The console web page

The page at http://127.0.0.1:8080/ui is a client of the API on that same host. It does not talk to Kubernetes, Talos, or a management port by itself. Every click is a call to /api/v1, and the console on the deploy host does the work. From a laptop, forward the port with ssh -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080.

The install chapter is Genestack Console. The API the page calls is The console HTTP API. What the console does with that call is How a job runs.

The shell

app/templates/ui.html is the frame: the sign-in form, the sidebar, and an empty main area. app/static/js/app.js reads the hash in the address (#/fleet, #/hardware) and loads one screen. Each screen is a file in app/static/js/pages/. A screen renders into the main area and calls the API. It does not embed another program.

The sign-in card and the sidebar show the Genestack Console mark, centered, with the name under it. The P.Industries wordmark sits centered at the bottom of the sidebar, under the API docs link and Changelog. The sidebar and the cards are glass, so the field shows through. Each card eases on a faint edge, out of step with the next. A reduced-motion setting turns that motion off.

The sidebar is:

Link	Hash	File	What you do there
Environments	#/fleet	app/static/js/pages/fleet.js	Every cloud this console knows. One row each. The row is the last snapshot, not a live probe.
Observe	#/observe	app/static/js/pages/observe.js	Logs and the observe view across the console.
Hardware	#/hardware	app/static/js/pages/hardware.js	Inventory, bare metal, and provider accounts.
Activity	#/activity	app/static/js/pages/activity.js	Jobs, alerts, and the audit log. Three tabs.
Catalog	#/operations	app/static/js/pages/operations.js	Every operation the console can run. The same list as GET /api/v1/operations.
Admin	#/admin	app/static/js/pages/admin.js	People, tenants, memberships, Reach, and Database. Hidden unless you are a platform admin.

A new install opens on a welcome. It says this machine stays outside the cluster, and inventory is one list. Add each machine by hostname and IP. A virtual machine and a physical server are the same row. On Machines, boot the Talos ISO yourself, then choose Talos is already installed. That button does not boot it. For Ubuntu, select the rows and choose Already have an OS, then Deploy over SSH. A cluster that is already running is Settings, Access, Adopt Kubespray. Guided setup is #/setup, app/static/js/pages/env_wizard.js. The Servers step is that list. Import or discover stays behind it and writes the same rows. The Talos image field stays blank, and the page shows the ISO to boot yourself. The summary has Apply on this environment and opens Machines. An empty address, and a company login that lands on #/fleet, stay on the fleet. #/setup and #/admin are left alone.

The API docs link in the sidebar is /docs on the console. That is a catalog of the routes, with a curl for each one. The curls point at the console you are signed in to.

Changelog is the button under that link. It lists the public pipeline and the release notes. The bullets in a release are the changes in that build. After this console installs a newer build, the page reloads and shows those notes until they are acknowledged.

One environment

Open an environment and the sidebar gains a second block: Overview, Image cache, Machines, Kubernetes, OpenStack, Rack, Observe, Vault, Settings. Vault lists the names stored for this environment. An admin can view, edit, and delete a record. The list does not include the values. Download on kubeconfig and talosconfig grabs that copy. Regenerate stays on Machines. The screen is app/static/js/pages/environment_detail.js. It pulls the other cards in. Those cards are the other files whose names start with environment_. environment_vault.js is the Vault tab.

The bar above the tabs is the mode for this environment. Look around is selected when jobs only write a log. Apply is selected when jobs change the machines. The selected side is the mode you are in. It does not edit config.yaml and it does not restart a service. An operator can change it. A viewer sees it and cannot press it.

Overview is the install map. The next action sits above the map, and the same strip sits on Machines. It names the one step: add a machine, boot the Talos ISO yourself, record Ubuntu then Deploy over SSH, continue an OpenStack stage, or run the cloud. A machine that is not in the cloud yet still needs an operating system, then the compute stage. Adding it did not join it. Activity stays the log. The map shows where this cloud is, from an empty checkout to OpenStack answering. The line at the top counts the machines in inventory, how many are Ready, and how many have a role and are not joined. Those counts are the same ones on the Infrastructure cards. A metal-rebuild line appears only while that job is queued or running. The map reads the workflow API and GET /platform. It does not start a job by being opened. Machines are added on Machines, not on this map.

