TIKOCI — RouterOS Code & Container Depot

Contains various Open Source Mikrotik RouterOS projects, generally focused on /container and scripting. This page serves as an commented index to the more developed projects within TIKOCI.

See Repositories for full list of all TIKOCI's code and projects.

Web Tools

• diff RouterOS commands changes between two versions

  https://tikoci.github.io/restraml

  The tikoci/restraml project provides a web page that allows picking two RouterOS versions to see what commands have changed in the CLI or RouterOS APIs like REST.

• curl2rsc - Convert curl to /tool/fetch

  https://tikoci.github.io/postman-code-generators

  The project is mainly code for Postman's "Code Snippet" to support /tool/fetch - but hosts a web page to convert "most" curl commands into the right RouterOS command using /tool/fetch. Various "output styles" are supported to provide examples of using /tool/fetch in various use cases.

• Observable Notebook Mikrotik Collection

  https://observablehq.com/collection/@a2m0/mikrotik

  Currently contains two "tools":

  • utf2rsc - fun converter for emojis and UTF-8 into RouterOS string using byte-escaping (\xx)

  • csv2rsc - CSV conversion into RouterOS array types, also an example of using a notebook to do pre-parsing of data and generate scripts

• RouterOS REST API Schemas (RAML,OpenAPI,...)

  https://tikoci.github.io/restraml#Schema+Downloads

  The "Scheme Downloads" is the main output of tikoci/restraml project. The RouterOS REST API schemas are arranged by version and can be used in most Web API tools. For use with Postman App, see the following post on Mikrotik's Forum: REST API schema for Postman & more.

Current Container Projects

[!TIPS] Check out new make.d container, which wraps Alpine packages using make into a multiprocess service loader. Basically a "better base" for RouterOS. But it is a work-in-process but welcome to try it.

The collection includes more RouterOS containers, but the most developed are:

• tikoci/cligames old BSD game collections (30+ games!) – wrapped into RouterOS container – with retro telnet interface. Available on DockerHub

• tikoci/netinstall runs Mikrotik's netinstall tool as a RouterOS container, and QEMU to enable it for ARM/ARM64. This netinstall container uses UNIX make to download packages needed automatically via provided /container/env. Available on DockerHub

• tikoci/serial2http wraps RouterOS "remote" serial port as an HTTP interface. Available on DockerHub

There are additional containers stored in TIKOCI's Repositories. Please note some repos are used as part of other builds, and other are just experiments - use unlisted containers with care, or as examples. If you have questions or problems, feel free to file an issue within the particular repo.

"Inside RouterOS" Projects

Not all project in tikoci are containers. Projects below generally re-package, inspect, generate, or extract Mikrotik things, using GitHub Action builder.

• tikoci/fat-chr rebuilds RouterOS CHR .raw package, into a valid UEFI image for UTM/Apple/other virtualization platforms. Largely by using fat, instead of ext2 for the EFI partition. UEFI-enabled CHR images are in the project releases

• tikoci/restraml is not a container, but builds API schemas for any RouterOS version, using CHR in GitHub Action to dynamically create API schemas from RouterOS's /console/inspect command. The generated schemes can be used in Postman and other API tools to enable RouterOS's REST API software development.

  This project also "hosts" the RouterOS Command diff Tool via GitHub Pages, and is implemented as a "serverless, single page app" - so all the "diff'ing" and other app logic is happening in the browser without any backend server.

• tikoci/postman-code-generators contains fork from Postman adding RouterOS /tool/fetch snippet support & also the curl2rsc website

  The curl2rsc webpage takes a different approach than restraml. It uses HTMX, instead of local JavaScript events to handle UI logic. With HTMX using a glitch.com backend providing a /curl endpoint that utilizes this project's RouterOS "codegen" library, with [curl-to-postman] module, to do code generation on the backend.

• tikoci/winbox-deb uses Makefile to create a .deb linux package with WinBox 4.0, including adding icon to desktop. Provided mainly as an example for others wanting to package WinBox 4.0 for various distros and "app stores".

  The .deb built is not intended for wide redistribution – more a template for future winbox packaging.

