Desktop Manual

Contents

1. Getting started
2. 1Introduction & ConceptsWhat FrontierStack is, the problem it solves, and the handful of ideas that make the rest of this manual easy to follow.
3. 2Installation & First RunGetting FrontierStack onto your Mac, the one-time approval that unlocks password-free administration, and where everything lives.
4. 3The Interface: A Guided TourThe main window, the floating palettes that follow you across Spaces, the in-app Help, and the colours and badges that tell you a service's state at a glance.
5. 4Locations, Presets & SetupsThree small features that make a 500-service app feel personal: presets shape the sidebar to your work, setups save the whole arrangement, and locations adapt it to where your Mac is.
6. Web hosting
7. 5Apache & Web HostingRun real websites on your Mac: start and control Apache, create virtual hosts, pick a PHP version, edit .htaccess with a live explainer, and bring sites in from MAMP, XAMPP or an existing Apache.
8. 6Sites, Domains & DNSOne dashboard for every site's health — DNS, HTTP, SSL, Cloudflare and serving host — plus DNS servers, Cloudflare, dynamic DNS, registrar expiry monitoring, IndexNow and an in-app AI SEO audit.
9. 7DatabasesInstall, run and watch MySQL / MariaDB and PostgreSQL; manage scheduled dumps and replication in DB Ops; drive Drizzle migrations; connect an app safely with credentials kept in the Keychain.
10. Services & infrastructure
11. 8The Service CatalogOne sidebar for 500+ local and remote services across 100+ categories — how to find them, install and control them with safe defaults, scan a host for what is already running, and hand any of it to monitoring and the AI.
12. 9Containers & OrchestrationRun Docker containers and Compose stacks, self-host a catalog service in one click, manage OrbStack, Apple Containers and VMs from one board, and reach your Kubernetes clusters — all with live status feeding monitoring.
13. 10Certificates & TLSHTTPS without the headache: locally-trusted dev certs with mkcert, public certs from Let's Encrypt, a dashboard of every cert source, assigning a cert to a site, and renewal & expiry monitoring across your whole fleet.
14. Security & networking
15. 11Security & HardeningLayered defence for a Mac that faces the world: firewalls, intrusion prevention, an open-ports watch, SSH hardening, the Malware Audit, an EDR fleet board, password-free service logins, and signed-request device pairing.
16. 12Networking, Perimeter & VPNSee every device on your network, measure your connection, drive your router or firewall, open a port the right way, build a secure mesh, and expose a local service temporarily and safely.
17. 13Fleet & Remote ServersLink macOS, Linux, BSD and Windows servers over SSH and manage them as one fleet: run a command everywhere, deploy sites, watch hosts with the remote agent, drive remote Apache, control cloud and AWS, and turn an old Mac into a reliable headless server.
18. Operations
19. 14Monitoring, Alerts & ChannelsHow FrontierStack watches everything you run — the 60-second sweep, deep protocol-level checks, the rules that decide when to alert, and the channels those alerts travel down.
20. 15Backups & Storage HealthOne dashboard for every backup you run — Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, database dumps, config snapshots and scheduled folder exports — plus the disk, RAID and SMART health that keeps those backups trustworthy.
21. 16Integrations & Live PanesBring the cloud services your business already runs on into FrontierStack — helpdesks, stores, payments, identity, project trackers, email senders, repositories and agent platforms — each as a live pane that monitors and, where it matters, alerts.
22. Automation & AI
23. 17Automation: Shortcuts, Siri, cron & AgentsSave scripts to a palette and schedule them on cron, drive FrontierStack from Apple Shortcuts, Siri and the frontierstack:// URL scheme, and let agents run themselves.
24. 18The AI AdministratorA tool-using AI harness with guard-rails that runs the whole app: it diagnoses problems in plain English and applies fixes behind a per-action approval card, on this Mac and across your fleet over SSH.
25. 19MCP & External AI HarnessesSwitch FrontierStack on as its own MCP server and drive your servers from Amp, Hermes Bots, Grok, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or any MCP client through the same guarded tools without giving the model your infrastructure credentials.
26. 20Knowledge Base & NotesUse any local Markdown folder as the source of truth, edit it with Obsidian if you wish, and prepare a separate redacted copy for Perplexity Projects and Brain.
27. Reference
28. 21Settings & PreferencesEverything in the in-app Settings pane — general behaviour, advanced options, connected accounts, the command-line helper, Debug Share, auto-updates, and the privacy-respecting telemetry you can switch off.
29. 22Licensing & EditionsFrontierStack is a free download. This chapter covers the paid editions, how a licence is activated and bound to your Mac, moving it between machines, and the My Licence web page.
30. Appendices
31. 23Appendix A — Service Catalog by CategoryA complete index of FrontierStack's service catalog — all 103 categories with a count and a one-line description. The live, always-current list is on the website.
32. 24Appendix B — Shortcuts, URL Scheme & FilesThe full set of Apple Shortcuts actions and Siri phrases, every frontierstack:// deep-link target, and where FrontierStack keeps its files, secrets and configuration.
33. 25Appendix C — Troubleshooting & FAQQuick problem → fix entries for the issues that come up most: installation, web & TLS, services, remote access, and AI/MCP. When in doubt, ask the AI Administrator.
34. 26Appendix D — GlossaryPlain-language definitions of the terms used throughout this manual, in English and Japanese.