Traefik cheatsheet

CLI and service

Command	Description
`traefik version`	Binary version
`traefik --configFile=/etc/traefik/traefik.yml`	Start with static config
`systemctl status traefik`	Service status (if systemd-managed)
`docker logs traefik -f`	Follow Traefik container logs
`ss -tlnp \| grep traefik`	Check listeners

Dashboard and API

URL / command	Description
`http://localhost:8080/dashboard/`	Web dashboard (if enabled)
`curl -s http://localhost:8080/api/http/routers`	List HTTP routers (JSON)
`curl -s http://localhost:8080/api/http/services`	List HTTP services
`curl -s http://localhost:8080/api/rawdata`	Full dynamic config snapshot

Docker labels (minimal router)

labels:
  - "traefik.enable=true"
  - "traefik.http.routers.myapp.rule=Host(`api.example.com`)"
  - "traefik.http.routers.myapp.entrypoints=websecure"
  - "traefik.http.routers.myapp.tls.certresolver=letsencrypt"
  - "traefik.http.services.myapp.loadbalancer.server.port=8080"

Static config snippet (ACME)

entryPoints:
  web:
    address: ":80"
  websecure:
    address: ":443"

certificatesResolvers:
  letsencrypt:
    acme:
      email: ops@example.com
      storage: /letsencrypt/acme.json
      httpChallenge:
        entryPoint: web

Kubernetes

Command	Description
`kubectl get ingressroute -A`	Traefik IngressRoute CRDs
`kubectl get middleware -A`	Traefik middleware resources
`kubectl describe ingressroute myroute -n myns`	Route details and events
`kubectl logs -n traefik deploy/traefik`	Traefik controller logs

Testing routes

Command	Description
`curl -vI -H "Host: api.example.com" http://127.0.0.1/`	Test router match via Host header
`curl -vI https://api.example.com`	Test TLS end-to-end
`dig +short api.example.com`	Confirm DNS for ACME

Pro tips

Check the dashboard or /api/http/routers when a route "does nothing" — the router may not exist
traefik.enable=true is required on Docker containers; without it Traefik ignores them
ACME storage (acme.json) must be writable and backed up — it holds account keys
Middleware order matters — auth before strip-prefix, etc.

Practice scenarios

Hands-on Traefik scenarios on live Linux VMs: traefik