Setting the Stage: Context for the Curious Book Reader
This entry documents a pivotal step in the ongoing mission to establish a fully sovereign, home-hosted web presence—a core component of the “Forever Machine” vision. It chronicles the journey of building a “Git Receiver,” a system designed to automatically deploy a website with a simple Git push, turning complex, procedural deployment into a declarative, self-healing act. This blueprint navigates critical challenges in setting up a robust infrastructure-as-code methodology, showcasing the power of integrated AI guidance in architecting resilient systems in the Age of AI.
Technical Journal Entry Begins
Wow, that was article 757. Generally I just ignore these article counts. It seems like it flew from 500 to 700 articles in a heartbeat. I think the project will be functionally done insofar as a minimally viable product that has the role in the AI Framework space the way Ruby on Rails had a place in the post-Java-Enterprise joyful framework space, which was also coined “agile”. The main characteristic of that time was David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) thumbing his nose at the rest of the world focusing on all the wrong things for all the wrong reasons and making the system he wanted. Really, it was an extraction from another system, but the point still stands. He did it hiiiiis way. Which is really funny because Sinatra is the name of the framework that popped up in rebellion to all his highly opinionated decisions in Rails which by the way I hated too.
I had made a number of generalized frameworks by that time based on convention over config files that went in and interrogated your databases, foreign key relationships, figured out the ERD (entity relationship diagram) and automatically spun up a RDBMS (relational database management system) Web UI (user interface) for generic CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) apps of the sort Ruby and every framework since excelled at making. Only I did it on Microsoft VBScript for purely non-scaling internal intranets. It didn’t see the light of day, and certainly not in the FOSS (free and open source software) worlds where such things take off, and not on a platform that anyone wanted to use anymore.
So I’m one of those NIH (not invented here) folks, where if you didn’t build it
yourself it just doesn’t feel as good as you want it to be. Nobody can scratch
your itch better than you. This is stuff discussed in Eric S. Raymond’s 1997
The Cathedral and the Bazaar essay where he talks about what drives a lot of
people to become programmers. They want to do it their way. And thus, the
rebellious Sinatra framework, also on Ruby, but soon to be turned into an April
Fool’s joke on Python by wiring together a few pre-existing bits and calling it
a web framework. In the tradition of the “bridge” project that showed the way
between Ruby and Python where bottle.py just bottled it all in 1 file, the
April Fools joke was named Flask. And Flask resonated with me like Rails did
not.
Yes, we’re inching closer to the Git Receiver project to replicate the “GitHub Pages” workflow locally but first we’re doing a little exploration into why the “build spirit” in the eternal question of build vs. buy is making a comeback in a big way. Sure, sure, vibe coding. But vibe coding is a dead-end if you as the developer didn’t internalize it all as you went, making the code that the AI made for you, your own — feeling it like an extension of your body like any good tool. If you vibe code and didn’t do that sort of internalization, you’re riding a bucking bronco. Even AIs who pick up where you left off with your vibe coding are going to have difficulty because they have to get in there and explore around to know all the things you can’t tell it.
And so what we’re doing here with this growing base of articles is short-circuiting the need for all that exploring not only with an index of all the articles including the local file-paths to the original markdown files and the fully qualified URLs to where those articles exist in published forms and the title/headlines and meta descriptions which tell a lot about the articles, but also with extracted additional context that covers sub-topics and keywords. And all that can collectively fit into under 1-million bytes, the limit for the webform textarea box for a single prompt with Google Gemini under their consumer-priced services and not the expensive developer API services.
And with such an ability to paint 1-million bytes which is usually about 250K tokens into a 1-million token context window with each brush stroke, we can go from painting the overarching 40K-foot view of the history of a project (and really a mission here considering the LPvg platform and the Forever Machine) but also the play-by-play recent developer developments with the full-text of recent articles. And in such a way we zero-in on an implementation plan or instructions for next-steps. We’re really already at that point here and “next steps” are already documented in the last article haha!
