ScottiBYTE Incus Forge

Build • Publish • Distribute Incus Custom Images

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🚀 Overview

ScottiBYTE Incus Forge is a lightweight Home Lab focused web application for publishing, managing, and distributing custom Incus images through SimpleStreams repositories.

Incus Forge allows Home Labbers and administrators to:

• Publish running Incus containers as reusable images
• Publish snapshots directly from the UI
• Push images into SimpleStreams repositories
• Manage local Incus images
• Maintain centralized image repositories
• Distribute reusable Incus images across multiple environments

The platform is intentionally designed to remain:

• Lightweight
• Docker deployable
• Home Lab friendly
• Native Incus focused
• Understandable
• Minimal dependency
• Database free

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✨ Features

Image Publishing

• Publish running containers
• Publish snapshots
• Snapshot expansion rows
• Custom image aliases

Repository Management

• Push images to SimpleStreams repositories
• Delete repository images
• Refresh repository metadata
• Repository health validation
• Repository bootstrap support

Dashboard Features

• Live statistics cards
• Container and VM badges
• Responsive layout
• Async publishing operations
• Lightweight interface design

Docker Support

• Full Docker deployment
• Portable configuration
• Native Incus client integration
• SSH based repository synchronization

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Recommended deployment model:

System	Purpose
IncusForge	Web UI and image management
IncusSimplestreams	SimpleStreams repository
Existing Incus Hosts	Source containers and VMs

Benefits:

• Cleaner separation
• Easier upgrades
• Improved security
• Easier troubleshooting
• Better disaster recovery
• Simpler scaling

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🚀 Quick Start

Create IncusForge Container

incus launch images:ubuntu/26.04 IncusForge

Enter shell:

incus shell IncusForge

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🔐 Configure Incus Trust Relationships

From the IncusForge container:

incus remote add vmsstorm https://vmsstorm:8443

Accept the certificate.

Enter trust password or token.

Verify:

incus remote list

Example:

+-------------------+------------------------------------+
| NAME              | URL                                |
+-------------------+------------------------------------+
| vmsstorm          | https://vmsstorm:8443             |
| scottibyte-images | https://images.scottibyte.com     |
+-------------------+------------------------------------+

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🔑 Configure SSH Access

Incus Forge synchronizes images to the SimpleStreams repository using SSH and rsync.

Generate SSH key if needed:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

Copy key to repository server:

ssh-copy-id scott@192.168.80.88

Verify access:

ssh scott@192.168.80.88 "hostname && whoami"

Expected:

IncusSimplestreams
scott

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📦 Create IncusForge Project Directory

mkdir -p ~/incusforge

cd ~/incusforge

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📦 Create config.json

nano config.json

Paste:

{
  "port": 3030,
  "simplestreams": {
    "name": "scottibyte",
    "publicUrl": "https://images.mydomain.com",
    "sshHost": "172.16.2.111",
    "sshUser": "scott",
    "webRoot": "/var/www/html",
    "imageDir": "/var/www/html/images",
    "streamsDir": "/var/www/html/streams"
  }
}

Save file.

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🐳 Create docker-compose.yml

nano docker-compose.yml

Paste:

services:
  incusforge:
    image: scottibyte/incusforge:latest

    container_name: incusforge

    restart: unless-stopped

    ports:
      - "3030:3030"

    environment:
      PORT: "3030"
      HOME: /home/scott
      INCUS_CONF: /incus-client
      CONFIG_PATH: /app/config.json

    volumes:
      - ./config.json:/app/config.json:ro
      - ${HOME}/.config/incus:/incus-client:ro
      - ${HOME}/.ssh:/home/scott/.ssh:ro

Save file.

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🚀 Start Incus Forge

docker compose up -d

Verify logs:

docker logs -f incusforge

Expected:

ScottiBYTE Incus Forge running on port 3030

Open browser:

http://YOUR-IP:3030

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📦 Create SimpleStreams Repository Server

