BackroomsHost is a hosting control panel and app deployment platform for the Backrooms software ecosystem. It is based on a custom variant of Thunder Panel, Cameron Lobban's custom web hosting panel software, and adapts that hosting-panel foundation for Backrooms-branded sites and bundled apps.
BackroomsHost is designed to manage websites, domains, mail, databases, backups, scheduled tasks, hosted files, node agents, and bundled Backrooms web applications from a central panel.
The platform is split into two main packages: BackroomsHost Main and BackroomsHost Node. The main package provides the central panel, queue worker, app catalogue, user-facing hosting workflow, and management interface. The node package provides the runtime agent and local server tooling used on managed hosting nodes.
BackroomsHost can host ordinary custom website files, but one of its main features is support for packaged Backrooms apps. These app packages can be selected during website creation so BackroomsHost can deploy the files, prepare the site, set install-time configuration, and complete first-run setup automatically.
Relationship to Thunder Panel
Thunder Panel is Cameron Lobban's custom web hosting panel software. BackroomsHost uses a customised Backrooms-focused variant of that panel codebase. This is why some source documentation, internal class names, and older notes still refer to Thunder Panel while the public Backrooms ecosystem product is BackroomsHost.
The distinction matters. Thunder Panel is the broader custom hosting panel foundation. BackroomsHost is the Backrooms-branded platform built from that foundation, with bundled Backrooms app packages, Backrooms ecosystem setup flows, and deployment workflows aimed at the Backrooms project family.
Overview
BackroomsHost is built as a practical web-hosting platform rather than a single-site installer. Its role is to provide a reusable way to place Backrooms projects onto managed web nodes, keep those sites maintainable, and support different app types without rewriting the deployment process for each project.
The central panel stores the desired state of hosted sites and queues work. The node agent runs on the managed server and applies that work locally. This split gives the platform a cleaner trust boundary: the panel decides what should happen, while the node performs server-local changes such as writing web configuration, applying mail settings, preparing database access, installing app packages, and reporting health information.
BackroomsHost supports blank websites as well as packaged apps. A blank website can be used for custom files. A packaged app can provide its own manifest, installer, public web root, preserved paths, and setup requirements. This lets the same hosting system deploy a wiki, forum, video platform, music site, news desk, MMO portal, or other Backrooms application from a consistent workflow.
Main and Node Packages
The BackroomsHost Main package is the full control-plane bundle. It includes the panel web UI, shared libraries, the node agent code required by the platform, install and maintenance scripts, templates, documentation, tests, and storage skeletons.
The BackroomsHost Node package is the dedicated runtime bundle for managed nodes. It includes the local agent, shared runtime classes, web and mail templates, PHP-FPM templates, node diagnostics, bootstrap scripts, maintenance scripts, and the local panel runtime required for node bootstrap and node login flows.
This package split allows the main server to manage multiple nodes while still giving each node enough local code to repair, bootstrap, report status, and apply hosting changes without depending on direct shell access for every action.
Hosting Features
BackroomsHost supports the normal building blocks expected from a web hosting panel:
- website and domain management
- service plans and subscriptions
- Apache, Nginx, and hybrid web modes
- PHP-FPM site handling
- database creation and site-level database access
- mail domains, mailboxes, aliases, and mail filters
- TLS certificate handling
- scheduled tasks
- backup jobs
- file management inside constrained site paths
- log viewing for approved web, mail, and system logs
- public hosting applications and approval workflows
- packaged app deployment and soft reinstall support
The platform is intended to be useful for both ordinary hosting tasks and Backrooms-specific app hosting. A user can request a blank site, or they can request a preinstalled Backrooms app that is deployed automatically after approval.
Web Stack Support
BackroomsHost supports three domain-level web modes.
Apache mode is intended for compatibility-first hosting, especially when a site relies on `.htaccess` or Apache-specific behaviour.
Nginx mode is intended for simpler PHP-FPM and static-heavy sites where a leaner serving path is useful.
