The Rancher UI repository is the source code for the original web-based user interface of Rancher, a container orchestration and cluster management platform. Written in JavaScript and built with Ember.js, this interface provides dashboard functionality for managing Kubernetes clusters, containers, and related infrastructure resources. However, the project is in a sunset phase—the README explicitly states that this UI is being phased out in favor of a newer implementation found in the rancher/dashboard repository, with complete retirement planned for 2026. As a result, the project is no longer accepting new pull requests from external contributors.
The repository is structured using Ember CLI Pods, a modular project layout that organizes code into feature-based directories. The codebase leverages Ember Engines to break the deliverable code into smaller, more manageable chunks, ensuring that end users only receive the components they need. A shared in-repo addon serves as a central repository for components used across both the main application and any in-repo engines, promoting code reuse and consistency.
Development setup requires Python 3.8 through 3.10, Git, Node.js 8.x through 14.x with NPM, and Yarn. The development server runs on localhost:8000 with hot-reload capabilities, automatically picking up file changes and refreshing the browser. Developers can point the UI at different Rancher API instances for testing against various backend configurations. For distribution, the UI compiles into a static tarball that gets bundled with Rancher releases.
The project supports customization through Ember CLI addons rather than direct forking, which helps maintainers avoid merge conflicts and keeps customizations aligned with upstream changes. The ui-driver-skel repository serves as an example addon demonstrating how to add custom screens for Docker Machine drivers. The codebase also includes generalized hooks that allow addon developers to extend functionality without modifying core files.
Localization is a built-in feature, with support for multiple languages through translation files in YAML format. Users can switch languages dynamically using a language picker in the footer, and developers can toggle between languages during development using keyboard shortcuts to identify missing translation keys. The translation system follows standard locale naming conventions.
For organizations needing to customize and host the UI remotely, the project provides build scripts that allow serving the UI from a custom HTTPS server rather than requiring a complete Rancher repackage. Testing infrastructure includes linting for both Handlebars templates and JavaScript, with automated fixing capabilities available.
The codebase is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 and is maintained by SUSE. Bug reports and issues should be submitted to the rancher/dashboard repository with the ember label, reflecting the transition to the newer dashboard implementation. The project includes development browser extensions for Ember Inspector to aid in debugging and development workflows.
