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Unreviewed draft. This wiki was authored in bulk and has not been reviewed. Expect inaccuracies. File corrections on the issue tracker.
Pre-Alpha. APIs and config syntax will change without notice. The core BGP engine works; many advanced features are incomplete.
Ze turns a Linux server into a programmable network device. It speaks BGP, manages interfaces, programs the FIB, and exposes one config tree over five surfaces (CLI, Web UI, Looking Glass, MCP, REST/gRPC). Everything beyond the engine is a plugin, in Go or any other language. A gokrazy VM appliance build is also available for locked-down, single-purpose deployments.
Ze is the successor to ExaBGP. Existing ExaBGP scripts run unchanged through the bridge plugin, and ze config migrate converts ExaBGP config files.
| Try Ze | First peer up in five minutes. |
| Install | Build from source, container, or binary. |
| Configure | YANG model, atomic commits, rollback, hot reload. |
| Plugins | Over 40 plugins shipped in-tree, by category. |
| Automate | MCP, REST, SSH, Looking Glass. Pick your surface. |
| Contribute | Build it, test it, send a patch. |
The interactive CLI, with YANG-driven completion and a network OS workflow (edit, diff, commit, rollback).
The web UI, with macOS Finder-style column navigation and per-user draft sessions.
The built-in Looking Glass, with live peer dashboard, route search, and a server-side SVG topology graph.
If you run ExaBGP today, the ExaBGP migration guide is the right entry point. ze config migrate converts most setups, and the bridge plugin runs the parts it cannot. The ExaBGP Migration Walkthrough is the worked example end to end.
Read What is Ze for the five-minute version. The comparison page lines Ze up against FRR, BIRD, GoBGP, OpenBGPd, and ExaBGP.
AGPL-3.0. Source on GitHub (development on Codeberg). Community on Discord. A presentation given at net:manchester in April 2026.