Hybrid mode places Nginx in front of Apache. Static files can be served through the front layer while dynamic or compatibility-sensitive behaviour still reaches Apache. This is useful for shared-hosting-style environments where both performance and compatibility matter.
BackroomsHost can store a requested PHP version per domain. The node side can honour an installed version where available and fall back to a configured default where needed. This makes the platform more tolerant of differences between supported Ubuntu releases.
Mail Hosting
BackroomsHost includes a virtual mail stack. The documented components are Postfix for SMTP and authenticated submission, Dovecot for IMAP and delivery, OpenDKIM for DKIM signing, MariaDB for mailbox and alias lookups, and Maildir storage for mailbox data.
The panel can generate suggested DNS records for MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, autodiscover, and autoconfig. This helps hosted domains move from a website-only setup to a fuller web and mail identity.
The mail side is designed for hosted domains, mailbox creation, aliases, password handling, mailbox filters, delivery rules, and deliverability checks. It is not just a contact-form relay; it is a hosting-panel mail stack.
App Package System
BackroomsHost can install custom app packages. A package is normally a ZIP archive with a root-level `backroomshost-app.json` manifest. The manifest tells BackroomsHost how the app should be presented and installed.
An app package can declare:
- app name and slug
- category
- public web root
- whether the app needs a database
- first-run install script
- files that need install-time value replacement
- paths to preserve during a soft reinstall
- preview text and feature points for the panel UI
- whether the app supports automatic deployment
During site creation, BackroomsHost can deploy the package, prepare the database when required, write install-time configuration, and run the app's first-run installer. Later, the panel can refresh packaged defaults through a soft reinstall. A soft reinstall restores default package files while preserving configured runtime paths such as config, storage, and uploads where the package requests that behaviour.
BackroomsHost can also apply app patches for assigned packaged apps. This is useful when a supported app needs updated files without replacing the whole website manually.
Bundled App Catalogue
The current BackroomsHost app manifests describe a suite of Backrooms-themed applications. They are separate apps with different roles, not the same app with different styling.
BackroomsAtlas
BackroomsAtlas is an atlas-first package for mapped level profiles, route notes, safe rooms, hubs, transit links, comparison workflows, and field telemetry. It is aimed at structured navigation records rather than generic posts.
Its purpose is to document places, routes, connections, hazards, readiness, and survey-style information. It fits sites that need an organised map and route knowledge base for the Backrooms setting.
BackroomsBlog
BackroomsBlog is a long-form publishing platform for journals, letters, essays, route memories, and archive-style posts. It supports tags, author archives, feeds, publishing tools, media library workflows, revisions, redirects, subscribers, comments, analytics, and contact or inbox flows.
Its role is personal and editorial writing. It is better suited to stories, essays, logs, diaries, and longer reflections than to forum threads or wiki-style documentation.
BackroomsCasefiles
BackroomsCasefiles is an investigation archive for dossiers, evidence reviews, incident chains, watchboard tracking, threat scoring, closed files, and evidence search. It is built around case records rather than ordinary articles.
Its role is to present incidents and investigations with structure: subject designations, priority, watch status, recurrence patterns, evidence, chronology, and threat indexing.
BackroomsCommunity
BackroomsCommunity is a survivor-style social network. It supports profiles, statuses, last seen locations, posts, comments, follows, saved posts, direct messages, notifications, moderation tools, and a community feed.
Its role is social identity and day-to-day activity. It is distinct from the forum because it is profile and feed driven rather than board and thread driven.
BackroomsForum
BackroomsForum is a discussion forum with boards, threads, replies, member accounts, moderation, and old-school archive styling.
Its role is structured discussion. It is best for topics that need thread history, replies, member participation, and board organisation.
BackroomsGallery
BackroomsGallery is a visual archive for recovered frames, scans, signage, texture studies, and curated exhibits.
Its role is image-first presentation. It is suited to collections, exhibits, still frames, references, and visual storytelling rather than long articles.
