king03-sam/oshotspot

OSHotspot is a Linux command line tool that fixes a common problem: NetworkManager's built in WiFi hotspot feature often creates a network that connected devices can join but that has no actual internet access. OSHotspot works around this by building its own hotspot using well established native networking tools, hostapd for the access point, dnsmasq for DHCP and DNS, iptables for routing internet traffic, and iw for managing a virtual WiFi interface. It creates a separate virtual access point called ap0 on the same adapter that already provides internet, so the computer acts as a router between its existing WiFi connection and the new hotspot network, all without disabling NetworkManager. Beyond the basic command line tool, OSHotspot includes a web dashboard, launched with a single command, that opens automatically in the browser with a secure, token authenticated session. The dashboard shows live status and traffic charts, lets a user start, stop, restart, or repair the hotspot, manage connected clients including kicking or blocking devices, edit settings like the SSID, password, and WiFi channel, display a scannable QR code for quick phone connections, run diagnostic checks, and view live logs from the underlying services. Other features include automatic recovery after a laptop suspends and resumes, a dedicated DHCP service that avoids conflicts with tools like Docker or Libvirt, support for 802.11n for wider device compatibility, tab completion for Bash, Zsh, and Fish shells, and support across several Linux distributions including Ubuntu, Debian, Mint, Fedora, and Arch. A background watchdog process, written in C, can automatically restart core services if they crash, with a graceful fallback to plain Bash scripts if the C tools are not available. Installing OSHotspot requires a wireless adapter that supports access point mode and packages like hostapd, dnsmasq, iw, iptables, and qrencode. It can be installed with a single curl command or by cloning the repository and running its install script, which sets up configuration files, the command line tool, the web dashboard, shell completions, and system services. The project is released under the Apache 2.0 license.