Start here · Architect / solution engineer

Start as an architect

Decide where AI runs, who can reach it and where the data lives. AbstractGateway is one process per data folder: a durable control plane with user accounts, a replayable ledger and thin clients over HTTP and SSE.

Security posture Architecture Deployment topologies

Your first hour

Install, try it, make it yours

Read the shape of the system 10 min

Clients (the gateway consoles, browser apps, the Assistant, AbstractCode, your own app) talk to AbstractGateway over HTTP and SSE. The gateway runs workflows on AbstractRuntime, which records every step in an append-only ledger, and reaches models through AbstractCore: local engines on the gateway host or cloud providers.

Consoles / browser apps / AbstractAssistant / AbstractCode / your app
  -> AbstractGateway (HTTP + SSE) -> AbstractRuntime -> AbstractCore -> Providers

Choose a topology 15 min

Who can reach it

This computer

The default: the gateway listens on 127.0.0.1 only, with user accounts on. Nobody else can connect.

localhostDefault

Local network (LAN)

Every device on your network (or your VPN) reaches the sign-in page and the API. User accounts are required. It is plain HTTP, so use it on networks you trust, or behind a TLS proxy or VPN.

lanAccounts required

Internet

The same, with an explicit acknowledgement. The gateway does not terminate TLS: put your own TLS reverse proxy (Caddy, nginx, Traefik) or a tunnel in front of it.

internetYour TLS

How it runs

Desktop

An icon in the macOS menu bar, the Windows system tray or a Linux panel opens the console already signed in. Start AbstractGateway at login registers a per-user login item.

Tray iconStart at login

Headless server

Install over SSH with the same one-line installer, manage it from the terminal console (abstractgateway-console), keep it running with a systemd --user service, and reach the console, the API and every app through one SSH tunnel.

SSHsystemd --user

Container

Release images on GHCR (ghcr.io/lpalbou/abstractgateway, and a -gpu variant), run with a mounted data directory and ABSTRACTGATEWAY_USER_AUTH=1.

GHCR imageMounted data

In practice. A new gateway answers on this computer only. The Network setting, in the web console, the terminal console or the tray, or abstractgateway network set lan (or internet) opens it up at the next start, and both keep user accounts on. A gateway started on another address without user accounts or a token refuses to start.

The terminal console's Network screen: Localhost only selected, Local network and Internet options, the address list and reverse-proxy settings — The same setting over SSH: the terminal console’s Network screen (`N`) shows the saved mode, what is running and every address.

Stand up a server 15 min

docker run \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  -v "$PWD/runtime:/data" \
  -e ABSTRACTGATEWAY_DATA_DIR=/data \
  -e ABSTRACTGATEWAY_USER_AUTH=1 \
  ghcr.io/lpalbou/abstractgateway:0.7.2

On first start it creates default/admin and writes the login token to runtime/auth/bootstrap-admin-token. Create named users in the console’s Users & Entities tab and rotate the bootstrap token.

Place the data 10 min

Everything a gateway owns lives in its data folder: settings, users, chats, run history and ledgers, artifacts and memory. The default is ~/Library/Application Support/AbstractGateway on macOS and ~/.local/share/abstractgateway on Linux; choose another with --data-dir. Model weights live in the engines’ caches (for example ~/.cache/huggingface). Run one gateway process per data folder.

Check it 10 min

uvx abstractframework doctor
abstractgateway network status
abstractgateway network addresses

doctor only reads: Python, uv, Node, disk, the gateway, and whether Ollama and LM Studio answer.

Three things to try

Then make it yours

TRY 1

A team gateway on your LAN

Switch to lan, create one user per person, and let each open the apps from their own browser: one user, one runtime, their own sessions and workflow catalog.

Users and runtimes

TRY 2

A remote GPU box

Install on a Linux GPU server with the gpu profile, configure it from the terminal console, and reach it through one SSH tunnel from your laptop.

Headless install

TRY 3

Audit a run

Open any run in the Observer and replay its ledger step by step: every prompt, tool call, wait and answer, with timings.

Observer

Security posture

Closed by default, opened on purpose

Loopback first

A bare abstractgateway serve binds 127.0.0.1:8080. A non-loopback --host without auth refuses to start, and lan is refused unless user auth is on.

Users and sessions

User auth is on by default: one user, one runtime. Tokens are shown once and stored hashed; browser apps use an HTTP-only session cookie with a CSRF token, and repeated failed sign-ins lock out.

One-time sign-in links

Claim links last 10 minutes, are redeemed only from this machine, and requests carrying proxy headers are refused. Terminal clients take the admin token directly with --token.

Browser protections

Origins are limited to localhost and the gateway's own LAN origins unless you allow an exact origin. The apps and the app proxy refuse DNS-rebinding hosts and foreign origins.

Protected folders

Every run is denied the credential folders (~/.ssh, ~/.aws, ~/.gnupg, ~/.config/gcloud, ~/.kube, ~/Library/Keychains) and the gateway's own data folder.

Server-held keys

Provider keys are write-only in the console. AbstractCore spends a server-held key only for authenticated requests.

Gateway security checklist → Security reference →

Good to know

Worth knowing

Internet mode is your responsibility. The gateway does not terminate TLS or open ports for you. Put it behind a reverse proxy or a trusted tunnel, keep origins exact, and protect reads as well as writes: ledgers contain prompts and tool outputs.

Shell commands are not sandboxed. File tools respect the workspace and its read-only mounts; shell commands are not sandboxed. Keep tool approval on where that matters, and remember that creating an automation approves its framework tools.

Retries repeat side effects. Runs and automation ticks are recorded exactly once, but a retried workflow runs again: design external actions (emails, API writes) to be idempotent.

Where to next

Keep going

AbstractGatewayUsers, network modes, the API and containers.The gateway consolesNetwork, start at login and apps, in the browser or a terminal.InstallProfiles, options, headless servers, uninstall.Security checklistWhat to do before exposing a gateway.