Functional RouterOS Scripts

Various maybe good examples of RouterOS scripting function:

• $PIANO - interactive "player piano" & studio-quality recorder using :beep

• $INQUIRE - prompt user for input using arrays +$CHOICES +$QKEYS

• $ROKU - the missing Roku TV remote for RouterOS

• $ZT2DNS - import ZeroTier Members into Mikrotik DNS, with 6PLANE support

• $npushover - send messages to https://pushover.net and providing an example of using JSON, arrays, and /tool/fetch

• $updateDynu - enables updating IP to DNS mappings at https://www.dynu.com for DDNS support

• Track LTE Signal using The Dude is not really a RouterOS function - but provides an example of The Dude's array_element() and oid_column() functions to handle name to OID mapping.

Please see Mikrotik's Scripting Language Manual for more details on the syntax and structure, and basic examples.

For more practical scripts and examples, see ✂ Rextended Fragments of Snippets

Upcoming Projects

The following projects are in hooper:

• RouterOS "Functional Repo" Various, potentially useful, scripts are littered here and forum. Part of the original idea of TIKOCI was to store them, in one place, and allow simple downloads. Eventually, more scripts will be published on tikoci.github.com.

• Traefik Proxy Container with for CORS & WASM Traefik seems like a better fit for adding HTTP frontend on RouterOS, than the previous tikoci/ngnix approach. While Traefik's DockerHub image work on RouterOS as-is — setup, configuration, and log viewing are greatly aided by scripting. The longer term goal is to integrate Grain WASM tikoci/traefik-wasm-grain plugin, as basis for policy enforcement for REST APIs (e.g. RouterOS REST support), using Traefik 3.0's WASM support.

FUN - How do use pronounce "tikoci"?

Who knows. Originally it was for "Tik" for Mikrotik & "OCI" since that's the container storage type. But, ChatGPT had some suggestions on other IPA interpolations () – with tiˈkosi being advised as most pronounceable for a worldwide audience. For English-only audience, ChatGPT thought tɪˈkɔʃi might be best. But you can you can decide for yourself:

Credits and Colophon

Various repos make use of great work by others. Specifically, and in no order:

• Both restraml and curl2rsc use a few projects and libraries that enable the page:
  • PicoCSS to enable a "minimal CSS framework for semantic HTML"
  • highlight.js
  • deep-diff
  • json-diff
  • jsonpath
• Many repos here use RouterOS scripts. While specific contributions are noted in the specific scripts/projects, thanks @rextended & others on Mikrotik scripting forum for the many examples.
• curl2rsc webpage in tikoci/postman-code-generator uses HTMX, with glitch.com providing a backend web service needed to run Postman's curl-to-postman and postman-collection modules under nodeJS.
• EvilFreelancer/docker-routeros's "CHR+QEMU-in-Docker" project is used to in extracting RouterOS /console/inspect data from a CHR running within a GitHub Action and used by tikoci/restraml's schema generation code.
• tikoci/fat-chr just re-builds a CHR image but relies on a script with some incantation of qemu-img/gdisk - but the scripts themselves come from @jaclaz and @kriznos, with @sindy providing QA+mgmt, in a Mikrotik forum discussion.
• tikoci.github.io uses the Observable Framework and GitHub Pages to build the TIKOCI website, which will be developed more in future.
• tikoci/winbox-deb is largely borrowed from @eworm and others's Arch winbox package, specifically the .desktop file.
• Stuart Feldman, creator of original UNIX make & GNU's excellent documentation covering it. Despite Makefile's being ~50 years old, it allows the nifty (IMO) containerization approach used in tikoci/netinstall project – which is just 66 lines of Makefile code. And, make also acts the "runtime" inside the container to both do operations and handle options via cmd= or env vars.
• In the esoteric, traefik-wasm-grain is an experimental WASM plugin for Traefik, built with Grain language & runs as RouterOS Traefik container - but the low-level HttpWasm bindings would not have been possible without help from @ospencer.
• Mikrotik's @mrz. Intentionally last, since it was his /console/inspect "easter egg" clues that gave impetus to the various "schema tools" for RouterOS developed here.

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