Factorio Server WebUI

A lightweight web interface for managing a Factorio dedicated server running under systemd. Built with Flask — no external databases, no heavy dependencies.

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Features

Dashboard

• Live server status (Online / Offline) with auto-refresh every 3 seconds
• Server version display with update-available notification
• Active save file name
• Server uptime counter
• Countdown banner when a shutdown or restart is in progress
• Browser tab favicon (orange gear)

Server Controls

• Start / Stop / Restart the Factorio service with one click
• Graceful shutdown / restart: if players are online, warns them in-game via RCON at 20 s, 15 s, 10 s, 5 s, 4 s, 3 s, 2 s, and 1 s before the action executes
• Concurrent control requests are rejected while a countdown is already running

Server Install / Update

• Choose between stable and experimental channels
• Toggle Space Age DLC mods on or off independently of the channel — writes mod-list.json after installation to enable or disable the space-age, elevated-rails, recycler, and quality mods
• One-click install when Factorio is not yet present — generates a default game.zip save and creates the systemd service automatically
• Automatic save backup before every update
• Downgrade protection: downgrades are blocked outright — wipe Factorio first, then install the older version
• Live streaming progress log during download and extraction

Players

• Real-time list of connected players via RCON
• Kick individual player button (moderator+)
• Kick All button (moderator+)

Game Chat

• Live chat box showing player messages, joins, and leaves — parsed directly from journalctl
• Messages sent from the web UI appear in the chat box alongside in-game chat
• Date separators between messages from different days
• Auto-scrolls to the latest message; pauses auto-scroll if you scroll up
• Send messages to all players in-game from the web UI (user+)
• Polls every 2 seconds with deduplication

Server Log

• Last 100 lines from the systemd journal, colour-coded by severity (Info / Warning / Error)
• Manual refresh button; auto-refreshes every 15 seconds

Settings (moderator / admin only)

• General: server name, description, tags (shown in server browser), game join password (with show/hide toggle), max players
• Visibility: public server browser listing (off by default; warns if no account credentials are saved), LAN broadcast, require Factorio.com account
• Behaviour: auto-pause when empty, only admins can pause, AFK kick timeout, console commands (admins-only / all / nobody), research queue (always / after-victory / never)
• Autosave: interval (minutes), number of slots to keep, server-only autosave, non-blocking save (recommended for large maps)
• In-game Admins: list of Factorio usernames with in-game admin privileges (separate from web UI roles)
• Saving settings automatically restarts the server to apply them

Save File Management (moderator / admin only)

• List all .zip save files with size, last-modified time, and the Factorio version they were last saved on
• Hover the version to see which mods (and their versions) were active at last save
• Upload a save file from your browser
• Download any save file directly to your machine
• Switch the active save (updates the service file and restarts)
• Delete saves (the active save is protected)
• Generate New Map — creates a fresh random world with a chosen name

Factorio Account Credentials (moderator / admin only)

• Store your Factorio.com username and API token for downloading experimental builds
• Token is used only for the update endpoint; never exposed in the UI after saving

RCON Configuration (moderator / admin only)

• Set the RCON port and password
• Automatically patches the systemd service file and reloads the daemon
• Restart the server once to activate

Danger Zone (admin only)

• Wipe Factorio — stops the server, removes /opt/factorio/ (including all saves), and deletes the systemd service file; use this before installing an older version

User Management

Four permission tiers, ordered lowest to highest: viewer → user → moderator → admin

Permission	Viewer	User	Moderator	Admin
View dashboard & logs	✓	✓	✓	✓
Start / Stop / Restart		✓	✓	✓
Send chat messages		✓	✓	✓
Kick players			✓	✓
Settings & saves			✓	✓
Manage user/viewer accounts			✓	✓
Manage all accounts				✓

• Moderators can add/delete/change-role of users with rank below them only
• Any user can change their own password
• First-run setup wizard creates the initial admin account

Audit Logging

• Every significant action (login, start/stop/restart, kick, update, settings change, user management) is written to /var/log/factorio-web/audit.log
• Rotating log files: 1 MB per file, 10 files kept
• Each entry records timestamp, username, IP address, and action details

First-Run Setup

• If no accounts exist, the app redirects to a setup wizard instead of the login page
• Creates the initial admin account; you log in normally after that

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Requirements

• Linux with systemd
• Python 3.10+
• Root access (the app controls systemd services and writes to /opt/ and /var/log/)
• A Factorio.com account with an API token (needed to download the server binary)

Installation

git clone https://github.com/berdugorn/factorio-server-webui.git
cd factorio-server-webui
sudo bash install.sh

The installer will:

1. Detect your distro and install Python dependencies via apt / dnf / yum / pacman / zypper
2. Ask for a port (default 8080)
3. Copy files to /opt/factorio-web/ and create a Python virtual environment
4. Register and start a factorio-web systemd service

Open http://<your-server>:<port> — the setup wizard will greet you on first launch.

Upgrading

Run the installer again from the updated repo. It detects an existing installation and only overwrites app.py and templates/ — your users, credentials, and settings are untouched.

git pull
sudo bash install.sh

Manual / development setup

pip install -r requirements.txt gunicorn
gunicorn -w 1 -b 0.0.0.0:8080 app:app

Use a single worker (-w 1) — the update progress and countdown state are in-process.

File Layout

factorio-server-manager/
├── app.py                  # Flask application
├── install.sh              # Installer / upgrader
├── requirements.txt
├── static/
│   └── favicon.svg         # Browser tab icon
└── templates/
    ├── base.html           # Nav, CSS, shared layout
    ├── dashboard.html      # Main dashboard
    ├── settings.html       # Server settings + saves + RCON
    ├── users.html          # User management
    ├── login.html
    └── setup.html          # First-run wizard

Runtime files written outside the repo:

Web manager (/opt/factorio-web/)

Path	Purpose
/opt/factorio-web/app.py	Installed application
/opt/factorio-web/venv/	Python virtual environment
/opt/factorio-web/users.json	User accounts (bcrypt-hashed passwords)
/opt/factorio-web/factorio-credentials.json	Factorio.com download credentials
/opt/factorio-web/rcon.json	RCON connection config
/var/log/factorio-web/audit.log	Rotating audit log (1 MB × 10 files)
/etc/systemd/system/factorio-web.service	Web UI service unit

Factorio game (/opt/factorio/)

Path	Purpose
/opt/factorio/bin/x64/factorio	Factorio server binary
/opt/factorio/server-settings.json	Server name, password, visibility, etc.
/opt/factorio/saves/	Save files (.zip)
/opt/factorio/mods/mod-list.json	Enabled mods — controls Space Age on/off
/etc/systemd/system/factorio.service	Factorio game service unit