Installation & Service Setup

Installing sysutils/fjord from official FreeBSD binary packages automatically installs fjordd, its rc.d service script, both container engines (Podman and AppJail), and all required networking plugins.

1. Quick Install (FreeBSD Package)

Install sysutils/fjord and start the daemon:

pkg install -y fjord

sysrc fjordd_enable=YES
service fjordd start

Enabling Podman

If you plan to deploy stacks using the Podman engine, enable and start the Podman API service socket:

sysrc podman_service_enable=YES
service podman_service start

Accessing the Web Interface

Open your browser to:

http://<host-ip>:3567

On first visit, the setup wizard will verify your host environment, ask where App Data goes, and initialize the application catalog.

Automated Diagnostics & Fixes

fjordd automatically audits your FreeBSD host environment. If any kernel parameters, Packet Filter (PF) firewall anchors, or sockets require attention, the setup wizard and the System dashboard will highlight them with copy-paste shell remediation commands.

2. Alternative Installation Methods

Release binary

Every release ships static fjordd binaries for FreeBSD amd64 and arm64 with the web UI embedded:

fetch https://github.com/daemonless/fjord/releases/latest/download/fjordd-freebsd-$(uname -m)
fetch https://github.com/daemonless/fjord/releases/latest/download/fjordd.rc
install -m 755 fjordd-freebsd-* /usr/local/sbin/fjordd
install -m 755 fjordd.rc /usr/local/etc/rc.d/fjordd

sysrc fjordd_enable=YES
service fjordd start

FreeBSD Port

Build from the FreeBSD ports tree:

cd /usr/ports/sysutils/fjord && make install clean

sysrc fjordd_enable=YES
service fjordd start

make config allows selecting which engine dependencies (PODMAN, APPJAIL) are included.

Build from Source (git clone)

Requires go and npm:

pkg install -y git go npm
git clone https://github.com/daemonless/fjord && cd fjord
(cd ui && npm ci && npm run build)
go build -o fjordd ./cmd/fjordd
install -m 755 fjordd /usr/local/sbin/fjordd
install -m 755 packaging/fjordd.rc /usr/local/etc/rc.d/fjordd

sysrc fjordd_enable=YES
service fjordd start

3. Configuration & Environment

Storage locations, folder sets, catalogs, and default engine choices are managed directly through the web UI and saved to /var/db/fjord/settings.json.

Network listen addresses and directory roots can be overridden via rc.conf:

# Example: Bind fjord to localhost on port 3567
sysrc fjordd_env="FJORD_LISTEN=127.0.0.1:3567"

Variable	Default Value	Description
`FJORD_LISTEN`	`:3567`	TCP listen address and port for the HTTP server.
`FJORD_STACKS_DIR`	`/var/db/fjord/stacks`	Directory where stack definitions and compose files reside.
`FJORD_STORAGE_BASE`	`/var/db/fjord/containers`	Default App Data location for application state and databases.
`FJORD_ENGINE`	`podman`	Default engine assigned to new stacks (`podman` or `appjail`).
`FJORD_PODMAN_SOCKET`	`/var/run/podman/podman.sock`	Path to the Libpod API Unix socket.
`FJORD_HOST_ADDR`	`127.0.0.1`	Host address probed during pre-flight port conflict detection.
`FJORD_CATALOG_URL`	(unset)	Custom catalog URL loaded on initial install if replacing the default.

4. Security & Network Access

fjordd executes with administrative privileges to manage jail lifecycles, configure ZFS datasets, and communicate with container sockets.

Local Trusted Mode

fjord operates in local trusted mode without an integrated authentication barrier. Anyone with network access to port 3567 can control containers on the host with root equivalence.

For production or remote hosts:

Bind to loopback: Set FJORD_LISTEN=127.0.0.1:3567 in fjordd_env.

Access via SSH tunnel:

ssh -L 3567:127.0.0.1:3567 user@freebsd-host

Or access via VPN: Place the host on a private WireGuard or Tailscale network and bind fjord to the VPN interface address.