BackroomsMMO.com
BackroomsMMO.com is the web portal for BackroomsMMO. It provides the website side of the game, including accounts, verification, character slots, server browsing, live server status, and game-facing online services.
Its role is to support the multiplayer game rather than act as a generic content site. It is the online platform around the BackroomsMMO client and server runtime.
BackroomsMusic
BackroomsMusic is an audio platform for tracks, playlists, creator pages, follow feeds, moderation, waveform generation where available, and creator analytics.
Its role is music and audio publishing. It gives the Backrooms ecosystem a dedicated place for soundtracks, ambience, creator uploads, playlists, and listening activity.
BackroomsNews
BackroomsNews is a bulletin and newsroom app for incident reports, route alerts, archive dispatches, sector notices, author pages, feeds, comments, and editorial publishing.
Its role is news and announcements. It is better suited to short and medium editorial updates than to long-form blogs, wiki pages, or forum discussions.
BackroomsVideo
BackroomsVideo is a video platform with channels, playlists, multi-quality playback, resume support, timestamps, chapter markers, transcript cues, timestamp sharing, featured sections, and discovery tools.
Its role is video hosting and recovered-footage presentation. It supports structured viewing rather than treating videos as simple file downloads.
BackroomsWiki
BackroomsWiki is a collaborative archive terminal for manual pages, evidence sets, visual caseboards, contributor activity, revision-aware workflows, provenance tracking, and long-lived community documentation.
Its role is durable shared knowledge. It is the best fit for pages that need editing history, evidence, maintenance workflows, and community documentation.
Security Model
BackroomsHost includes several practical security foundations. The platform uses hashed passwords, session authentication, remember-token hashing, CSRF protection, signed panel-to-node requests, timestamp and nonce checks, constrained file-manager paths, strict domain sanitisation, package validation, and server-side revocation for remembered sessions.
The node agent validates signed requests from the main panel before applying changes. This helps prevent ordinary web requests from turning into server-level actions. The file manager is also constrained to approved base paths so a hosted site does not become a general-purpose filesystem browser.
BackroomsHost is still a hosting platform, so its security depends on correct installation, permissions, firewalling, mail policy, TLS setup, and administrator discipline. The source documentation treats the included controls as practical foundations rather than a claim of complete production hardening.
Relationship to the Backrooms Ecosystem
BackroomsHost exists to make the wider Backrooms ecosystem easier to deploy and maintain. Apps such as BackroomsWiki, BackroomsVideo, BackroomsMusic, BackroomsNews, BackroomsForum, BackroomsGallery, BackroomsAtlas, BackroomsCasefiles, BackroomsCommunity, and BackroomsMMO.com can all be packaged and installed through the same hosting workflow.
This gives each app its own identity while keeping hosting, app selection, first-run setup, updates, backups, mail, TLS, files, and logs under one platform. For a set of related projects, that matters because the operational work can otherwise become harder than the app development itself.
Development Status
BackroomsHost is in active development around the 1.0 package line. The source tree contains main and node packages, shared runtime code, docs, tests, templates, install scripts, update scripts, package builders, app package tooling, and release packaging support.
The project should be understood as a custom hosting and app deployment platform for the Backrooms ecosystem. It is not only a generic control panel, and it is not only an app installer. It is the infrastructure layer intended to let the bundled Backrooms apps run as separate, maintainable sites.
See Also
Source Notes
This page is based on direct review of the BackroomsHost 1.0 source trees, including BackroomsHost Main, BackroomsHost Node, bundled app manifests and BackroomsMMO.com packaging files. Public project pages are included below where available.
References
- BackroomsHost public homepage
- BackroomsMMO public site
- Source review: BackroomsHost-Main VERSION, database schema, app package tests and deployment tooling.
- Source review: BackroomsHost-Node VERSION, PACKAGE_ROLE.md, web stack templates, mail templates and node tests.
- Source review: BackroomsMMO.com backroomshost-app.json and README.
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