print-farm-manager

Print Farm Manager

A self-hosted web app for managing a multi-brand 3D printer farm. Replaces manual USB job distribution with centralized status monitoring and automated job dispatch — built to run 24/7 on a dedicated machine on your local network.

No cloud. No subscriptions. No vendor lock-in.

Security note: This app has no built-in authentication. It is designed to run on a trusted local network only. Do not expose port 3000 (or 5173 in dev) to the internet — your printer API keys are served to any client that can reach the server. Run it behind your router’s firewall or a local VPN.

---

What It Does

• Live fleet view — see every printer’s status, progress, and time remaining at a glance, auto-refreshing every 15 seconds
• Automated job dispatch — define projects and parts, upload G-code, and let the scheduler assign jobs to idle printers automatically
• Operator confirmation flow — every finished print requires a human sign-off before the next job dispatches, preventing runaway failures
• Multi-brand support — Prusa, Elegoo, Bambu, and Klipper printers in the same fleet, managed from one interface
• CSV fleet import — add 50 printers at once from a spreadsheet
• TV dashboard mode — a heads-up fleet summary designed for a monitor on the shop wall
• Farm backup and restore — export your entire farm config and job history as a single JSON file

---

Supported Printers

Brand	Protocol	Models
Prusa	PrusaLink REST API	MK4S, XL, and other PrusaLink-compatible models
Elegoo	SDCP WebSocket (Centauri Carbon) · MQTT (Centauri Carbon 2)	Centauri Carbon, Centauri Carbon 2
Bambu Lab	MQTT + FTPS	X1C, P1S, and other Bambu models (with AMS slot selection)
Klipper	Moonraker REST API	Voron and any Klipper-firmware printer
OctoPrint	OctoPrint REST API	Any printer running OctoPrint / OctoPi

---

Tech Stack

Backend

Package	Role
Node.js + Express	HTTP API server
better-sqlite3	Embedded SQLite database — synchronous, zero configuration
axios	HTTP communication with Prusa, Klipper, and OctoPrint printers
mqtt	MQTT over TLS for Bambu printer communication
basic-ftp	FTPS file transfer to Bambu printers
sdcp	WebSocket protocol driver for Elegoo SDCP printers
multer	G-code file upload handling
papaparse	CSV fleet import
form-data	Multipart upload for Klipper/Moonraker
PM2	Process manager — auto-start on boot, crash recovery

Frontend

Package	Role
React 18	UI framework
React Router v6	Client-side routing
Vite	Build tool and dev server

Data

Technology	Role
SQLite (via better-sqlite3)	Single-file embedded database — no database server required

---

Quick Start (Development)

Requires Node.js 22 LTS — Node 24+ has known issues compiling the native SQLite dependency on Windows (see the Installation Guide for details).

git clone https://github.com/joeltelling/print-farm-manager.git
cd print-farm-manager
npm install
cd client && npm install && cd ..
npm run build
npm run dev

• API server: http://localhost:3000
• Web UI (hot reload): http://localhost:5173

Prefer Docker instead of a local Node.js install?

git clone https://github.com/joeltelling/print-farm-manager.git
cd print-farm-manager
docker compose up --build print-farm-manager-dev

• API server: http://localhost:3000
• Web UI (hot reload): http://localhost:5173

Run tests with docker compose exec print-farm-manager-dev npm test. See the dev service in docker-compose.yml for details.

---

Installation (Production)

Option A — Docker (recommended)

Requires Docker (and Compose, bundled with Docker Desktop and modern Docker Engine installs).

Quickest start — pull the published image

No clone, no local build. A multi-arch image (linux/amd64 + linux/arm64) is published automatically to GitHub Container Registry on every release — see docs/docker-publish.md. Save this as docker-compose.yml:

services:
  print-farm-manager:
    image: ghcr.io/joeltelling/print-farm-manager:latest
    container_name: print-farm-manager
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    volumes:
      - farm-data:/app/server/data
      - farm-gcode:/app/server/gcode

volumes:
  farm-data:
  farm-gcode:

docker compose up -d

This same file works as a drop-in stack in Portainer (Stacks → Add stack → Web editor, paste it in, deploy) — no repo checkout needed there either.

Open http://localhost:3000 in a browser, or replace localhost with the machine’s LAN IP to access it from any device on the network.

Updating to the latest published image:

docker compose pull
docker compose up -d

Useful commands:

Command	What it does
docker compose logs -f	Follow server logs
docker compose stop	Stop the container (data is preserved)
docker compose up -d	Start it again
docker compose down	Stop and remove the container (volumes are preserved)

Pin to a specific release instead of always tracking latest by using a version tag, e.g. ghcr.io/joeltelling/print-farm-manager:1.2.0. edge tracks the latest build of main between releases.

Building from source instead

If you’re testing local changes rather than running a release, clone the repo and build with the docker-compose.yml at its root (uses build: instead of image:):

git clone https://github.com/joeltelling/print-farm-manager.git
cd print-farm-manager
docker compose up -d --build

Updating this path pulls new source and rebuilds:

git pull
docker compose up -d --build

Without Compose, the equivalent docker run (published image) is:

docker run -d --name print-farm-manager --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -v farm-data:/app/server/data \
  -v farm-gcode:/app/server/gcode \
  ghcr.io/joeltelling/print-farm-manager:latest

Same security note as above applies inside Docker: only publish port 3000 to interfaces on your trusted LAN, not 0.0.0.0 on an internet-facing host.

Option B — Bare metal (Node.js on the host)

For a full walkthrough covering prerequisites, network setup, auto-start with PM2, backup, updating, and troubleshooting on both Windows and macOS, see the Installation Guide.

The short version:

npm install
cd client && npm install && cd ..
npm run build
npm start

Open http://localhost:3000 in a browser, or replace localhost with the machine’s LAN IP to access it from any device on the network.

---

CSV Import Format

The fastest way to add a large fleet is via CSV import on the Settings page.

Column	Required	Example
name	Yes	MK4S_01
ip	Yes	192.168.1.100
type	Yes	prusa / elegoo-centauri / elegoo-centauri2 / bambu / klipper / octoprint
api_key	Prusa and OctoPrint (API key), Bambu and Centauri Carbon 2 (LAN access code)	aK3jR7xQ2pLm9vN
serial_number	Bambu and Centauri Carbon 2	01S00C123456789
group	No	MK4S Farm
model	No	mk4s

If the model column is omitted, the model is inferred automatically from the printer name where possible; unrecognised models prompt for manual selection after import.

---

Project Structure

print-farm-manager/
├── server/
│   ├── index.js          # Express entry point
│   ├── db.js             # SQLite schema + migrations
│   ├── poller.js         # 15-second printer poll loop
│   ├── scheduler.js      # Job dispatch engine
│   └── drivers/          # Per-brand printer drivers
│       ├── prusa.js       # PrusaLink REST
│       ├── elegoo-centauri.js   # SDCP WebSocket (Centauri Carbon)
│       ├── elegoo-centauri2.js  # MQTT + chunked HTTP PUT (Centauri Carbon 2)
│       ├── bambu.js       # MQTT + FTPS
│       ├── klipper.js     # Moonraker REST
│       └── octoprint.js   # OctoPrint REST
├── client/               # React + Vite frontend
├── docs/                 # Full documentation
├── Dockerfile            # Multi-stage: server-deps/client-build/runtime (production) + dev
└── docker-compose.yml    # Production container + persistent volumes, plus an opt-in `dev` profile

---

License

MIT