Show HN: Kula – Lightweight, self-contained Linux server monitoring tool
79 points by c0m4r 24 hours ago | 52 comments
Zero dependencies. No external databases. Single binary. Just deploy and go. I needed something that would allow for real-time monitoring, and installation is as simple as dropping a single file and running it. That's exactly what Kula is. Kula is the Polish word for "ball," as in "crystal ball." The project is in constant development, but I'm already using it on multiple servers in production. It still has some rough edges and needs to mature, but I wanted to share it with the world now—perhaps someone else will find it useful and be willing to help me develop it by testing or providing feedback. Cheers! Github: https://github.com/c0m4r/kula
savalione 21 hours ago
Is there any meaningful reason to add the project structure to the README, and add a copyright symbol to every mention of Linux?
I'm not quite sure by what standards it's considered to be lightweight, but it may be useful for homelab owners.
replyAnyway, Zabbix still looks like a better solution by any metric.
c0m4r 21 hours ago
I got your point. The project structure remains from the initial phase of building the tool. I think I'll eventually remove it or put it on the wiki or somewhere else. My excessive attachment to copyright probably stems from the fact that years ago, when I wrote my own websites and articles, people often simply copied them and signed them as their own. The Linux Foundation website has attribution instructions that ask for the use of the ® symbol; I simply followed this instruction, but I agree that it's probably an exaggeration on my part. Considering what this tool does, I personally think it's lightweight in terms of both binary size, execution times, and dashboard performance. But I agree that's debatable.
replydqv 17 hours ago
In fact, you followed the instructions exactly to spec https://www.linuxfoundation.org/legal/the-linux-mark
replymitjam 12 hours ago
I like that you've started keeping your prompts in the repo [1]. Why have you deleted them, later on? What I find curious is how can something AI generated can be licensed AGPL?
reply[1]: https://github.com/c0m4r/kula/commit/ae3f8a8483c91fe8bd4ea2c...
c0m4r 12 hours ago
At some point, writing these files became a hassle and I felt it was too chaotic, so I gave up on it. Regarding licenses, given that LLMs are using other people's work without their consent anyway, and most of the code produced rn is AI, these licenses are to me really just suggestions. I would treat them as an expression of intent, not a strictly legal document.
replydanparsonson 12 hours ago
It would be interesting to hear a lawyer's take on that, as I suspect their opinion might differ from yours...
replyc0m4r 12 hours ago
A lawyer's opinion will be directly proportional to their fee and will have little to do with reality, because the law hasn't kept up with what's happening right now. If you don't code with AI, you'll be left behind. Everyone is coding with AI, even in places where it's not immediately obvious, there's AI. You open the refrigerator and AI comes out. I don't know how this will be regulated, I'm not an expert in this field, but for now, it is what it is. The most important thing for me is that I don't derive any financial benefit from this and I give attribution where it is due.
replyamar0c 12 hours ago
Monitoring needs to be: single dashboard << many agents. I have no plan deploying dashboard on every server.
replyatmanactive 13 hours ago
Reading through supported metrics, I don't see temperatures mentioned. That's really important for homelab servers. CPU temp, SSD temp, NVMe temp...
replyc0m4r 13 hours ago
Temperatures monitoring will be added. Initially, I implemented too many metrics, so during development I limited them to a reasonable level to make them manageable, but I'll be adding more as the project matures. Thanks for the feedback!
replyatmanactive 11 hours ago
Looking forward, thanks!
replyc0m4r 11 hours ago
If you have a moment, I would be grateful if you could create an issue on github. I will then be able to let you know when it's ready and ask you to try it out. Please also let me know which temperatures you'd like to primarily monitor. I assume I'll have to gradually introduce the supported ones, as not all of them can be detected at once.
replyatmanactive 10 hours ago
Sure thing. In my experiences based on using LibreHardwareMonitor [1] on Windows, and Dunnart [2] on Linux, dealing with temperature monitoring is not trivial. But it's not impossible either. For example, in Linux, looking at /sys folder for CPU temperatures, I can often find several entries, of which, some are dead, some are way off, and some are correct, but it is always a hit and miss endeavour. So, reliably monitoring temperatures requires a bit of an algorithm to detect the right source.
reply[1] https://github.com/LibreHardwareMonitor/LibreHardwareMonitor
smashed 10 hours ago
Most (all?) temperature monitoring tools on Linux rely on libsensors.
replySeems like hardware maintainers never could agree on a standard way of exposing temperature on Linux.
c0m4r 9 hours ago
Yeah, that's a pain. Every time I boot up new hardware, I wonder how many readings I'll be able to get this time, and if it's even possible. On one computer, I have practically all the temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds, while on another, I can barely read the CPU temperature alone. Not to mention the need to sometimes compile sketchy drivers from github...
replysmashed 23 hours ago
Vibe coded netdata clone?
