Olm

Olm is a WireGuard tunnel client designed to securely connect your computer to Newt sites running on remote networks.

Installation and Documentation

Olm is used with Pangolin and Newt as part of the larger system. See documentation below:

• Full Documentation

Key Functions

Registers with Pangolin

Using the Olm ID and a secret, the olm will make HTTP requests to Pangolin to receive a session token. Using that token, it will connect to a websocket and maintain that connection. Control messages will be sent over the websocket.

Receives WireGuard Control Messages

When Olm receives WireGuard control messages, it will use the information encoded (endpoint, public key) to bring up a WireGuard tunnel on your computer to a remote Newt. It will ping over the tunnel to ensure the peer is brought up.

CLI Args

• endpoint: The endpoint where both Gerbil and Pangolin reside in order to connect to the websocket.
• id: Olm ID generated by Pangolin to identify the olm.
• secret: A unique secret (not shared and kept private) used to authenticate the olm ID with the websocket in order to receive commands.
• mtu (optional): MTU for the internal WG interface. Default: 1280
• dns (optional): DNS server to use to resolve the endpoint. Default: 8.8.8.8
• log-level (optional): The log level to use (DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL). Default: INFO
• ping-interval (optional): Interval for pinging the server. Default: 3s
• ping-timeout (optional): Timeout for each ping. Default: 5s
• interface (optional): Name of the WireGuard interface. Default: olm
• enable-http (optional): Enable HTTP server for receiving connection requests. Default: false
• http-addr (optional): HTTP server address (e.g., ':9452'). Default: :9452
• holepunch (optional): Enable hole punching. Default: false

Environment Variables

All CLI arguments can also be set via environment variables:

• PANGOLIN_ENDPOINT: Equivalent to --endpoint
• OLM_ID: Equivalent to --id
• OLM_SECRET: Equivalent to --secret
• MTU: Equivalent to --mtu
• DNS: Equivalent to --dns
• LOG_LEVEL: Equivalent to --log-level
• INTERFACE: Equivalent to --interface
• HTTP_ADDR: Equivalent to --http-addr
• PING_INTERVAL: Equivalent to --ping-interval
• PING_TIMEOUT: Equivalent to --ping-timeout
• HOLEPUNCH: Set to "true" to enable hole punching (equivalent to --holepunch)
• CONFIG_FILE: Set to the location of a JSON file to load secret values

Examples:

olm \
--id 31frd0uzbjvp721 \
--secret h51mmlknrvrwv8s4r1i210azhumt6isgbpyavxodibx1k2d6 \
--endpoint https://example.com

You can also run it with Docker compose. For example, a service in your docker-compose.yml might look like this using environment vars (recommended):

services:
    olm:
        image: fosrl/olm
        container_name: olm
        restart: unless-stopped
        network_mode: host
        devices:
            - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
        environment:
            - PANGOLIN_ENDPOINT=https://example.com
            - OLM_ID=31frd0uzbjvp721
            - OLM_SECRET=h51mmlknrvrwv8s4r1i210azhumt6isgbpyavxodibx1k2d6

You can also pass the CLI args to the container:

services:
    olm:
        image: fosrl/olm
        container_name: olm
        restart: unless-stopped
        network_mode: host
        devices:
            - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
        command:
            - --id 31frd0uzbjvp721
            - --secret h51mmlknrvrwv8s4r1i210azhumt6isgbpyavxodibx1k2d6
            - --endpoint https://example.com

Docker Configuration Notes:

• network_mode: host brings the olm network interface to the host system, allowing the WireGuard tunnel to function properly
• devices: - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun is required to give the container access to the TUN device for creating WireGuard interfaces

Loading secrets from files

You can use CONFIG_FILE to define a location of a config file to store the credentials between runs.

$ cat ~/.config/olm-client/config.json
{
  "id": "spmzu8rbpzj1qq6",
  "secret": "f6v61mjutwme2kkydbw3fjo227zl60a2tsf5psw9r25hgae3",
  "endpoint": "https://pangolin.fossorial.io",
  "tlsClientCert": ""
}

This file is also written to when newt first starts up. So you do not need to run every time with --id and secret if you have run it once!

