Configuring Caddy for Pi-hole
This is an unsupported configuration created by the community
If you'd like to use Caddy as your main web server with Pi-hole, you'll need to make a few changes.
Note: This guide only deals with setting up caddy as a reverse-proxy and not as a replacement for lighttpd (Although caddy is capable of doing so, but it is beyond the scope of this guide).
Modifying lighttpd configuration¶
First, change the listen port in this file: /etc/lighttpd/lighttpd.conf:
server.port = 1080
In this case, port 1080 was chosen at random. You can use a custom port.
Next, restart the lighttpd server with either of these commands:
sudo systemctl restart lighttpd
or
sudo service lighttpd restart
Installing Caddy¶
Follow the instructions on the Caddy download documentation page.
Setting up your Caddyfile¶
Now set up a "virtual host" in your Caddyfile (default /etc/caddy/Caddyfile). There are many options you can add, but at a minimum, you need to make a "default" host by binding :80. This will accept requests for any interface on port 80.
Caddyfile (for Caddy v2)¶
http://pi.hole {
reverse_proxy localhost:1080
}
- If you'd like to enable HTTPS on your site, make sure your server is reachable via your domain name (ex: myawesomesite.com) and is pointing to the right IP address.
- Additionally you need to open ports :80 and :443 (Apart from the one's required specifically for pi-hole) for your server before setting up HTTPS.
The following configuration will automatically fetch and setup HTTPS for your domain using Lets-Encrypt
myawesomesite.com {
reverse_proxy localhost:1080
}
Additionally you can make pihole reacheable via a subdomain and optionally can you enable Zstandard and Gzip compression as follows:
pihole.myawesomesite.com {
reverse_proxy localhost:1080
encode zstd gzip
}
Finally, run sudo systemctl caddy reload to reload Caddy with the new configuration.
Caddyfile (for Caddy v1)¶
Caddy v1 is no longer actively supported, but the following is a config example if you're running an old installation.
blackhole:80, pi.hole:80, 0.0.0.0:80 {
root /var/www/html/pihole
log /var/log/caddy/blackhole.log
rewrite {
ext js
to index.js
}
proxy / localhost:1080 {
transparent
}
}
In this example, blackhole and pi.hole are added as valid names with which to open the admin page.
Verifying your setup¶
First, make sure that any other sites you're serving from caddy are still functioning. For example, if you have a block for myawesomesite.com:80 or similar in your Caddyfile, open up a browser to http://myawesomesite.com (or https:// if you have enabled it) and verify it still loads.
Next, verify you can load the admin page. Open up http://pi.hole/admin (or use the IP address of your server) and verify that you can access the admin page.
Finally, verify that requests for ads are being black holed:
$ curl -H "Host: badhost" pi.hole/
<html>
<head>
<script>window.close();</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
Replace the URL pi.hole with the IP address or alternate DNS name you're using if necessary.
Lastly, ensure that requests for JavaScript files from advertisement domains are being served properly:
curl -H "Host: badhost" pi.hole/malicious.js
var x = "Pi-hole: A black hole for Internet advertisements."
For more information visit Caddy's documentation website.
For usage questions or support, visit the Caddy Community forums.