Admin and advanced operations

Self-hosted control plane ops, Payload admin, elevated server actions, and internal analytics for operators.

Written By Zoro

Last updated 3 days ago

This page collects operator and break-glass topics that do not belong in standard customer onboarding.

Self-hosted control plane

If you self-host dFlow, you administer the control plane stack yourself.

TopicDocumentation
Install and upgradeInstall with Docker / Docker Compose under Self-Hosting dFlow in the sidebar, Upgrades and maintenance under Self-Hosting dFlow in the sidebar
ConfigurationEnvironment configuration under Self-Hosting dFlow in the sidebar
TLS for the dashboardControl plane domains and SSL under Self-Hosting dFlow in the sidebar
Data safetyBackups and recovery under Self-Hosting dFlow in the sidebar
IncidentsSelf-hosting troubleshooting under Self-Hosting dFlow in the sidebar

Worker Node access still uses SSH and node tooling; see CLI overview.

Payload CMS admin

Payload provides an admin UI and REST endpoints (see API overview). Use them for content and operator tasks, not as a supported public integration surface for end customers.

Dangerous or elevated server actions

The codebase includes actions intended for narrow roles, for example:

  • impersonateUserAction (see Authentication actions).
  • createProjectAdminAction and migration helpers that use overrideAccess in Payload for specific workflows (see packages/core/src/actions/application/index.ts comments around Move to Applications).

Treat these as implementation details subject to change. Harden RBAC and audit before relying on them outside core maintainers.

Internal analytics and reporting

packages/core/src/actions/admin/analytics/ contains server actions used for internal statistics (for example region stats, managed capacity projections). They are not customer-facing features.

dFlow Cloud vs self-hosted

On dFlow Cloud, you do not get shell or database access to dFlow’s production control plane. Operational work flows through support and the dashboard. Self-hosted operators own their Compose stack and backups.

Learn more