Raspberry Pi Safe Shutdown Container

A lightweight Docker container that provides a simple web interface for safely shutting down your Raspberry Pi. Perfect for headless, battery-powered setups where you need a graceful shutdown option.

Features

• 🌐 Clean, responsive web interface
• ✅ Checkbox confirmation to prevent accidental shutdowns
• 🔒 Secure sudo configuration (only shutdown command allowed)
• 🏥 Built-in health check endpoint
• 📱 Mobile-friendly design
• 🎨 Modern, intuitive UI

Deployment Instructions

Step 1: Build the Image on Your Raspberry Pi

IMPORTANT: Build directly on the Raspberry Pi to ensure correct ARM architecture.

# On your Raspberry Pi
cd /path/to/ShutdownContainer
docker build -t barrybahrami/private:pi-shutdown .

Step 2: Run on Your Raspberry Pi

docker run -d \
  --name pi-shutdown \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  --privileged \
  --pid=host \
  -p 80:8080 \
  barrybahrami/private:pi-shutdown

Important flags:

• --privileged: Allows container to access host system
• --pid=host: Shares host's PID namespace (required for nsenter to work)
• -p 80:8080: Maps host port 80 to container port 8080

Step 3 (Optional): Push to Docker Hub

If you want to save the image to Docker Hub:

docker login
docker push barrybahrami/private:pi-shutdown

Step 4: Access the Interface

Open your browser and navigate to:

• http://<raspberry-pi-ip> (from any device on the network)

Step 5: Shutdown Process

1. Check the confirmation checkbox
2. Click the "Shutdown System" button
3. The system will safely shutdown

Container Management Commands

View logs:

docker logs -f pi-shutdown

Stop the container:

docker stop pi-shutdown

Start the container:

docker start pi-shutdown

Restart the container:

docker restart pi-shutdown

Remove the container:

docker rm pi-shutdown

Update to latest version:

docker pull <your-dockerhub-username>/pi-shutdown:latest
docker stop pi-shutdown
docker rm pi-shutdown
# Then run the Step 3 command again

How It Works

1. Web Interface: Flask serves a single-page application with HTML/CSS/JavaScript
2. Confirmation: User must check a box before the shutdown button becomes active
3. Shutdown Request: When clicked, sends a POST request to /shutdown endpoint
4. System Shutdown: Container executes sudo shutdown -h now on the host system
5. Privileged Mode: Container runs in privileged mode with access to host's shutdown command

Security Considerations

• The container runs in privileged mode to access the host's shutdown command
• The internal user has limited sudo access (only for the shutdown command)
• The web interface has no authentication - ensure your network is secure
• Consider adding authentication if exposing to untrusted networks
• Runs on port 80 - accessible at http://<pi-ip> without specifying a port

Troubleshooting

Container won't start

docker logs pi-shutdown

Shutdown doesn't work

• Ensure the container is running in privileged mode
• Check that /sbin/shutdown is mounted correctly
• Verify sudo permissions inside the container:

  docker exec -it pi-shutdown sudo -l

Can't access the web interface

• Check if the container is running: docker ps
• Verify port 80 is not blocked by firewall
• Try accessing from the Pi itself: curl http://localhost:8080/health

Testing on Another Machine

IMPORTANT: Before deploying to your Raspberry Pi, test on another machine first!

The shutdown command will actually shutdown the host machine, so make sure you're ready for that.

System Requirements

• Docker
• Docker Compose
• Raspberry Pi OS / Ubuntu (or any Linux distribution)
• Sudo access for the shutdown command

License

Free to use for any purpose.