Standard edition and doona lite
The standard edition manages configuration and observes traffic. Choose it for traffic dashboards, connection controls, logs, advanced routing traces or editing multiple configuration sources.
doona lite focuses on configuration: nodes, subscriptions, groups, routing, DNS and global settings. Choose it for task-specific forms, sharing manual nodes and reviewing configuration drafts without traffic pages.
honk also has a Clash-compatible API for Clash dashboards such as zashboard; doona does not use it (see honk's minimal configuration).
Compare features
Features depend on the resources and permissions honk advertises. Changing editions cannot enable an unavailable backend capability.
| Feature | Standard edition | doona lite |
|---|---|---|
| Traffic monitoring | Activity, System status, Connections, Routing log, Logs and Events | No traffic pages |
| Widgets | Activity widgets and floating or docked widgets | No |
| Close connections; export events | Yes | No |
| Routing tests | Rules → Trace simulation, with advanced traffic fields and resolution options | Routing → Test rules, with matched rules and outbounds; uses the same routing trace API |
| DNS queries, Resolution log, Statistics and Cache | Yes | No standalone query or observation pages; routing tests use DNS resolution |
| Nodes, subscriptions and group selection | Yes; groups are under Policies | Yes; separate Nodes, Subscriptions and Groups pages |
| Multi-line share-link import | Yes | Yes, through Add node → Paste links |
| Share links and QR codes | No dedicated sharing dialog | Manual nodes and subscription links; no sharing of subscription nodes |
| Rename a subscription | Yes, with an option to update group references | No; the name stays fixed after creation |
| Group editing | Group form and full source editor | Group form, group text editor, duplicate group and copy members between groups |
| Routing and DNS rules | Forms and full source editor | Forms, reorder controls and per-page visual/text modes |
| DNS upstream presets | Edit upstreams in the source editor; no preset form | Custom upstreams and Ali DNS, DNSPod and Cloudflare presets |
| Global settings | Configuration → Global settings | Settings dialog; restart-only values are read-only with Copy |
| Configuration sources | Select and edit main/include sources; create sources and inspect diagnostics | Edits main only; no full source editor |
| Export configuration | Export the selected source | Export the applied main or the current page’s unsaved draft |
| Backend management | Multiple profiles, sign-out, temporary runtime overrides and geodata management | No corresponding management screens |
| Server configuration backups and revisions | Available when honk advertises the x-honk extensions | No |
| Themes and sign-in | Light/dark themes and palettes; administrator credentials or token | Light, dark or system theme, no palette selector; same honk credentials |
Backend requirements
Use the native-API honk build in Requirements. Both editions discover authentication through GET /api and read GET /api/v1/capabilities; password mode uses POST /api/v1/auth/setup or POST /api/v1/auth/login. The features below require other endpoints; not every connection needs them. Paths in this table start with /api/v1.
| Feature | honk resources and endpoints | Editions |
|---|---|---|
| Configuration editing | config read/write, config_validate and operations; GET /config, POST /config/validate, PUT /config/sources/{source_id}, GET /operations/{operation_id} | Both; lite requires full validation and complete, hash-matching, writable main content. Standard source editing validates when supported. lite’s share-link import also needs syntax validation. |
| Nodes, subscriptions and groups | nodes, providers, groups; GET /nodes, GET /providers, GET /groups, GET /groups/{group_id}, POST /providers/{provider_id}/refresh, PUT/DELETE /groups/{group_id}/selection; probes via POST /probes | Both; lite edits declarations through main source replacement. The standard edition also uses node/provider create/delete and group configuration endpoints. |
| Status and service commands | runtime, operations, and the advertised reload/suspend/resume capabilities. Endpoints: GET /runtime, GET /version (standard edition), POST /operations/reload, /operations/suspend, /operations/resume, plus operation polling | Both; lite uses status in the shell rather than a traffic dashboard. |
| Routing tests | routing_trace via POST /routing/trace; rules via GET /rules; dns_query via POST /dns/query for name resolution when needed | Both; honk’s resolution modes determine the available tests. |
| Traffic and DNS observations | traffic_history, memory_history, runtime_memory, runtime_outbounds, datapath, connections, flows, events, logs, dns_log, dns_cache, dns_query; GET /runtime/traffic/history, /runtime/memory/history, /runtime/memory, /runtime/outbounds, /datapath, /connections, /flows, /events, /logs, /dns/log, /dns/cache, /dns/rules, plus POST /dns/query and connection/cache deletion when writable | Standard edition |
| Source and backend management | POST /config/sources; geodata via GET /geodata and POST /geodata/update; runtime_settings via GET/PATCH /runtime/settings; POST /auth/logout | Standard edition |
| Server backups and revisions | The advertised x-honk configuration export/import/revisions extensions, under /x-honk/config/ | Standard edition; requires those extensions, beyond the base contract |
lite reuses the standard edition’s src/api/client.ts and models backed by the generated src/api/types.ts; it has its own UI and state. The OpenAPI contract defines the endpoint schemas. See common lite tasks for the editing prerequisites in user terms.
Install and switch editions
Use Quick start for the embedded standard edition, doona lite to switch to lite, or install UI files separately to serve a directory.
honk serves one edition at /ui/ at a time. Select its embedded UI or directory with experimental.native_api.ui, then restart honk, not just reload. The manual installation guide gives each edition a separate archive and directory, so installing one does not overwrite the other.
To use both at once, let honk serve one edition and use a static server for the other directory. Allow the second origin as described in hostname and origin access.
Browser settings
Both editions share honk's native API, configuration and configuration changes. Each edition keeps its browser settings separately.
Demos
Try the standard edition demo or the doona lite demo.
Source: doona upstream, licensed under CC BY 4.0.