daily, or cron tasks (restart / start / stop / command / backup / health) with optional pre-restart console announcements.
- **audit log** — local history of lifecycle actions, config changes, plugin installs, backups, and task runs.
- **remote access** — a full control panel in a browser (console, files with a real editor, backups, schedules, plugins), on your lan over https or anywhere through a cloudflare tunnel, with per-device roles you can invite and revoke. see `web-remote`.
- **cli & automation** — `kern-cli` and a loopback-only json api for scripts. see `cli`.