m3tal-core

README

M3TAL Ecosystem

Welcome to the M3TAL Core, a Go-native orchestration layer designed to simplify infrastructure management. M3TAL provides a unified CLI and a robust backend service to deploy, monitor, and manage your containerized stacks.

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🏗️ Architectural Overview

M3TAL operates as a cohesive system designed for stability and security:

• Orchestrator (m3tal CLI): The primary entry point for interaction. It manages the lifecycle of the M3TAL daemon and generates configurations.
• Systemd Backend (m3tal-api): A Go-native daemon running as a system service. It persists application state and provides the API layer for the frontend.
• Dashboard Container: A Python-based visualization layer. It communicates with the Backend API to fetch stack status and metrics.
• Data Isolation:
  • Configuration: /etc/m3tal/.env
  • Persistence: /var/lib/m3tal/state.db
  • Deployment: /opt/m3tal/stack (managed via symlinks)

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🚀 Installation

You do not need to build from source. M3TAL provides pre-compiled binaries via our official APT repository for Debian/Ubuntu-based systems.

# 1. Add GPG Key
curl -fsSL https://jakej985-rgb.github.io/m3tal-core/KEY.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/m3tal-archive-keyring.gpg

# 2. Add Repository
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/m3tal-archive-keyring.gpg] https://jakej985-rgb.github.io/m3tal-core stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/m3tal.list

# 3. Install M3TAL
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y m3tal

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🛠️ Getting Started

1. Configuration

Before deploying, initialize your environment settings. The configuration wizard will guide you through setting up your paths and environment variables (stored in /etc/m3tal/.env):

sudo m3tal config wizard

2. Interactive Menu

The CLI provides an interactive TUI to manage your services and containers:

sudo m3tal

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⚙️ Configuration Reference

M3TAL uses a centralized environment file. Key configurable parameters include:

Variable	Default	Description
DASHBOARD_PORT	8082	Port for the Python dashboard.
HTTP_PORT	8080	Backend API port.
ADMIN_PASSWORD	admin_pass	Dashboard access credentials.
DOMAIN	localhost	Primary domain for stack routing.
BASE_STORAGE_PATH	./data	Root directory for volume mounts.

Note: Be sure to update DASHBOARD_SECRET and API_TOKEN immediately upon initial setup.

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📁 System Directories

M3TAL adheres to Linux standard practices for file system placement:

• /etc/m3tal/: Contains .env and sensitive configuration tokens.
• /var/lib/m3tal/: Contains the state.db which tracks the health and status of your ecosystem.
• /opt/m3tal/stack: Holds the actual Compose files and infrastructure definitions utilized by the orchestrator.

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Documentation maintained by DocSmith, M3TAL Ecosystem Documentation Architect.