ProxMenux: Menu-Driven Proxmox VE Toolkit with a Built-In Web Monitor

What ProxMenux is and who should use it

Proxmox VE is a bare-metal hypervisor that ships with its own web interface, but many post-install tasks, backup jobs and system-level operations require knowledge of the underlying Debian system and manual command entry. ProxMenux adds a menu-driven layer on top of Proxmox, presenting those operations as numbered options in a terminal UI rather than raw commands.

The primary audience is homelab operators: people who run one or several Proxmox servers at home for self-hosted services, network-attached storage or lab experimentation. The README describes it as a menu-driven CLI plus a web dashboard for post-install, backup and restore, and continuous health monitoring. It is not aimed at enterprise Proxmox administrators who manage large clusters, though the README mentions cluster monitoring as a direction.

The ProxMenux Monitor component extends the CLI with a browser-accessible dashboard. Once installed, you open http://your-proxmox-ip:8008 from any device on your network and see the current state of VMs, LXC containers, CPU, RAM, disk usage and network traffic. The Monitor requires no additional configuration beyond the standard installation.

How to install ProxMenux and launch the menu

Installation runs a single command in the Proxmox server terminal:

bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacRimi/ProxMenux/main/install_proxmenux.sh)"

The README cautions users to review the install script before running it, linking to the source at the GitHub URL. Once installation finishes, the menu is available as:

menu

The installation automatically installs and starts the ProxMenux Monitor as a systemd service named proxmenux-monitor. It starts automatically on boot. The Monitor dashboard is then accessible at http://your-proxmox-ip:8008.

The following commands are available for monitoring the service after install:

systemctl status proxmenux-monitor
journalctl -u proxmenux-monitor -n 50
systemctl restart proxmenux-monitor

The README lists the Debian packages installed automatically during setup: dialog for the terminal menus, curl, jq, git, python3 and python3-pip for the Monitor's Flask web dashboard. UI translations ship as pre-built JSON files per language (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Portuguese) with no runtime translation dependency.

ProxMenux Monitor: what it shows and how it is secured

ProxMenux Monitor is a web dashboard that shows real-time visibility into a Proxmox infrastructure without needing a terminal. The README lists its capabilities: CPU, RAM, disk and network traffic in real time; an overview of running VMs and LXC containers with status indicators; login authentication; Two-Factor Authentication with TOTP support; reverse proxy support for Nginx and Traefik; and a responsive layout for desktop and mobile devices.

The TOTP-based 2FA is a meaningful security addition for homelab operators who expose the Monitor to a local network or behind a reverse proxy, because the Proxmox web interface's built-in authentication does not apply here. The Monitor is a separate service on port 8008.

For those who want to try new Monitor features before a stable release, the README describes a beta program using the develop branch. The beta installer is:

bash -c "$(wget -qLO - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/MacRimi/ProxMenux/develop/install_proxmenux_beta.sh)"

Beta builds may have bugs or incomplete features. When a stable release is published, ProxMenux notifies the user on the next menu launch and offers to switch automatically.

Limitations and cases where ProxMenux is not the right tool

ProxMenux runs on the Proxmox server itself. It is not a remote management tool in the same sense as the Proxmox API or Terraform providers that can manage Proxmox from a separate workstation. The menu and monitor both operate in the context of the installed system.

The Monitor runs a Flask web server as a systemd service. Flask is not designed for high-concurrency production workloads. For a homelab monitoring a small number of VMs and containers, this is not a concern, but it would be relevant for anyone trying to use ProxMenux Monitor as an enterprise-grade observability tool.

The README does not document an uninstall procedure. Users who want to remove ProxMenux cleanly would need to refer to the project documentation at proxmenux.com.

Tailored operations like advanced networking configuration, custom storage pool setup, or cluster-level tasks may not be covered by the menu options. The project focuses on post-install, backup and restore, and monitoring rather than the full surface of Proxmox administration.

The project is licensed under GPL-3.0, which requires that any modifications distributed to others must also be released under GPL-3.0. This is relevant for anyone packaging ProxMenux into a commercial product.

Comparing ProxMenux to the Proxmox built-in web UI

Proxmox VE ships with a web interface at port 8006 that covers VM creation, storage management, networking, backup jobs and cluster administration. The Proxmox UI is comprehensive and is the authoritative tool for operations that ProxMenux does not cover.

ProxMenux occupies a different position. The terminal menu guides users through specific post-install tasks that Proxmox's UI either buries in multiple screens or requires manual CLI commands to execute. The Monitor on port 8008 is not a replacement for the Proxmox web UI but adds a lighter, faster read-only status view that works on mobile and does not require navigating Proxmox's full interface.

For someone setting up a fresh Proxmox install, the two tools complement each other: ProxMenux for guided post-install configuration and monitoring, Proxmox's web UI for VM-level management. Homelab operators who are comfortable with the Proxmox UI and do not want another service running may find little reason to add ProxMenux.

Editorial conclusion

ProxMenux suits homelab owners who run Proxmox VE and want a guided CLI for post-install tasks, backup and restore, and a browser-accessible monitoring dashboard without writing their own tooling. The Monitor covers CPU, RAM, disk, network and container status, supports 2FA with TOTP and works across desktop and mobile. The project is not a replacement for Proxmox's built-in web UI for all operations, and the README does not document uninstallation steps in the included material, which is worth verifying in the full documentation at proxmenux.com before committing to it. The last push was on 2026-09-27, the most recent stable release is v1.2.6.1-beta from 2026-09-14, and the project is under active development.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Official README
2. Project repository
3. Release notes