Create repository container:

incus launch images:ubuntu/26.04 IncusSimplestreams

Enter shell:

incus shell IncusSimplestreams

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🛠 Create Bootstrap Script

nano bootstrap-simplestreams.sh

Paste:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

WEB_ROOT="${WEB_ROOT:-/var/www/html}"
IMAGE_DIR="${IMAGE_DIR:-$WEB_ROOT/images}"
STREAMS_DIR="${STREAMS_DIR:-$WEB_ROOT/streams}"
REPO_USER="${REPO_USER:-$USER}"

echo "=== ScottiBYTE Incus Forge SimpleStreams Bootstrap ==="

echo "[1/8] Installing required packages..."
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y nginx xz-utils python3 python3-yaml incus-extra openssh-server curl ca-certificates rsync jq

echo "[2/8] Enabling SSH..."
sudo systemctl enable --now ssh || sudo systemctl enable --now sshd

echo "[3/8] Enabling nginx..."
sudo systemctl enable --now nginx

echo "[4/8] Creating repository directories..."
sudo mkdir -p "$IMAGE_DIR"
sudo mkdir -p "$STREAMS_DIR/v1"

echo "[5/8] Setting ownership and permissions..."
sudo chown -R "$REPO_USER:$REPO_USER" "$WEB_ROOT"
sudo chmod -R 775 "$WEB_ROOT"

echo "[6/8] Creating metadata files..."

if [ ! -f "$STREAMS_DIR/v1/index.json" ]; then
cat > "$STREAMS_DIR/v1/index.json" <<'JSON'
{"index":{"images":{"datatype":"image-downloads","path":"streams/v1/images.json","products":[],"format":"products:1.0"}},"format":"index:1.0"}
JSON
fi

if [ ! -f "$STREAMS_DIR/v1/images.json" ]; then
cat > "$STREAMS_DIR/v1/images.json" <<'JSON'
{"content_id":"images","datatype":"image-downloads","format":"products:1.0","products":{}}
JSON
fi

echo "[7/8] Validating repository..."
command -v incus-simplestreams >/dev/null
command -v xz >/dev/null
command -v nginx >/dev/null

echo "[8/8] Bootstrap complete."

echo
echo "Repository ready."
echo
echo "Next step:"
echo "ssh-copy-id $REPO_USER@<repository-ip>"

Save file.

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🚀 Run Bootstrap Script

chmod +x bootstrap-simplestreams.sh

REPO_USER=scott WEB_ROOT=/var/www/html ./bootstrap-simplestreams.sh

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🌐 Verify Repository Access

Open browser:

http://YOUR-REPOSITORY-IP/images

Verify metadata:

curl http://YOUR-REPOSITORY-IP/streams/v1/index.json

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🌐 Add SimpleStreams Repository To Incus

incus remote add scottibyte-images \
https://images.scottibyte.com \
--protocol=simplestreams

Verify:

incus remote list

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🛠 Publishing Workflow

Publish Container

1. Expand container row
2. Enter image alias
3. Click Publish

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Publish Snapshot

1. Expand container snapshots
2. Enter snapshot image alias
3. Click Publish Snapshot

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Push Image To Repository

1. Locate image in Local Images
2. Click Push
3. Repository metadata updates automatically

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Verify Published Images

incus image list scottibyte-images:

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🔒 Security Model

• Incus trust relationships use native Incus certificates
• SSH synchronization uses standard user SSH keys
• No database exposure
• No direct repository write APIs
• Native Linux file permissions
• Repository synchronization isolated through SSH

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🛠 Troubleshooting

Missing xz

Error:

xz: executable file not found

Fix:

sudo apt install xz-utils

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Verify Incus Access

docker exec -it incusforge bash

incus remote list

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Verify SSH Access

ssh scott@192.168.80.88

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View Docker Logs

docker logs -f incusforge

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Verify Published Images

incus image list scottibyte-images:

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🧭 Future Roadmap

Planned Features

• Multiple repository profiles
• Repository selection drop-down
• Repository authentication profiles
• Background task queue
• Remote repository synchronization
• Repository replication
• Job history
• Enhanced async progress indicators

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❤️ Support The Project

If you find Incus Forge useful:

• Subscribe to the ScottiBYTE YouTube channel
• Join the community discussions
• Share feedback and ideas
• Open issues and feature requests

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🌐 Community

Community Support

Need help with Incus Forge, Docker deployment, Incus profile management, container creation, or ScottiBYTE utilities?

Join the ScottiBYTE Rocket.Chat community:

Join ScottiBYTE Rocket.Chat

New users can start in #general. From there, you can find other ScottiBYTE project channels and community discussions.

For bugs and feature requests, please continue to use GitHub Issues. For quick questions and community discussion, use Rocket.Chat.