Default locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/olm-client/config.json
• Windows: %PROGRAMDATA%\olm\olm-client\config.json
• Linux/Others: ~/.config/olm-client/config.json

Hole Punching

In the default mode, olm "relays" traffic through Gerbil in the cloud to get down to newt. This is a little more reliable. Support for NAT hole punching is also EXPERIMENTAL right now using the --holepunch flag. This will attempt to orchestrate a NAT hole punch between the two sites so that traffic flows directly. This will save data costs and speed. If it fails it should fall back to relaying.

Right now, basic NAT hole punching is supported. We plan to add:

• Birthday paradox
• UPnP
• LAN detection

Windows Service

On Windows, olm has to be installed and run as a Windows service. When running it with the cli args live above it will attempt to install and run the service to function like a cli tool. You can also run the following:

Service Management Commands

# Install the service
olm.exe install

# Start the service
olm.exe start

# Stop the service
olm.exe stop

# Check service status
olm.exe status

# Remove the service
olm.exe remove

# Run in debug mode (console output) with our without id & secret
olm.exe debug

# Show help
olm.exe help

Note running the service requires credentials in %PROGRAMDATA%\olm\olm-client\config.json.

Service Configuration

When running as a service, Olm will read configuration from environment variables or you can modify the service to include command-line arguments:

1. Install the service: olm.exe install
2. Set the credentials in %PROGRAMDATA%\olm\olm-client\config.json. Hint: if you run olm once with --id and --secret this file will be populated!
3. Start the service: olm.exe start

Service Logs

When running as a service, logs are written to:

• Windows Event Log (Application log, source: "OlmWireguardService")
• Log files in: %PROGRAMDATA%\olm\logs\olm.log

You can view the Windows Event Log using Event Viewer or PowerShell:

Get-EventLog -LogName Application -Source "OlmWireguardService" -Newest 10

HTTP Endpoints

Olm can be controlled with an embedded http server when using --enable-http. This allows you to start it as a daemon and trigger it with the following endpoints:

POST /connect

Initiates a new connection request.

Request Body:

{
  "id": "string",
  "secret": "string", 
  "endpoint": "string"
}

Required Fields:

• id: Connection identifier
• secret: Authentication secret
• endpoint: Target endpoint URL

Response:

• Status Code: 202 Accepted
• Content-Type: application/json

{
  "status": "connection request accepted"
}

Error Responses:

• 405 Method Not Allowed - Non-POST requests
• 400 Bad Request - Invalid JSON or missing required fields

GET /status

Returns the current connection status and peer information.

Response:

• Status Code: 200 OK
• Content-Type: application/json

{
  "status": "connected",
  "connected": true,
  "tunnelIP": "100.89.128.3/20",
  "version": "version_replaceme",
  "peers": {
    "10": {
      "siteId": 10,
      "connected": true,
      "rtt": 145338339,
      "lastSeen": "2025-08-13T14:39:17.208334428-07:00",
      "endpoint": "p.fosrl.io:21820",
      "isRelay": true
    },
    "8": {
      "siteId": 8,
      "connected": false,
      "rtt": 0,
      "lastSeen": "2025-08-13T14:39:19.663823645-07:00",
      "endpoint": "p.fosrl.io:21820",
      "isRelay": true
    }
  }
}

Fields:

• status: Overall connection status ("connected" or "disconnected")
• connected: Boolean connection state
• tunnelIP: IP address and subnet of the tunnel (when connected)
• version: Olm version string
• peers: Map of peer statuses by site ID
  • siteId: Peer site identifier
  • connected: Boolean peer connection state
  • rtt: Peer round-trip time (integer, nanoseconds)
  • lastSeen: Last time peer was seen (RFC3339 timestamp)
  • endpoint: Peer endpoint address
  • isRelay: Whether the peer is relayed (true) or direct (false)

Error Responses:

• 405 Method Not Allowed - Non-GET requests

Usage Examples

Connect to a peer

curl -X POST http://localhost:8080/connect \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "id": "31frd0uzbjvp721",
    "secret": "h51mmlknrvrwv8s4r1i210azhumt6isgbpyavxodibx1k2d6",
    "endpoint": "https://example.com"
  }'

Check connection status

curl http://localhost:8080/status

Build

Binary

Make sure to have Go 1.23.1 installed.

make local

Licensing

Olm is dual licensed under the AGPLv3 and the Fossorial Commercial license. For inquiries about commercial licensing, please contact us.

Contributions

Please see CONTRIBUTIONS in the repository for guidelines and best practices.