Image cache is its own tab. Configure sets the address machines pull from, which registries are mirrored, and which images to pull ahead of time. Genestack's images stay on that list and cannot be removed. Other images can be added, edited, and removed, so an environment can keep working when it has no path to the internet. That address is saved on the environment. An empty address follows the PXE next-server, then this console's own address. Nothing in the program picks a fixed address. The same Configure button is on the Registry card in Overview. Start caches brings those proxies up. Cache images and charts queues registry.mirror and also copies the images this cluster runs onto this console. An admin starts either one. Saving the form does not start a container. Each registry is a card. Open a card to see the images stored there. Helm charts are split into charts on this console and charts that stay on a Helm repo. Maintenance on the map still has the warm button.

Machines is the list of computers. The cluster strip (Ready, Talos, Kubernetes, control plane, workers, reachable) sits above the list on every filter. All is the default filter. Talos and Ubuntu narrow that same list. Add a machine opens a dialog. Saving records a hostname and IP. It does not boot the machine. The host name opens that machine: address, OS, cluster, reach, roles, and a console when the machine has a management port. A shell for a recorded address opens from the same dialog, and from the backtick drawer. A row has Host, Address, OS, Cluster, Reach, and Roles. The role totals sit above the list. OS is Talos or Ubuntu. Cluster is In cluster, Not joined, or No role. Reach shows whether the address is up, the system is running, the console can connect, and the login was accepted. A Talos machine is checked on the Talos API, not SSH. An answer stays marked Talos. Ubuntu is still checked over SSH. In Edit on the row, and in Add a machine, SSH user, password, and key are shown only when the machine is Ubuntu. The role line reads Control plane 3. A short role reads Storage 0, need 1. environment_servers.js asks GET /servers/reach. That check does not install or reboot anything.

Tab	What it is
All	Every machine in the list. The Talos machine table, logs, and upgrades stay on Talos.
Talos	Talos machines in the list. Open a row and the machine dialog shows versions, Ready, logs, and upgrades. Kubeconfig and Talosconfig are on the Machines toolbar, on All as well as Talos. Those buttons download the copy saved in this environment's vault. Regenerate asks the cluster for a new client certificate, valid for one year, and replaces the vault copy. Talos is already installed applies a config to every saved address. A machine that already has Talos is not rebooted until you confirm that machine by name. Confirming replaces the running install. A management port can do that reboot after the confirm. If this console cannot reboot it, the job names the one step left and waits until the installer is up. Deploy from infrastructure starts OpenStack and does not run Talos bootstrap again. It stays closed until this console can read a kubeconfig and a control plane is Ready. The stage rows name infrastructure, operators, kube-ovn, core, and compute-network. environment_platform.js and environment_servers.js.
Ubuntu	Ubuntu machines in the same list. Reach is up, running, connect, and authenticated. Already have an OS only records them. Deploy over SSH starts at the hosts stage.
Kubernetes	Nodes, and pods, services, ingresses, claims, config maps, and secrets grouped by namespace. Logs and Describe open in a dialog. Its own line shows cluster health, problem pods, and the kubeconfig and talosconfig downloads. Those two buttons grab the copy in this environment's vault. Regenerate, which replaces that copy, is on the Machines toolbar. That line stays on this tab. environment_cluster.js.
OpenStack	The cloud services and the instances. Open Horizon opens the dashboard in this window. The login uses the cloud admin account. New tab opens that same page. environment_openstack.js and environment_cloud.js.

Rack is the same machines, drawn as a cabinet. Nothing typed means one rack named Rack 1, one U each, stacked from U1. A machine past U48 stays beside that rack. Flat is the elevation, with U1 at the bottom. Space is that cabinet, and you can orbit it. Cloud puts the rack beside Metal, Kubernetes, and Instances. A solid line is a fact this console already has: a Ready address, a saved management port, or a virtual machine on that host. A dashed line is a connection you typed. The console does not invent a switch or a PDU cable. Add gear when you want a switch, a PDU, or a layer, with a height in U. environment_rack.js. GET /api/v1/environments/{id}/rack.