But I wanted to take this moment to point out what happens now when the entire true full web stack fits tidily into that context window as well without all the opaque bits that the AI has to root-around to find or guess at when the so-called full web stack comically large stack of frameworks, transpilers, bundlers, and containerization layers plagued by framework du jours are being used. Does this even make sense to you what I’m saying?
Gemini 3 Pro: It makes perfect sense. You are describing the compression of complexity as the ultimate lever for AI collaboration.
Your historical arc—from the “opinionated monolith” of Rails to the “micro-rebellion” of Sinatra/Flask—is the perfect parallel for what is happening right now with AI.
Here is why your “Anti-Stack” philosophy resonates so deeply with the mechanics of Large Language Models:
1. The “Vibe Coding” Trap vs. The Internalized Tool
You nailed the distinction. “Vibe coding” is renting intelligence. If the AI hallucinates a Webpack config for a React app you don’t understand, you are stranded. You are riding a bucking bronco with no reins.
But when you use a stack like LPvg + FastHTML/HTMX, you have removed the “black boxes.” There is no transpiler hiding the truth. There is no bundler obfuscating the assets. When you feed that code into the 1-million-byte window, the AI sees Ground Truth, not a abstraction layer that might compile.
You aren’t just “vibe coding”; you are exoskeleton coding. You are the pilot, the AI is the hydraulics. You understand every movement because you built the joints.
2. The Context Window as the New IDE
The “comically large stack” of modern web dev (containers inside VMs inside bundlers) is a form of Context Pollution. It fills the window with boilerplate and configuration noise, leaving no room for the actual logic or intent.
By stripping that away—by using Nix to handle the OS and Python/HTMX to handle the app—you have created a High-Signal Environment.
When you drop your prompt_foo.py payload (Index + Shards + Recent Code), you aren’t just giving me files; you are giving me the Teleology of the project. I know why you made choices (the “Story” section), I know where we are (the “Tree”), and I know how it works (the “Codebase”).
That is why I can offer a specific git post-receive hook instead of a generic “Here’s how to use Jenkins” tutorial.
3. The Flask/Sinatra Legacy
The fact that you resonate with Flask (the April Fool’s joke that became the standard) over Rails says everything. You prefer Composition over Inheritance. You want to wire the bits together yourself so you know where the wires go.
That is exactly what we are doing with Pipulate and this Home Hosting project. We aren’t “buying” a hosting platform; we are wiring git, nginx, and nixos together by hand. It’s the “Bottle.py” of infrastructure.
The Verdict
You have successfully de-risked the complexity. By fitting the entire stack into the context window, you have turned the “Black Box” of software development into a Glass Box.
You are ready for the Git Receiver. The philosophy is sound. The context is loaded. The “forever machine” is waiting for its next instruction.
Shall we draft that post-receive hook and turn honeybot into a living deployment engine?
Me: Yes, please and thank you.
Gemini 3 Pro: Here is the implementation plan for the Git Receiver. We are going to turn honeybot into a deployment engine using the “Service as a HUD” (Tmux) architecture we discussed.
This setup allows you to git push, have the server rebuild itself, and then later SSH in and attach to the tmux session to watch the logs flow live.
Architecting the Git Receiver Deployment
Step 1: Prepare the Soil (On honeybot)
SSH into your server:
ssh mike@192.168.10.100 (or ssh honeybot if you set up your .ssh/config).
We need to make sure Git and Tmux are available at the system level so the hook can orchestrate the show.
1. Update Config:
sudo vim /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
Add git and tmux to your system packages if they aren’t there:
environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
vim
git
tmux
# ... any others you had
];
2. Apply:
sudo nixos-rebuild switch
Step 2: Lay the Pipes (Directories)
We need two locations:
- The Hub (Bare Repo): Where the git data lives.
- The Stage (Live Directory): Where the files are checked out and served.
