Run Podman servers in your own Hetzner project, and test changes on short-lived copies of them

pbx-hub is one Go binary with one SQLite file, on a small server in your own Hetzner project. You drive it with the pbx command line tool. It creates your Podman servers, keeps them on a signed release, opens SSH and podman --remote on request, and makes short-lived copies (twins) and recovery tests. Alpha: for testing only; does not yet meet the Cyber Resilience Act’s requirements.

Pre-register by email How it works

Or write to register@mitjamartini.com with the subject “pbx-hub alpha pre-registration”.

How it works

1
Install pbx on macOS, Windows or Linux.
2
pbx login opens the browser: you register, confirm your email address and get an alpha licence.
3
pbx up creates the hub in your Hetzner project with your API tokens: a small server, a private network and a firewall. It pairs your computer as the owner. The tokens go to Hetzner and to your hub, never to PaaSbox.
4
pbx host create adds a Podman server. Its agent enrols at the hub and runs your app’s environment from your Git repository.
5
pbx twin create makes a copy of a server in a second Hetzner project, for a few hours. pbx open opens the hub’s web portal.

What you get

What the public alpha is meant to contain. The status of each part is under Where this stands.

Podman servers

Created by the hub in a private network, on PaaSbox’s Podman image. Each host keeps the release and the settings the hub holds for it, and updates when you promote a release.

Access on request

SSH logins to observe or to operate: port 22 opens for the caller’s address only and closes on revoke or expiry. podman —remote through the host agent: the environment’s containers only.

Twins

A copy of a server in a second Hetzner project: 4 hours by default, at most 72, at most 3 at once. Its data comes from seed data in your Git repository. A copy of production’s data only when you allow it, and then masked by your own job.

Recovery tests and backups

A recovery test restores a server’s backup onto a new server and writes a timed report. The hub replicates its own database to your S3 bucket and can be restored onto a new server.

Devices and approvals

The hub’s portal and API answer only inside a WireGuard tunnel, to requests signed by a paired device. A coding agent gets its own key: it can read and work on twins; deleting a production server needs a person’s approval.

An audit log in your hub

Every change, login and security event is recorded with its device, its key and, for an agent, its integration. Lines are kept 400 days.

Measured in the lab

On Hetzner Cloud (two runs, 20 October 2026): rows passed in the second run: 41 of 41
A Podman host (cpx22) enrolled, from the request: 62 s / 63 s
An SSH login active / port 22 open for the caller / closed after revoke: 3 s / 7 s / 12 s
A twin ready / its address in the hub’s firewall / removed after delete: 44 s / 11 s / 7 s
A recovery test, from the start to the deleted server: 64 s / 75 s
The hub restored onto a new server: data lost / restore and start: none / 4.3 s
The hub’s memory with 3 hosts and a twin (median / maximum): 66 MB / 126 MB

From PaaSbox’s lab records of 20 October 2026: the first five rows on Hetzner Cloud, the last two in a lab on a Mac (ownpaas) with a 1 GB server for the hub. They are measurements, not a promise.

Limits of the alpha

Podman servers only. Kubernetes (k3s) clusters are refused.
At most 3 production or staging servers per hub, and at most 3 twins at once. The hub enforces both.
Hetzner Cloud only. The hub needs a Hetzner project, and twins a second one.
For testing only, not for workloads you depend on. The alpha ends on 31 March 2027.

Where this stands

Nothing is released yet.

Built

Built and tested in a lab

The hub and its portal, Podman hosts, SSH and podman —remote access, twins with seed data from Git, recovery tests, approvals for coding agents, the server limit, the hub’s backup and restore. The pbx commands, including pbx up, tested against a lab on a Mac.

In progress

In development, before the alpha opens

pbx up on Hetzner Cloud: the release signing keys, TLS between hosts and hub, and one full test run there. Registration and licences in the browser for pbx login. Signed downloads of pbx. Reaching a twin’s web app through the hub.

Open registration

The free alpha

pbx-hub is free during the alpha. Hetzner bills the servers in your projects to your own Hetzner account.
Registration is open, not by invitation. Until it opens in the browser, you pre-register by email.
I reserve the right to close new registrations at any time and to limit the alpha to a number of seats.
The alpha ends on 31 March 2027, the end date of the alpha licence keys. After it, the hub keeps backups, restores, revoking access, deletion, export and security updates, and refuses new servers and twins.
Alpha: for testing only; does not yet meet the Cyber Resilience Act’s requirements.

To pre-register, use the button below or write to register@mitjamartini.com with the subject “pbx-hub alpha pre-registration”. I write back when registration opens. The alpha page in the docs has the details.

Want to try pbx-hub?Pre-register by email.

Pre-register by email Read the docs

Or write to register@mitjamartini.com with the subject “pbx-hub alpha pre-registration”.