Support Reverse Proxy / Cloudflare Tunnel Configs with Separate Subdomains with Open Panel and Open Admin

[itsarts1]

Summary:

I’d love to fully adopt OpenPanel/OpenAdmin in production, but currently the way it handles Panel and Admin access through one subdomain with different ports makes it very difficult to use in setups where reverse proxies (like Nginx or Traefik) or Cloudflare Tunnels are involved.

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Problem:

Many hosting providers (like myself) run services behind reverse proxies or use Cloudflare Tunnels for security and convenience. These systems usually expect services to be exposed via different subdomains or subpaths, not the same subdomain on different ports (which often breaks SSL or fails entirely behind Cloudflare Zero Trust).

Example:

• Desired setup:

  • admin.domain.com → OpenAdmin
  • panel.domain.com → OpenPanel

• Current required setup:

  • panel.domain.com:2087 → OpenAdmin
  • panel.domain.com:2083 → OpenPanel

This makes it very hard to reverse proxy cleanly, especially in locked-down environments or when using domain-based routing (like with Cloudflare Access or Zero Trust policies).

Also, if you try to reverse proxy to the service and access it via a clean subdomain without the port (e.g., panel.domain.com), the application redirects you back to the ported URL, which breaks reverse proxying entirely. This behavior makes it nearly impossible to cleanly present the app to customers over standard HTTPS reverse proxies or tunnels.

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Proposed Solution:

• Add configuration support for:

  • Different subdomains (or subpaths) for OpenPanel and OpenAdmin
  • Reverse proxy headers (X-Forwarded-*)
  • Option to disable port-based redirect logic
  • Option to disable port binding entirely and rely on reverse proxy ingress

• Ideally also include docs or an example nginx.conf / cloudflared config for deploying OpenPanel behind a reverse proxy or Cloudflare Tunnel

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Why It Matters:

• Makes OpenPanel much more usable for hosting providers, developers, and container-native environments
• Increases compatibility with modern infrastructure (Kubernetes, Cloudflare, Tailscale, etc.)
• Would allow wider adoption and simplify secure deployment

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I seriously love the project and would 100% switch to OpenPanel if this reverse proxy configuration flexibility was added. Please consider this a major feature request.

[stefanpejcic]

Different subdomains (or subpaths) for OpenPanel and OpenAdmin

Personally in my 10+ years in the hosting industry, I haven’t come across a single server setup that uses completely separate domains for the user and admin panels - thinking Plesk, cPanel, CyberPanel, etc. Have you seen any specific control panel that supports this? 🤔

Reverse proxy headers (X-Forwarded-*)

Option to disable port-based redirect logic

Currently, if you configure a custom domain for panel access, both OpenAdmin and OpenPanel will enforce redirection to that domain. However, if you only use an IP address (without setting a domain), OpenAdmin is already accessible via every-domain:2087, while OpenPanel still enforces IP:2083.

I’ve just updated the logic for upcoming update(1.4.9): if you don’t set a custom domain and only use the server’s IP, no domain enforcement or redirect will occur for either OpenAdmin or OpenPanel. Hopefully this is enough for your use case.

Option to disable port binding entirely and rely on reverse proxy ingress

This is already possible. Both OpenAdmin and OpenPanel are just Flask apps running on local ports (localhost:2087 and localhost:2083). You can simply configure your reverse proxy to forward to those ports.

Ideally also include docs or an example nginx.conf / cloudflared config for deploying OpenPanel behind a reverse proxy or Cloudflare Tunnel

this is what chatgpt gives for your question: https://chatgpt.com/share/6871363c-046c-8007-9fec-1d6bd38d5242

nginx part looks fine, and for cloudflare idk - havent used cloudflared

[itsarts1]

Hey, really appreciate the detailed response. Thank you.

You make a good point about most panels like Plesk and cPanel sticking to the same domain with different ports. My setup is just a bit different since I rely heavily on reverse proxies and Cloudflare Tunnels. Splitting services across subdomains tends to make routing and security a lot easier in that kind of environment. But I completely understand your reasoning.

That upcoming change in version 1.4.9 sounds perfect. Removing the forced redirects when no custom domain is set honestly solves the issue for me. I will definitely be setting OpenPanel back up once the update is out. I really love what you are building here, and it is awesome to see how quickly it is improving.

Thanks again!