As a master student working in a lab that research networking technology, I embarked on a journey that combined my passion for coding and my desire for self-convenience. What began as a personal project for fun soon evolved into something much more significant—a versatile, low-power, and highly customizable reverse proxy server that I named Zoraxy.

To be honest, I have no idea what I am writing (or trying to create), but it seems it is a fun thing to write my journey in a post that not sure how many people will read, just to let you know it is ok to create something that might be useless other than yourself.

git clone https://github.com/tobychui/zoraxy
cd ./zoraxy/src/
go mod tidy
go build
sudo ./zoraxy -port=:8000

Why it is named Zoraxy?

5 years ago I have another projected named ArozOS and I in need for a solution to set it up with my already existing infrastructure (Apache + wordpress). My first thought is just use Apache as a reverse proxy server, but it turns out to be a bad idea as every time I want to change something or test a new local site, I need to dig deep into the apache config and change a text file that might crash my own system during service restart.

Nginx proxy manager is something I would want to try, but it require dockers (and probably used a lot of glue code within it), I kind of drop that options when I trying to understand their project.

That is why I decided to write my own, modified from a really old project of mine named "Reverse Proxy", which is an ArozOS subservice design to, as the name suggest, reverse proxy another applications with web interface but not supporting iframe embedding in ArozOS web desktop interface.

So later on, as I am adding more and more features to it, I decided to separate it into another project that makes maintaining it more easy. That is why I came up with the name Zoraxy - reverse proXY for ArOZ (reversed, so "Zora")

What Make Zoraxy Special?

One of the standout features of Zoraxy is its user-friendly interface, complete with detailed in-system instructions. It's designed with both beginners and experienced users in mind, ensuring that anyone, regardless of their level of expertise, can harness its power. But what truly sets Zoraxy apart are the plethora of functionalities it offers. If you have a features that you don't know how to use, you can always find a small text under the button, a side bar with instruction or a collapsible section that explain how things work. That means even without a proper documentation, user still know how to operate them with ease.

At its core, Zoraxy is a robust reverse proxy server (which I copied some of the http transport settings from Caddy). It excels in handling subdomain and virtual directory reverse proxy configurations, making it easy to route incoming requests to the appropriate destinations.

It also got tons of other features that I am just too lazy to type them out here. If you are interested on the functionality perspective of this project, go take a look at the official website over here.

How a Reverse Proxy server become a Swiss knife?

To be honest I have no idea. I just add in things that I need (and people needs) into the project and it started to become larger and larger.

At first I was like "Maybe I can add a new feature that shows the up time of each of my subdomain target", and then when there are a lot of people visiting my site, I was wondering "Where do all these people came from?" From that, I added in a statistic collector and find a lot of them actually bots and crawler scripts. Then I added in access control system that blocks some of the bots and crawler from wasting my bandwidth.

Another issue is that I have a few nodes placed in the university where there is way to reach them via public internet. That is why I added in the GAN support (zerotier based) and a lot of other tools to help with the routing and networking of such complex environment.

After a year of developments and tons of feature added, a few collaborator who are interested in this project hopped in and help with the ACME / TLS auto renew modules, which gives it a much higher popularity among the homelab community.

What I learn from creating yet another open source project

In the realm of software development, we often find ourselves in situations where existing tools and software solutions don't quite fit our needs. It's a common predicament faced by both beginners and seasoned professionals alike. But what if I told you that this situation could be an incredible opportunity for personal and professional growth? The answer lies in a simple yet profound piece of advice: if you can't find the right software, consider building it yourself.

Because of the Zoraxy project, I got the chances to share my project on different open source conference, events and a new chat topic with my friends in CS. Now, I understand that the prospect of developing your own software can be daunting, especially if you're new to programming. However, it's precisely this challenge that makes it an invaluable learning experience. Writing your own software forces you to dive deep into the world of code, algorithms, and problem-solving. It's a crash course in programming that no tutorial or online course can replicate.

By tackling a software project from scratch, you open doors to networking and mentorship opportunities you might not have encountered otherwise. You'll meet individuals who are equally passionate about technology, innovation, and problem-solving. These connections can lead to collaborations, job offers, or simply a broader network of peers who can provide insights and support throughout your career.

So, the next time you find yourself frustrated by the limitations of existing software, consider building it yourself :)