NetGoat

NetGoat is a self-hostable reverse proxy engine and traffic manager designed to provide Cloudflare-like controls for routing, security, and performance. It aims to help homelabs and teams manage inbound web traffic with an integrated UI and rule-based behavior.

Key Features

• Reverse proxy for HTTP traffic, including WebSocket support
• TLS termination with automated certificate handling
• WAF-style request filtering and anti-abuse protections
• Rate limiting and request queuing to protect APIs and apps
• Load balancing and failover for multi-node routing
• Per-domain configuration with wildcard/regex support
• Dynamic rules engine for custom routing and filtering logic
• Metrics dashboard for traffic and error visibility
• Optional integration targeting Cloudflare workflows (such as tunnels)

Use Cases

• Fronting multiple self-hosted services with a single security and routing layer
• Adding rate limiting and basic WAF protections to APIs and web apps
• Managing multi-service homelab ingress with per-domain policies and monitoring

Limitations and Considerations

• Project is explicitly work-in-progress; features and stability may change significantly
• Some advertised capabilities may be incomplete depending on the current release state

NetGoat is best suited for users who want a centralized, UI-driven reverse proxy with security-focused controls and extensibility. As it matures, it can serve as a flexible edge layer for both homelab and small-team deployments.