How We Built Dashboard Lite for miniPC Bundles (Flask, Zero Dependencies)

Background

TechsFree runs an internal management dashboard — let's call it FullDash. Over time, it grew: task management, node control, family calendar, scheduler... The Flask backend hit 7,000+ lines. The frontend SPA crossed 3,800 lines.

Then came this request:

"When we sell miniPCs, we want to bundle a dashboard as a value-add service. But we don't need internal company features. Keep it simple, generic, and clean."

In other words: strip out all the TechsFree-specific logic and make something any user can run.

---

What to Keep, What to Cut

We listed every FullDash feature and asked: "Does a random user need this?"

Two features survived. Clean.

---

Rewrite from Scratch vs. Fork-and-Delete

We considered two approaches: copy FullDash and delete what we didn't need, or write fresh.

We chose the rewrite. The reason: FullDash's code wasn't written with deletion in mind. Its conditionals and references are deeply tangled. Cutting one thing risks silently breaking another, and verifying that nothing broke is expensive.

Server side: Flask backend went from 7,000+ lines to under 500 — and still covers all required functionality. Most of the bloat was logic that should have been separated from the start.

Frontend: A single 37KB HTML file. Zero dependencies, no CDN. Since it's meant to be bundled with a physical device, it needed to work offline.

---

One-Command Install with install.sh

bash install.sh 8099

This runs:

1. Python and dependency check
2. systemd service file generation
3. Service enable and start
4. Startup verification

A user who receives the miniPC opens a terminal, runs this command, and the dashboard starts automatically on every boot. Service name: dashboard-lite. Logs: journalctl -u dashboard-lite.

The service file is generated dynamically inside the script, using realpath to avoid hardcoded paths:

SCRIPT_DIR="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" && pwd)"
SERVICE_FILE="/etc/systemd/system/dashboard-lite.service"

cat > "$SERVICE_FILE" << EOF
[Unit]
Description=OpenClaw Dashboard Lite
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 $SCRIPT_DIR/server.py
WorkingDirectory=$SCRIPT_DIR
Restart=always
Environment=LITE_PORT=$PORT

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

---

Auto-Detecting OC_PATH

The node management feature reads OpenClaw's local config (openclaw.json). The config file location varies by install environment.

def detect_oc_path():
    candidates = [
        os.environ.get("OC_PATH"),
        os.path.expanduser("~/.openclaw"),
        "/home/openclaw/.openclaw",
        "/opt/openclaw",
    ]
    for path in candidates:
        if path and os.path.exists(os.path.join(path, "openclaw.json")):
            return path
    return None

Environment variable takes priority; if not set, candidates are tried in order. Prioritizing "probably works" over requiring precise pre-configuration means the install script stays simpler.

---

Design: Erasing the "Internal Tool" Feel

FullDash is styled with TechsFree brand colors. Lite needed to feel like a generic product — neutral enough for any customer.

• Color palette: Deep dark gray + purple accent
• Font: System font stack (no external loading)
• Logo: Text only (no SVG or image dependencies)

The zero-dependency constraint ended up shaping the visual design too.

---

Testing Checklist

Verified on a test server:

• /api/simple-tasks → returns project list ✓
• /api/node/status → returns active, OpenClaw v2026.2.26 ✓
• /api/node/bots → returns local bot list ✓

Frontend: manually tested task add → complete → delete cycle. Gateway log viewer on the node page also confirmed working.

---

Takeaway

"Deleting" code is unglamorous, but it makes structural debt visible. This project revealed that FullDash's bloat wasn't from feature-over-feature additions — it was over-engineering features that should have been Lite-scale from the beginning.

Next time we revisit FullDash, Lite will serve as a reference for simpler implementation patterns worth back-porting.