System Requirements
Supported operating systems and architectures for NetStacks Terminal, optional tools, network access, and what a NetStacks Controller server needs.
NetStacks Terminal
| Platform | Minimum version | Architectures | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| macOS | macOS 10.15 (Catalina) | Apple Silicon (arm64), Intel (x64) | Separate download for each architecture |
| Windows | Windows 10 or 11 | x64 | Uses Microsoft Edge WebView2 (built into Windows 11 and current Windows 10). Installs per user, with no admin rights needed. |
| Linux | A distribution with WebKitGTK 4.1 and GTK 3 | x86_64 | Built on Ubuntu 22.04, so Ubuntu 22.04 or later and Debian 12 or later work. The .deb depends on libwebkit2gtk-4.1-0 and libgtk-3-0. The AppImage needs FUSE 2 (libfuse2). Installing the agent certificate needs polkit (pkexec). |
The window opens at 1400×900 and can be made as small as 800×600. Your data is kept in a single SQLite database that grows with your sessions, documents and recordings.
There are no Windows ARM64 or Linux ARM64 desktop builds, and no mobile apps. On those platforms, use the web terminal of a NetStacks Controller.
Optional Tools
NetStacks works without any of these. If they are present, it uses them to unlock extra features:
| Tool | Used for |
|---|---|
git | Git features in Workspaces (NetStacks uses the system Git command) |
nmap | Extra device fingerprinting during topology discovery |
| Ollama, or another local OpenAI-compatible server | Running the AI assistant against a local model instead of a cloud provider |
Some tools are downloaded automatically the first time you use the feature that needs them: uv for Python scripts (from GitHub), the Pyrefly Python language server (from PyPI), and the IEEE MAC vendor database for enrichment.
Network Access
From the computer running NetStacks Terminal:
| Destination | Port / protocol | Needed for |
|---|---|---|
| Your network devices | TCP 22 (SSH), TCP 23 (Telnet), or the ports you configure | Terminal sessions and SFTP (standalone mode) |
| Your network devices | UDP 161 (SNMP v2c) | Topology discovery, live link stats and SNMP quick looks (standalone mode) |
releases.netstacks.net | HTTPS 443 | Update checks and downloads |
Your AI provider (for example api.anthropic.com, api.openai.com) | HTTPS 443 | The AI assistant (standalone mode, if configured) |
| NetBox, LibreNMS, Netdisco, other APIs you add | HTTPS (as configured) | Integrations and API Resources |
| Your NetStacks Controller | HTTPS, normally port 3000 | Enterprise mode (all traffic, including proxied SSH, goes to the Controller) |
In enterprise mode the Terminal only talks to the Controller (plus the update server). The Controller needs to reach your devices.
Web Terminal (Browser) Enterprise
The web terminal at https://<controller>:3000/terminal/ runs in a current version of Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Safari. The browser must trust the Controller's certificate, or you must accept the certificate warning. Nothing is installed on the client.
NetStacks Controller Server Enterprise
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Host | Linux server on x86_64 (amd64). The container images are amd64-only. |
| Container runtime | Docker Engine with the Docker Compose v2 plugin. The installing user must be able to run Docker. The Controller uses the Docker socket to run jumpboxes and plugins. |
| Tools | openssl and curl (used by the installer) |
| Database | PostgreSQL 16 with pgvector, either bundled (the default) or your own external server. An external server must have the pgvector extension available. |
| Inbound | TCP 3000 (HTTPS) from engineers' computers and browsers. It serves the admin console, the web terminal, the REST API and the WebSocket connections. |
| Outbound | ghcr.io to pull images. www.netstacks.net to activate the license, which is also re-validated every 24 hours. Your devices over SSH, Telnet and SNMP. Your LLM providers, if you use cloud AI. |
| License | A Team or Enterprise license key. Each user signed in from the Terminal uses one seat; admin console sign-ins don't use seats. |
NetStacks does not publish fixed CPU, memory or disk sizes. Size the server for PostgreSQL plus the number of SSH sessions, AI requests and plugins you expect to run, and monitor it from Administration → Platform Health. Fully offline (air-gapped) installs are not supported, because images and license activation need internet access.
Installation steps: Installing the Controller.