Introducing RespireCloud, a server control panel you can read

RespireCloud is a control panel for the servers you already run, or are about to rent. It manages websites, mail, DNS, SSL certificates, databases, containers, storage and backups from one place, and it is made by RespireSoft.

We are announcing it now, in early access, because we would rather be read critically while there is still time to change things. This post says what RespireCloud is, what is built, and what we have not proven yet.

What it is

You install RespireCloud on a Linux server of your own. It then sets up and looks after the usual hosting stack: nginx and PHP-FPM for sites, Postfix, Dovecot and Rspamd for mail, PowerDNS for DNS, MariaDB, PostgreSQL and Valkey for data, and restic for backups. Every part uses ordinary open tools underneath, so a site is still a folder, a database is still a database and a mailbox is still a Maildir.

The feature list has one page per area, each with its status. Nothing is shown as ready that is not.

Changes you can see before they happen

The idea that shapes the whole product is that every change is a typed action. The panel can show the same action as a plan first: which files change, which services restart and what could go wrong. You approve the plan, and only then does it run. The same actions are available from the command line and the API, and an assistant can propose them in plain words.

That is why the assistant fits. It turns a request into a plan you approve, and it cannot do anything the panel would not let you do yourself. AI comes with a licence as a monthly allowance, or you can bring your own model key, or use a model on your own server.

Built so the web part has little power

Control panels are attractive targets because one bug can reach every site on the server. In RespireCloud the web panel runs as an unprivileged user. Work that needs root goes to a separate agent that accepts only declared, typed operations and runs programs as argument lists, never as shell strings. The security model explains the design, and we wrote a separate post on how we tested it.

What is not proven yet

We would like you to know the gaps before you find them:

• There is no public download and the production signing keys are not made.
• The cPanel and Plesk importers have run end to end on archives we built to match each format, not on a customer's production backup.
• An independent external penetration test has not started.

The security page and the changelog keep this list current.

What it costs

There is a free plan: one server with the whole base product. Paid tiers are one flat price per server, with no fee per account and no yearly price rise. The pricing page has the tiers and the add-ons.

What to do next

If you run hosting for yourself, an agency or customers, take the guided tour, then read how it compares with cPanel. If you want to try it on a real server, ask for early access and tell us what you run.