Documentation

Simplify your experience with our newly launched hosted version of this application. Perfect for those who prefer a hassle-free setup or are willing to pay a premium for a managed solution. Don’t miss out—get started today herehere!

What's New in V3

Features and Improvements

  • Added support for devices with built-in controllers such as the Unifi Dream Machine.
  • Upgraded to NodeJS Version 20.
  • Codebase rewritten in Typescript.

Breaking Changes

  • The URI environment variable has been renamed to UNIFI_CONTROLLER_URL.
  • The SITENAME environment variable has been renamed to UNIFI_SITE_IDENTIFIER.
  • The LOG_AUTH_GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_EMAIL and LOG_AUTH_GOOGLE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PRIVATE_KEY environment variables have been replaced with LOG_AUTH_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS.

Quick Start Guide

Configure Unifi Controller

todo video This step varies quite a bit from controller version to controller version but the idea is:

  • Configure a new WLAN and enable Hotspot Portal (sometimes called Guest Control)
  • Go to the landing portal settings page (Insights -> Hotspot -> Landing Page)
    • Choose External Portal Server and set the Exteral Portal Server to the IP of this service
    • Enable Show Landing Page
    • Enable HTTPs Redirect Support
    • Optionally Enable Domain and Secure Portal

Setup Captive Portal

Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/woodjme/unifi-hotspot.git
cd unifi-hotspot

Install Dependencies

npm install --omit=dev --ignore-scripts

Configure Environment

A full list of environment variables can be found here.

cp .env.example .env

Start Service

npm start

Docker

To get started using Docker, you can use the command below as a reference. The application runs by default on port 4545, so whichever port you choose needs to be redirected to 4545. I strongly recommend using 80.

A full list of environment variables can be found here.

docker run -d \
-p 80:4545 \
-e UNIFI_USER=ubnt \
-e UNIFI_PASS=password \
-e UNIFI_CONTROLLER_TYPE=standalone \
-e UNIFI_CONTROLLER_URL=https://unifi.guestgate.cloud \
-e UNIFI_SITE_IDENTIFIER=default \
-e SECRET=secretString \
-e AUTH=none \
-e REDIRECTURL=https://www.guestgate.cloud \
-e PORT=4545 \
woodjme/unifi-hotspot

Once started, navigate to the path guest/s/$SITENAME/ to test the splash page.

Authentication

None

Automatically authorizes users to the Wi-Fi without using authentication. It will display a "Connect to Wi-Fi" button which will be automatically clicked if JavaScript is available.

UserInfo

Displays a basic user information authentication page requiring the user's name and email address to continue.

Custom

Allows you to use your own authentication page by mounting custom.html inside the container. Remember that users cannot load external assets until they are authorized, so you must bundle these in the custom.html page. ParcelJS can help with this.

See Bind Mounts

At a minimum, the page you provide must send a POST request to /authorize. You can look at either noAuth.html or basic.html as a reference.

Capture User Data & Logging Authorizations

Data can be captured from users, such as email addresses from the form shown once a user connects to the hotspot. The basicInfo.html page contains an example of capturing a user's name and email address.

There are currently two different drivers available to store captured user data:

  • Webhooks
  • Google Sheets

Webhooks

Webhooks allow you to forward the input form body from the hotspot portal to your web service. The form will be copied exactly as is.

To configure webhooks, the following environment variables must be set:

  • LOG_AUTH_DRIVER=webhook
  • LOG_AUTH_WEBHOOK_URL=https://yourWebService

The webhook driver will send a POST request to the provided web service every time a user connects to the Wi-Fi hotspot.

Google Sheets

To configure Google Sheets, the following environment variables must be set:

  • LOG_AUTH_DRIVER=googlesheets
  • LOG_AUTH_GOOGLE_SHEET_ID - from the sheets URL after /d/ and before /edit
  • LOG_AUTH_GOOGLE_CREDENTIALS - a base64 encoding of your downloaded Google JSON file

Google Sheets Authentication

Set up Your Google Project & Enable the Sheets API
  1. Go to the Google Developers Console
  2. Select your project or create a new one (and then select it)
  3. Enable the Sheets API for your project
    • In the sidebar on the left, select APIs & Services > Library
    • Search for "sheets"
    • Click on "Google Sheets API"
    • Click the blue "Enable" button
Create a Service Account
  1. Follow the steps above to set up the project and enable the Sheets API.
  2. Create a service account for your project.
    • In the sidebar on the left, select APIs & Services > Credentials
    • Click the blue "+ CREATE CREDENTIALS" and select the "Service account" option
    • Enter name and description, then click "CREATE"
    • You can skip permissions, then click "CONTINUE"
    • Click the "+ CREATE KEY" button
    • Select the "JSON" key type option
    • Click the "Create" button
    • Your JSON key file is generated and downloaded to your machine (it is the only copy!)
    • Click "DONE"
    • Note your service account's email address (also available in the JSON key file)

Google Sheet Setup

  1. Create a new Google Sheet and invite the Service Account with read/write permissions using the service account's email address.
  2. Add headings for the data you want to see in the sheet, such as name, email, etc. These headings must match the name attribute of the inputs in the HTML form that users submit when they connect to the hotspot.
  3. Note the Google Sheets ID - from the sheets URL after /d/ and before /edit.

Bind Mounts

Custom Auth Page

-v /pathToAuthPageDirectory:/usr/src/app/public

Environment Variables

You must provide UNIFI_USER, UNIFI_PASS, and UNIFI_CONTROLLER_URL for the application to start.

NameExampleDescription
UNIFI_USERubntYour Unifi controller username
UNIFI_PASSpasswordYour Unifi controller password
UNIFI_CONTROLLER_URLhttps://unifi.guestgate.cloudYour Unifi controller URL
UNIFI_CONTROLLER_TYPEstandalone OR integratedYour Unifi controller URL
UNIFI_SITE_IDENTIFIERdefaultThe site identifier in your Unifi controller
SESSION_SECRETmyrandomstringA secret for the express user session
AUTHnone OR userInfo OR simple OR customThe auth page you want to display
REDIRECTURL/success.htmlThe page to redirect to after auth
SERVER_SIDE_REDIRECTfalseShould the server redirect the client after auth
SHOW_CONNECTINGtrueShould the connecting page be displayed
LOG_AUTH_DRIVERgooglesheetsThe driver to use to capture user data
LOG_AUTH_$DRIVER_$OPTn/aOptions set for each log_auth driver
PORT80The port to run the application on

UNIFI_USER

A note for users using a UDM device. There is a predefined role called hotspot_operator which you would assume gives you enough permissions to authorise a Guest. At the moment, it seems it doesn't using this will result in permissions error.

UNIFI_CONTROLLER_TYPE

  • standalone for self hosted unifi controllers
  • integrated for devices such as a Unifi Dream Machine

UNIFI_SITE_IDENTIFIER

For integrated controller this will always be default for standlone check the ID in the URL of your Unifi Controller when selecting a site

Last Updated:
Contributors: Jamie Wood, Jamie Wood