replyc0m4r 21 hours ago
Yes, netdata was an inspiration, as I'd been using it for several years. Unfortunately, it stopped being what it initially was, and recently I was so disappointed that I decided to write my own tool. It's also true that I use AI models for coding, but I wouldn't exactly call it vibe coding, as I actively analyze what the models are doing and don't just blindly accept everything. I also try to thoroughly test my code, implement as many security-enhancing features as possible, and have multiple models review my code to catch as many bugs as possible.
replykrautsauer 22 hours ago
netdata is pretty heavy on resources, especially disk writes. I'd appreciate improvement over it, but I won't try out this thing without indication that it improves anything. Especially with such useful features as space invaders built in…
replykulahan 22 hours ago
I'm very curious where you got the inspiration for the name for this! I've been using Kula/Kulahan as a username for years and almost never see it anywhere else
replyc0m4r 21 hours ago
Well, it was easy since my native language is Polish and I often use "kula szpiegula" term, which translates to something like a "spying crystal ball" in relation to things that allow monitoring or collecting information. In Polish, "kula" can refer to many things, e.g. a sphere or a globe.
replymastermage 10 hours ago
This might be nice for my vps. May i ask if there is a way to see the resources per docker container?
replysneak 20 hours ago
> Kula uses Argon2id for password hashing. If you enable authentication, it is highly recommended to tune the Argon2 parameters (time, memory, threads) in config.yaml based on your hardware capabilities to increase resistance against cracking.
replyThere is no reason to do this. Set them to sane defaults and set a minimum password length of 12 or 14 chars and stop trying to solve the wrong problem.
reacharavindh 17 hours ago
On these lines… it has been on my “to be vibe-coded” list to make an extremely minimal node-exporter(the metrics collector for Prometheus) in rust (support only Linux, gather extremely minimal set of metrics) that uses tightly controlled concurrency so as to fetch all metrics within a short span of time.
replyIf anyone has more AI tokens or spare time with mental energy to burn… go for it :-)
doug_life 22 hours ago
dash. (or dashdot) https://github.com/MauriceNino/dashdot is another alternative that is pretty lightweight but has fewer details. Live Demo: https://dash.mauz.dev
replythebuilderjr 22 hours ago
[flagged]
replyc0m4r 22 hours ago
Netdata was actually THE reason I wanted to create my own real-time monitoring system. When I first came across Netdata, it was everything I needed, and its dashboard was fast, clean, and easy to use. But ever since they created the v3 dashboard and started aggressively advertising their cloud services, it became off-putting to me. Thank you for your suggestions, noted!
replysneak 20 hours ago
Why the nonfree AGPL? Are you seriously worried that someone is going to fork this and make money with it, given that anyone else could vibe code another one in a few hours?
replyyjftsjthsd-h 15 hours ago
> Why the nonfree AGPL?
replyBy no reasonable definition is AGPL nonfree. It isn't a permissive license, but it's libre, gratis, and open source.
> given that anyone else could vibe code another one in a few hours?
If that's true, then who cares?
c0m4r 14 hours ago
To be honest, I didn't think about it for too long. I choose licenses based on intuition. I put a lot of work into this tool, I knew it would require a lot of effort, and besides, I created it precisely because someone else turned a similar project into a money-making machine, completely abandoning the original ideals. Therefore, I felt that AGPL, which requires code disclosure and non-profit use, is the way to go.
replykoiueo 19 hours ago
1. Why do you ask? Do you intend forking and making money out of it?
reply2. Why are you lying about AGPL being nonfree? As far as I'm concerned, it is free as in free speech for me as a user. This was the initial goal of the GPL. The freedom of the end user is the main value of the GPL family of licenses. So serious question: why are you lying? Is it intentional, or due to your lack of understanding?
sneak 13 hours ago
Re 1: No, I don’t run paid internet services, only free ones. I just think it’s silly when people distribute software and pretend it’s free software but slap an anti-commercial-use EULA on it.
replyNot lying: The AGPL plainly violates freedom 0.
c0m4r 13 hours ago
I respect your opinion, but I disagree with it. It's purely a matter of perspective. I find such restrictions acceptable in free licenses. Besides, as you pointed out, these licenses don't matter anyway, since anyone can use AI and write their own tool :) This choice of license is just my suggestion, or if you prefer, a manifesto that I don't want open source projects to become closed source, that's all.
replykoiueo 11 hours ago
Your initial question had your ungrounded assumption/opinion embedded in it. I did the same to you. Not the thing I usually do.
replyYour reasoning has plenty of strawman arguments and opinions. Starting from SaaS is not software, to how AGPL is impossible to comply with, because when you commit, the source goes out of sync with the running code.
IMO you still miss the point of GPL: it's to protect users.
As soon as you start offering your software (as a service or otherwise), you become a vendor. AGPL then is not for you, it's for users you're serving.
Finally, to enforceability. The only enforceable laws in our world have always been laws of physics. Everything else is a social construct, which, depending on your social status and immediate surrounding, applies to you at various degrees (sometimes not at all). All the laws produced by society only align our common expectations, but none is absolutely enforceable.
IMO, AGPL is the best idealistic scenario for end users. And society would only win if the expectations set by AGPL became the norm.
// Typed from my phone
I use rrdtool to this day, as a building block, but this project looks much better.