Faro
Faro lighthouse logoA little clarity for your network.

Understand and protect
your network with
self-hosted DNS.

Faro shows what every device is doing with DNS, explains what gets blocked and why, and keeps the whole thing manageable from one interface.

Get started View on GitHub

Open source · Apache 2.0 Self-hosted No cloud account required

Per-device visibility · Protection profiles · Local DNS · Encrypted upstreams · Synchronized redundancy

YOUR NETWORK, AT A GLANCEBuilt on CoreDNS
Faro dashboard showing DNS traffic, blocked requests, active devices, cache performance, and upstream resolver health.
The Faro dashboard. Real interface, example data.View full size View full size

Understand your network

See DNS activity by device, domain, block reason, cache result, and upstream response.

Protect without losing control

Use blocklists, per-device protection profiles, schedules, and exceptions.

Keep it yours

Faro is self-hosted. DNS history and configuration stay on your hardware.

Why Faro?

Built for visibility, not just blocking.

Faro started with a question: what are the devices on my network actually doing?

Blocking is only part of Faro. Device-level history, investigation, protection, local DNS, upstream health, encrypted DNS, and redundancy come together around CoreDNS—without making routine DNS management feel like infrastructure work.

01 / Activity

See what every
device is doing.

Search live and historical DNS activity. See which device requested a domain, whether it was allowed or blocked, and why.

Explore activity
Faro Activity page showing a DNS request timeline, device and domain filters, and allowed, blocked, and cached requests.
Follow a request from device to answer.View full size View full size

02 / Devices

Know your devices.

Give devices names that mean something. Review their activity and assigned protection in one place. Optionally connect a local UniFi controller to help identify them.

Meet your network
Faro Devices inventory with example device names, IP addresses, query counts, blocked requests, and protection assignments.
A clearer picture of the devices on your network.View full size View full size

03 / Protection

Protection without the config-file gymnastics.

Block ads, trackers, and unwanted domains across your network or by device.

Manage schedules, exceptions, and custom blocklists without editing DNS configuration.

Explore protection
Faro Protection editor showing a Family profile with blocklists, domain exceptions, a weekday blocking schedule, and device assignments.
Blocklists, exceptions, schedules, and devices in one protection profile.View full size View full size

04 / Redundancy

Two DNS servers. One Faro.

DNS is one of those things you notice immediately when it stops working.

Pair a second Faro server with your primary and Faro keeps its DNS configuration synchronized automatically. Replicas stay read-only, so you manage the network from one place while multiple servers can answer DNS requests.

Manage once. Serve DNS from both.

Set up redundancy
Faro Redundancy settings showing a primary server, three replicas, their configuration synchronization states, and router DNS addresses.
Manage paired servers and see their synchronization status. Example data.View full size View full size

05 / DNS, made understandable

DNS without the
airplane cockpit.

Faro brings useful CoreDNS capabilities into an understandable interface. Add local names, choose encrypted upstreams, and manage protection without editing CoreDNS configuration for routine tasks.

Read the documentation
Local DNS
Give services on your network their own names.
Encrypted upstreams
Choose DNS-over-HTTPS providers, with health checks and failover.
Protection
Set network-wide rules or tailor protection to a device.
Redundancy
Pair a primary server with read-only DNS replicas.

A simple path. Your choice.

Your network. Your DNS.

Faro handles
  • Protection
  • Local DNS
  • Caching
  • Activity & history

Faro uses CoreDNS to answer DNS requests and forwards requests it cannot answer locally to the upstream provider you choose.

Your DNS stays yours. History, configuration, backups, and management stay on your hardware. Faro requires no cloud account and includes no tracking.

Choose how much history to keep. Create encrypted backups and restore them from the interface.

Get started

Running in a few minutes.

Bring an always-on machine with Docker Compose, a fixed local IP, and port 53 available for DNS.

Docker Compose / Linux & macOS
mkdir faro && cd faro
curl -LO https://raw.githubusercontent.com/derek-diaz/Faro/main/docker-compose.yml
docker compose up -d

  1. 01

    Open http://YOUR-FARO-IP:1787 and follow the guided setup.

  2. 02

    Point your router or one device’s DNS setting to Faro’s local IP address.

Installation guide Unraid guide Using Windows?

Apache 2.0 · Always inspectable

Built in the open.

Faro is open source under Apache 2.0. Issues, ideas, and contributions are welcome.

Built and maintained by Derek Diaz Correa in Puerto Rico.

View Faro on GitHub