doona
Standard edition and doona lite
Demo
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Standard edition and doona lite

Standard edition and doona lite

The standard edition manages configuration and observes traffic. Choose it for traffic dashboards, connection controls, logs, advanced routing traces or editing multiple configuration sources.

doona lite focuses on configuration: nodes, subscriptions, groups, routing, DNS and global settings. Choose it for task-specific forms, sharing manual nodes and reviewing configuration drafts without traffic pages.

Compare features

Features depend on the resources and permissions honk advertises; an unavailable backend capability cannot be enabled by changing editions.

Feature Standard edition doona lite
Traffic monitoring Activity, System status, Connections, Routing log, Logs and Events No traffic pages
Widgets Activity widgets and floating or docked widgets No
Close connections; export events Yes No
Routing tests Rules → Trace simulation, with advanced traffic fields and resolution options Routing → Test rules, with matched rules and outbounds; uses the same routing trace API
DNS queries, Resolution log, Statistics and Cache Yes No standalone query or observation pages; DNS resolution is used in routing tests
Nodes, subscriptions and group selection Yes; groups are under Policies Yes; separate Nodes, Subscriptions and Groups pages
Multi-line share-link import Yes Yes, through Add node → Paste links
Share links and QR codes No dedicated sharing dialog Manual nodes and subscription links; subscription nodes cannot be shared
Rename a subscription Yes, with an option to update group references No; its name is fixed after creation
Group editing Group form and full source editor Group form, group text editor, duplicate group and copy members between groups
Routing and DNS rules Forms and full source editor Forms, reorder controls and per-page visual/text modes
DNS upstream presets Edit upstreams in the source editor; no preset form Custom upstreams and Ali DNS, DNSPod and Cloudflare presets
Global settings Configuration → Global settings Settings dialog; restart-only values are read-only with Copy
Configuration sources Select and edit main/include sources; create sources and inspect diagnostics Edits main only; no full source editor
Export configuration Export the selected source Export the applied main or the current page’s unsaved draft
Backend management Multiple profiles, sign-out, temporary runtime overrides and geodata management No corresponding management screens
Server configuration backups and revisions Available when honk advertises the x-honk extensions No
Themes and sign-in Light/dark themes and palettes; administrator credentials or token Light, dark or system theme, no palette selector; same honk credentials

Backend requirements

Use the native-API honk build in Requirements. Both editions discover authentication through GET /api and read GET /api/v1/capabilities; password mode uses POST /api/v1/auth/setup or POST /api/v1/auth/login. Other endpoints are needed for the features below, rather than every connection. Paths in this table start with /api/v1.

Feature honk resources and endpoints Editions
Configuration editing config read/write, config_validate and operations; GET /config, POST /config/validate, PUT /config/sources/{source_id}, GET /operations/{operation_id} Both; lite requires full validation and complete, hash-matching, writable main content. Standard source editing validates when supported. lite’s share-link import also needs syntax validation.
Nodes, subscriptions and groups nodes, providers, groups; GET /nodes, GET /providers, GET /groups, GET /groups/{group_id}, POST /providers/{provider_id}/refresh, PUT/DELETE /groups/{group_id}/selection; probes via POST /probes Both; lite edits declarations through main source replacement. The standard edition also uses node/provider create/delete and group configuration endpoints.
Status and service commands runtime, operations, and the advertised reload/suspend/resume capabilities; GET /runtime, GET /version (standard edition), POST /operations/reload, /operations/suspend, /operations/resume, plus operation polling Both; lite uses status in the shell rather than a traffic dashboard.
Routing tests routing_trace via POST /routing/trace; rules via GET /rules; dns_query via POST /dns/query for name resolution when needed Both; honk’s resolution modes determine the available tests.
Traffic and DNS observations traffic_history, memory_history, runtime_memory, runtime_outbounds, datapath, connections, flows, events, logs, dns_log, dns_cache, dns_query; GET /runtime/traffic/history, /runtime/memory/history, /runtime/memory, /runtime/outbounds, /datapath, /connections, /flows, /events, /logs, /dns/log, /dns/cache, /dns/rules, plus POST /dns/query and connection/cache deletion when writable Standard edition
Source and backend management POST /config/sources; geodata via GET /geodata and POST /geodata/update; runtime_settings via GET/PATCH /runtime/settings; POST /auth/logout Standard edition
Server backups and revisions The advertised x-honk configuration export/import/revisions extensions, under /x-honk/config/ Standard edition; requires those extensions, beyond the base contract

