2GT-RichandClaude Opus 5
e10f7ba568
Documentation only — no functional change.
The README was carrying two jobs for two different readers. Its Reference section was
the single largest block at 154 lines, and nobody deciding whether to try the project
reads an InfluxDB environment variable table — while the people who need it were
scrolling past the pitch to reach it.
Split along that seam: anything you would read before installing stays in the README,
anything you would read after installing moves to docs/.
README.md 430 lines sell, prove, install, feature overview
docs/change-guard.md 193 safety system, settings, guard states
docs/architecture.md 116 data stores, polling model, module layout
docs/capsman.md 84 role model, radio matching, current limits
docs/alerting.md 81 rules, channels, webhooks, maintenance windows
docs/api.md 77 scoped tokens, preflight, scripting
docs/configuration.md 76 environment, secrets, rotation, TLS
docs/sso-oidc.md 71 identity provider setup and behaviour
docs/README.md 20 index
In-repo rather than a documentation site, deliberately. A change to Change Guard's
semantics can edit its documentation in the same commit as the code — which, given how
often that behaviour has been refined recently, is the property that actually matters.
A static site generator can point at docs/ later without moving a file.
The Change Guard pitch stays on the front page: the problem framing, the verified
recovery timeline and the quoted prediction warning are what make someone care, and a
reference page is the wrong home for them.
Three sections are new rather than relocated, written because the split exposed the gaps:
- architecture.md did not exist. It now records why there are three data stores, the
polling cadences, and which modules are pure functions over a snapshot and why.
- Scoped API tokens shipped without usage documentation. api.md shows preflighting a
change from a script and reading the guard block afterwards.
- change-guard.md records why ip-on-bridge-port is informational rather than critical
on RouterOS 7 — reasoning that previously existed only in a commit message.
Every internal anchor and cross-file link verified to resolve, including anchors into
other documents. No content dropped, checked by keyword comparison against the previous
single file.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
3.5 KiB
Configuration
Environment variables
Set in .env at the project root. Changing any of these requires a container restart.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
JWT_SECRET |
auto-generated & persisted | Signs session tokens. Set it to pin your own value. |
ENCRYPTION_KEY |
auto-generated & persisted | Encrypts device passwords at rest. Set it to pin your own value. |
CORS_ORIGIN |
localhost defaults | Comma-separated browser origins allowed to call the API. Required in production. |
DB_PASSWORD |
mikrotik_secure_pw |
PostgreSQL password |
INFLUXDB_TOKEN |
mytoken123456789 |
InfluxDB admin token |
INFLUXDB_ORG |
mikrotik-manager |
InfluxDB organization |
INFLUXDB_BUCKET |
metrics |
InfluxDB bucket for time-series data |
INFLUXDB_ADMIN_PASSWORD |
admin_password_123 |
InfluxDB admin UI password |
HTTP_PORT |
80 |
Host port for HTTP (redirects to HTTPS) |
HTTPS_PORT |
443 |
Host port for HTTPS |
Never commit
.env. It is already listed in.gitignore.
For a production deployment the only variable you genuinely must set is CORS_ORIGIN.
Both secrets generate themselves safely — see below.
Secret management (self-healing)
JWT_SECRET and ENCRYPTION_KEY are managed automatically so that a fresh install is
secure by default and an upgrade never strands existing data.
- Set to a strong value in the environment — that value is used, and you stay in control.
- Unset, or left at an old default — the backend generates a strong secret once,
persists it to the
app_datavolume (SECRETS_DIR, default/app/data), and reuses it on every boot.
Secrets live outside the database deliberately: a database dump alone cannot reveal the key protecting the credentials stored inside it.
Upgrading is non-breaking
Existing ciphertext is decrypted through a legacy-key fallback — including previous shipped defaults — and transparently re-encrypted under the current key by a background sweep. Nothing needs to be re-entered.
Rotating the JWT secret off a public default invalidates sessions signed with it. Users simply log in again once.
Key rotation
Set a new ENCRYPTION_KEY (or delete the persisted secret to force regeneration) and
restart. Old rows keep decrypting through the fallback and are re-encrypted forward
automatically.
If the persisted secret and every prior key are lost, ciphertext encrypted under that key cannot be recovered. Re-enter device credentials, or restore from a backup.
Settings stored in the database
These are edited in the Settings UI and take effect without a restart:
| Area | Settings | Documented in |
|---|---|---|
| Change Guard | change_guard_enabled, change_guard_mode, change_guard_timeout_sec |
Change Guard |
| Config Health | config_health_enabled, config_health_interval_min |
Change Guard |
| Polling | fast / slow / log intervals, MAC scan, spectral and AP scan cadence | Settings → Polling |
| Config snapshots | config_snapshot_enabled, config_snapshot_interval_min, config_snapshot_retention |
Settings → Config History |
| NetFlow | collector address and port, version, retention, top-N clients | Settings → NetFlow |
| Alerting | rules, thresholds, cooldowns, channels | Alerting |
TLS
A self-signed certificate is generated on first run. Replace it under Settings → TLS Certificate by uploading a certificate and private key; nginx terminates TLS and redirects HTTP to HTTPS.