C-Gate Server Container

v1.0.0

Containerised SpaceLogic C-Gate Server (v3.7.0 build 2285) with a built-in web console for testing and debugging C-Bus networks.

Quick Start

docker compose up -d

C-Gate will start with the default project HOME and the web console will be available at http://localhost:8980.

Ports

Port	Protocol	Description
20023	TCP	Command Interface
20024	TCP	Event Interface
20025	TCP	Status Change Port (SCP)
20026	TCP	Config Change Port (CCP)
20123–20126	TCP	SSL equivalents of the above
8980	HTTP	Web Console / HTTP Commander

Web Console

The container includes a lightweight web-based console for interacting with C-Gate — useful for testing, debugging, and visualising C-Bus traffic without needing a dedicated client application.

Open http://localhost:8980 in a browser to get a terminal-style interface that provides:

• Command entry — type any C-Gate command and see the response immediately
• Live streaming — events and status changes from the C-Bus network appear in real time via WebSocket
• Stream filtering — toggle visibility of events, status updates, commands, and responses
• Command history — use arrow keys to recall previous commands

HTTP Commander

You can also send commands directly via HTTP GET requests — handy for scripting, curl, or integrating with other tools:

http://localhost:8980/cgate?cmd=ON%20//HOME/254/56/120

Returns a JSON response:

{
  "cmd": "ON //HOME/254/56/120",
  "response": ["200 OK: //HOME/254/56/120"]
}

More examples:

# Get the C-Gate version
curl "http://localhost:8980/cgate?cmd=version"

# List projects
curl "http://localhost:8980/cgate?cmd=project%20list"

# Turn off a group
curl "http://localhost:8980/cgate?cmd=OFF%20//HOME/254/56/120"

# Ramp a group to 50% over 4 seconds
curl "http://localhost:8980/cgate?cmd=RAMP%20//HOME/254/56/120%2050%25%204s"

# Get all group levels on an application
curl "http://localhost:8980/cgate?cmd=GET%20//HOME/254/56/*%20level"

Configuration

Project Files

Project tag databases are stored in the tag/ directory and bind-mounted into the container. The default project HOME is included.

Important: Each C-Gate project must reside in a subfolder of tag/ whose name matches the project name. For example, the HOME project database must be at tag/HOME/HOME.db.

tag/
├── HOME/
│   └── HOME.db
└── EXAMPLE/
    └── EXAMPLE.db

Access Control

Edit config/access.txt to control which hosts can connect to C-Gate and at what privilege level:

interface 127.0.0.1 Program
interface 0.0.0.0 Program

The default configuration allows programming access from any IP address, which is appropriate for a containerised deployment behind a firewall. Restrict this in production environments.

Overriding Defaults

The default C-Gate startup flags (-connect localhost -project HOME) can be overridden at runtime:

docker compose run --rm cgate -connect 192.168.1.50 -project MYBUILDING

Architecture

                    ┌──────────────────────────────────┐
                    │          Docker Container         │
                    │                                   │
Browser ──HTTP/WS──►│  Go web bridge (:8980)            │
                    │       │                           │
                    │       ├──TCP──► Command  (:20023) │
                    │       ├──TCP──► Event    (:20024) │
Telnet/Client ─────►│       └──TCP──► Status   (:20025) │
                    │                                   │
                    │         C-Gate Server (Java)      │
                    │              ▲                     │
                    │              │                     │
                    │       tag/ config/ (volumes)      │
                    └──────────────────────────────────┘

The web bridge is a single static Go binary (~5 MB) that runs alongside C-Gate inside the container. It connects to C-Gate's TCP command, event, and status ports on localhost and exposes them over HTTP and WebSocket.

Building

Local Build

docker compose build

Multi-Architecture

The included GitHub Actions workflow builds and pushes multi-arch images (linux/amd64 and linux/arm64) to GitHub Container Registry on every push to main:

docker pull ghcr.io/<owner>/c-gate-server-container:latest

Volumes

Mount	Container Path	Description
./config	/cgate/config	Access control and C-groups configuration
./tag	/cgate/tag	Project tag databases

Logging

C-Gate uses a custom Logback configuration (config/logback.xml) that provides dual-output logging:

• Console (stdout) — C-Gate logs are written directly to stdout via Logback's ConsoleAppender, making them available natively through docker compose logs and container management tools like Portainer. No log-tailing workarounds are needed.
• Rolling file — Logs are also written to logs/event.txt inside the container (mounted at ./C-Gate-Native-Logs on the host), with daily rotation and a 500 KB size trigger. Up to 10 days of history are retained.

Both appenders run at DEBUG level by default. Edit config/logback.xml to adjust levels or patterns.

Docker's JSON file log driver adds a second layer of rotation for the stdout stream (10 MB max, 5 rotated files), so container logs stay bounded even if Logback output is verbose.

# Follow live container logs
docker compose logs -f cgate

# Native C-Gate log files on the host
ls ./C-Gate-Native-Logs/