Introduction | Unifly

unifly <command>: CLI for scripting, automation, and quick lookups
unifly tui: real-time terminal dashboard for monitoring

Both are powered by a shared async engine that speaks every UniFi API dialect, so you never have to think about which endpoint to hit.

🔗The Problem

UniFi controllers expose two completely different APIs:

graph LR
subgraph "Integration API"
I["REST + API Key"]
I1["Networks, WiFi, Firewall"]
I2["DNS, ACL, NAT, Traffic Lists"]
end

    subgraph "Session API"
        S["Cookie + CSRF"]
        S1["Events, Stats, DPI"]
        S2["Device Commands, Admin"]
    end

    subgraph unifly
        U["Unified Interface"]
    end

    I --> U
    S --> U
    U --> CLI["CLI Output"]
    U --> TUI["TUI Dashboard"]

Integration API: RESTful, API-key authenticated, covers CRUD for most resources
Session API: Session-based with cookie/CSRF, required for events, statistics, and device commands

Most tools only speak one dialect. The web dashboard is slow and can’t be scripted. Unifly handles the routing, authentication, and data merging automatically.

🔗What You Can Do

Capability	Description
Device Management	List, inspect, restart, upgrade, and provision devices
Client Monitoring	See connected clients with signal, traffic, and VLAN info
Network Configuration	Manage VLANs, subnets, DHCP, and IPv6 settings
WiFi Management	Create and modify SSIDs, scan neighbors, analyze channels, track client roams and WiFi experience
Firewall	Manage policies, zones, and ACL rules
NAT	Masquerade, source NAT, and destination NAT rules (via Legacy v2 API)
Events & Alarms	Stream live events, acknowledge and archive alarms
Statistics	Query bandwidth, client counts, and DPI data over time
Raw API Access	Hit any controller endpoint directly with `unifly api`
Real-Time Dashboard	Monitor everything with live Braille charts and status bars

🔗Architecture at a Glance

graph TD
UNIFLY["unifly
CLI + TUI (single binary)"]
API["unifly-api
Library crate on crates.io"]

    UNIFLY --> API

    API --> INT["Integration Client
REST + API Key"]
    API --> SES["Session Client
Cookie + CSRF"]
    API --> WS["WebSocket
Live Events"]
    API --> DS["DataStore
DashMap + watch channels"]

Two crates with a clean dependency chain. The library is published independently for Rust developers building custom integrations. See the Architecture section for the full picture.

🔗Next Steps

Installation: get unifly on your system
Quick Start: configure and run your first commands
Authentication: understand API key vs password vs hybrid
AI Agent Skill: let your coding agent manage your network

In this section

Installation

Install unifly via Homebrew, Cargo, AUR, or binary download

Quick Start

Set up your first controller profile and run your first commands

Configuration

Profiles, TOML config, environment variables, and keyring storage

Authentication

API key, credentials, hybrid, and cloud auth modes explained

AI Agent Skill

Teach AI coding agents to manage your UniFi network