On a row, Ubuntu and Talos are the two choices. The outlined choice is the operating system already recorded. The button says Reinstall when you keep that system, and Install when you pick the other one. Ubuntu queues hosts.ubuntu.bringup. Talos on a row that has a management port queues baremetal.node.next_boot with the next boot set to Talos and boot now. Talos on a row with no management port, and the Talos is already installed button, queue genestack.talos.bootstrap for every saved host. That job does not reboot a machine until you confirm that machine by name. Confirming replaces the running install. A management port can do that reboot after the confirm. If this console cannot reboot it, the job names the one step left and waits until the installer is up. An admin starts it. Already have an OS records the selected hosts that already have Ubuntu. It does not install. A management port is optional. Open wall lists the management ports. Select a server and its console appears. Select it again and that console goes away. Show all live opens the rest. Clear and Close empty the stage. Opening a console does not power or boot the machine.

Settings is four more tabs.

Tab	What it is
Config	The settings document. Saving a version does not edit /etc/genestack. A push job does that. environment_config.js.
Apps	An application to deploy onto a cloud that is already up. environment_apps.js.
Access	SSH keys, agents, Reach, Hosts, and the bare-metal cards. environment_sshkeys.js, environment_agents.js, environment_reach.js, environment_hosts.js, environment_baremetal.js, environment_pxe.js.
Expert	The fields that do not have their own card.

The bare-metal cards are also on the Hardware page. Hardware has three tabs: Inventory, Bare metal, and Providers. Inventory is the servers you have typed in. Bare metal is the boot service and the management ports. The next boot on a bare-metal row is Disk, Commission, Serve Talos, or Install Ubuntu. Providers is a saved login for OVH, Rackspace, AWS, Azure, or GCP. That login is stored in the console database on the deploy host.

Activity has three tabs.

Tab	File	What it shows
Jobs	jobs.js	Queued, running, and finished jobs, and the log of the one you open.
Alerts	alerts.js	Rules, firing events, and the notification channels.
Audit	audit.js	Who changed what.

A notification channel is a Slack, Discord, or Teams webhook, or a Resend or Twilio credential. An admin saves it on the Alerts tab. The secret is encrypted and is not shown again. A rule can send through that channel and through its own webhook URL.

Admin has a Reach card for the deploy host, and Settings → Access has a Reach card for one environment. A WireGuard client config is shown once. A Tailscale auth key and a Cloudflare tunnel token are not shown again.

Admin has a Database card that shows SQLite or Postgres, the URL with the password hidden, and Move. Move copies every table onto an empty target, writes database_url, and tells you to restart.

Traces are API-only. An admin reads and posts spans at /api/v1/traces. There is no traces screen.

Settings → Access has the cluster-already-running card. Adopt Kubespray is the first form. Paste the kubeconfig there. That records a cluster that is already up. It does not add servers. Servers are added on Machines. Ubuntu autoinstall and MicroK8s stay behind that form. Talos stays on Machines. Install Ubuntu on the bare-metal row is the boot that puts Ubuntu on the machine.

What the other screen files are

File	What it draws
environment_workflow.js	The six guided steps.
environment_progress.js	The log while a deploy is running.
environment_deploy_map.js	The picture of those steps on Overview.
environment_live_state.js	The latest collector snapshot.
environment_observe.js	Logs and metrics for this environment.
environment_components.js	The OpenStack services the settings ask for, against what is installed.
environment_discovery.js	Servers and management ports a scan found, before you accept them.
environment_terminal.js	The shell drawer. Backtick or tilde opens a list of machines. Shell is SSH in xterm. The × on a shell tab closes that session. The machine list has Close for a shell that is already open. Drag the bottom edge to set the height. This browser remembers that height. Expand fills the screen and the shell grows with it. Console is that machine's management port. Esc hides the drawer.
environment_honeycomb.js and environment_space3d.js	Two drawings of the same cloud. They read the snapshot. They do not change it.
hosts.js	A host list used from the fleet.
tenant.js	The tenant switcher in the top bar.

The drawings are a view of data the API already returned. Orbiting one does not power a server.

What you still do in the Genestack checkout

The page does not replace the files in /opt/genestack or /etc/genestack. You still edit inventory the way the rest of this manual describes. The console stores a copy of the settings, and a job renders that copy onto the deploy host before it runs bin/. Skyline, once the cloud is up, is the page for people using the cloud. This page is for the people who build it.