I built a NAS dashboard for per-device smart routing

Description and use

A NAS dashboard was built to enable per‑device rule‑based proxy routing without client software.

Problem

Managing per-device proxy routing on a home network without installing client software on each device or manually changing network settings.

Outcome

The dashboard enables per‑device proxy routing without client software, provides traffic visibility, and manages device preferences via MAC address. It supports English and Simplified Chinese, includes automated tests, and is released as a prerelease.

Workflow

• 1. Deploy NAS Device Flow on the NAS, running a Linux gateway container and Mihomo for proxy rules.
• 2. Configure the Wi‑Fi router to use the NAS as the default gateway and provide its address via DHCP.
• 3. On first boot, the dashboard discovers devices by MAC address, DHCP lease, and optional router adapters.
• 4. For each device, the user toggles the switch to enable or disable proxy routing.
• 5. The dashboard displays upload/download rates, sampled proxy traffic, and gateway information.
• 6. Users can rename devices and adjust settings via the web interface.
• 7. The system verifies DHCP leases and replaces old ones in authoritative mode if the NAS is the sole DHCP server.

Evidence

I wanted to choose which devices on my home Wi‑Fi use rule‑based proxy routing, without installing a client on every phone or changing network settings each time.

Source

The main screen puts devices first. Each device has a switch: enable it to apply the configured routing rules, or disable it for direct access.

Source

The release now includes an explicit opt‑in authoritative DHCP mode for deployments where this is the only DHCP server, and tests for an old lease being rejected and replaced with the correct gateway and DNS.

Source

The current v0.1.0-rc.3 release has 74 automated tests. CI also checks container startup and an isolated Linux DHCP renewal path.

Source