Beszel is really cool. It's a simple docker container that monitors system usage. It's really clean and fast.
It's 2025, and you're a Bluesky user there is a solid chance you run a homelab or pay for a cloud server from a VPS provider like UpCloud or AWS, you might pay $3/month for a server with 1GB of RAM, 1 CPU Core and 10GB of storage but how much of it is really being used? There is a solution to this problem, without needing to run commands in the terminal to check system usage and it's called, Beszel.
What is Beszel?
Beszel is a light wight docker container that monitors system usage, it has a very clean user interface and is really fast. All you need is 5 minutes of your time and some basic Linux terminal knowledge. (Yes, we will be using the terminal to install beszel, but it's only about 5 commands)
It also has support for webhooks so you can set up notifications to integrate with Discord (via a discord webhook) to get notifications via Discord or even set up a simple Bluesky bot. (like what I did with @status.madebydanny.uk.
Setup - Prerequisite
The following is needed for the best experience
Latest Docker version
docker-compse
Tailscale (optional)
Once the listed above is installed, we can get started.
Install Beszel
Create and Open the Beszel Docker config file
mkdir beszel cd beszel nano docker-compose.yml
mkdir beszel - makes the "beszel" folder in the root directory
cd beszel - navigates (/opens) to the /beszel folder
nano docker-compose.yml - creates and opens the docker-compose file
The paste the following in, this is the config file for Beszel
version: '3.8'
services:
beszel:
image: henrygd/beszel:latest
container_name: beszel
restart: unless-stopped
ports:
- 8090:8090
volumes:
- ./beszel_data:/beszel_dataAfter you are done pasting the code, hit CTRL+X, Then Y, then ENTER, this will save the docker config.
Start Docker
This will start and pull the henrygd/beszel docker container, this can take up to 5 minutes depending on your internet speeds.
docker-compose up -d