lite reuses the standard edition’s src/api/client.ts and models backed by the generated src/api/types.ts; it has its own UI and state. The OpenAPI contract defines the endpoint schemas. See common lite tasks for the editing prerequisites in user terms.

Install and switch editions

Both editions ship in the same release. Install doona-<version>.tar.gz into /usr/share/doona for the standard edition, or doona-lite-<version>.tar.gz into /usr/share/doona-lite for doona lite. Their archive names and directories do not overlap, so installing one does not overwrite the other. lite has no distribution packages yet.

honk serves one edition at /ui/ at a time. Set experimental → native_api → ui to the edition’s directory, then restart honk. Every native_api field requires a restart; a reload is insufficient. ui: embedded serves only the standard edition embedded in honk-core release builds. See Minimal configuration.

To use both at once, let honk serve one at /ui/ and serve the other directory with any static server. Allow the second origin as described in Access through a hostname or another origin.

Browser settings

Both editions use the same honk native API and configuration. Configuration changes are shared, but each edition keeps its browser settings separately.

Demos

Try the standard edition demo or the doona lite demo.

doona

doona documentation

English
doona documentationFor a direct-only first run, follow Quick start. Quick startStart the standard edition of doona with a direct-only honk configuration, sign in, and verify traffic from the gateway itself. Standard edition and doona liteThe standard edition manages configuration and observes traffic. Requirements Install on Debian or UbuntuInstall doona from the doona-web .deb package and honk-core from the same release on Debian, Ubuntu or another APT-based system. Install on Fedora or RHELInstall doona from its .rpm package and honk-core from the same release on Fedora, RHEL or another DNF-based system. Install on Arch LinuxInstall doona from its .pkg.tar.zst package and honk-core from the same release on Arch Linux or another pacman-based system. Install on GentooInstall doona with Portage from the repository's ebuild in a local ebuild repository, and honk-core from the same release. Install on OpenWrtInstall doona from a release package or archive and honk-core from the same release on OpenWrt 25.12. Install on other systemsInstall doona and honk-core from release archives on an x86_64 or aarch64 Linux system that meets the kernel requirements below. Installation detailsInstall honk, write its configuration, then install doona and start honk. Minimal configurationThis page writes the smallest honk configuration that starts honk and serves doona, then checks it by starting honk by hand. Service managementThis page runs honk as a systemd or OpenWrt procd service: it creates the service once, then lists the commands that start, stop, restart and reload honk and read its log. Route your first connectionContinue from Quick start, with honk running and your administrator signed in. First sign-inThis page opens doona in a browser, creates the administrator account and checks that doona shows the running honk. Interface tourUse the navigation to open a page, the top bar to search or refresh, and the page tabs to change views. Watching trafficUse Activity and System status to read engine health, and Connections, Routing log and DNS to inspect traffic. Routing, nodes and rulesPolicies manages group selection and membership. Config and settingsConfiguration reads, validates and applies honk's configuration files. Common tasksThis page covers the standard edition; for doona lite, see doona lite. FeaturesFor each feature’s prerequisites and disabled-action explanations, see Feature requirements. doona litedoona lite edits honk configuration through a smaller interface for beginners. Connect doona liteConnect doona lite to the honk native API, or open the demo without a backend. Common tasks in doona liteUse doona lite to import resources and edit honk configuration. ConfigurationUse this reference for honk's DAE settings exposed by doona, their defaults, and their application paths. What doona can changedoona changes configuration sources, runtime state, persistent geodata settings, and browser preferences through different controls. Feature requirementsFind your standard-edition feature in the table, then use its section to check prerequisites and enable it. Troubleshooting DevelopmentRead CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.