Initialize

Create the first administrator at /setup and lock down the management listener.

Open the wizard

On a local install open http://127.0.0.1:9443/setup. On Docker open https://<host>:9443/setup and accept the self-signed certificate.

If the process prints a setup token, paste it when the wizard asks.

Create the admin

Set a username and a password that meets the console password policy. Save every generated secret the wizard shows. CheeseWAF will not print them again in clear text.

Confirm the listener

Leave server.admin_listen on loopback for a single-host install. Set server.admin_public to true only with TLS and a network policy in front.

After setup, the same URL becomes the login page. CLI users can also run waf-cli (TUI) or cheesewaf user.