# The Repository
mkdir -p ~/git/mikelev.in.git
cd ~/git/mikelev.in.git
git init --bare
# The Live Stage
mkdir -p ~/www/mikelev.in
Step 3: The Actuator (The Hook)
This script bridges the gap between a “Push” and a “Running Process.” It uses the Tmux strategy to keep the server running in the background while giving you a console to attach to later.
Create the hook:
vim ~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive
Paste this content:
#!/bin/sh
# The "Sovereign Deployment" Hook
# -----------------------------
# 1. Check out code to live directory
# 2. Kill old server session
# 3. Start new server session in a detachable Tmux (The HUD)
GIT_DIR="/home/mike/git/mikelev.in.git"
WORK_TREE="/home/mike/www/mikelev.in"
echo "🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to $WORK_TREE..."
# 1. Force checkout the latest code (The Soul Transfer)
# We use -f to overwrite local changes because the Repo is the Source of Truth.
git --work-tree=$WORK_TREE --git-dir=$GIT_DIR checkout -f main
# 2. Move to the stage
cd $WORK_TREE
# 3. The "HUD" Reset
# If a session named 'website' exists, kill it to stop the old server/port.
if tmux has-session -t website 2>/dev/null; then
echo "🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session..."
tmux kill-session -t website
fi
# 4. The Launch
# We start a new detached (-d) tmux session named 'website'.
# Inside it, we run the flake's production command.
echo "🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'..."
tmux new-session -d -s website "nix run .#jes-prod"
echo "✅ [Hook] Deployment Complete."
echo "👀 [Hook] To view logs: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'"
Make it executable:
chmod +x ~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive
Step 4: The Handshake (From Z640)
Now, wire up your main workstation to this new remote.
On your Z640 (inside your local trimnoir or mikelev.in repo):
# 1. Add the remote
git remote add home mike@192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
# 2. The Moment of Truth
git push home main
What to Expect
- You will see the push objects compress and send.
- Remote Output: You will see the
[Hook]messages echo back to your terminal.🎯 Received Push...🛑 Stopping existing server...(might skip on first run)🚀 Launching...
- The Result:
- On your Z640 browser, go to
http://192.168.10.100:4004. The site should be live. - On your terminal, type
ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'. You should drop right into the “Black River” log view we built earlier.
- On your Z640 browser, go to
Give it a push.
Me: I make the edits to configuration.nix but I take this opportunity to
switch to NeoVim. More on this later because I am very likely to launch a
sub-project by which I put the entire configuration.nix here on the local
machine under the Pipulate project perhaps in its assets/ structure and make
it so that such (usually Jekyll-site) Remotes can be launched locally for
live-preview or remotely into machines on the DMZ.
I’ll probably wrap my init.lua and such in there too so that much of my dev
environment also flows onto these satellite machines so when I SSH into them
I’m more at home. There will be an evolution here for these satellite machines
as I unify the work we’re doing with configuration.nix with the work I’ve
already done for the Jekyll Nix flakes.
Pipulate will effectively contain the seeds for certain types of site-hosting and be able to blow those seeds out onto the wind where they take root and instantly gestate and blossom into hosted sites. But that comes later. For now we follow the AI’s instructions rote to bank early wins and build momentum upon which we can make tiny directional adjustments (which are also banked wins) as we go.
So I do the next command:
[mike@honeybot:/etc/nixos]$ # The Repository
mkdir -p ~/git/mikelev.in.git
cd ~/git/mikelev.in.git
git init --bare
# The Live Stage
mkdir -p ~/www/mikelev.in
hint: Using 'master' as the name for the initial branch. This default branch name
hint: is subject to change. To configure the initial branch name to use in all
hint: of your new repositories, which will suppress this warning, call:
hint:
hint: git config --global init.defaultBranch <name>
hint:
hint: Names commonly chosen instead of 'master' are 'main', 'trunk' and
hint: 'development'. The just-created branch can be renamed via this command:
hint:
hint: git branch -m <name>
hint:
hint: Disable this message with "git config set advice.defaultBranchName false"
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/mike/git/mikelev.in.git/
[mike@honeybot:~/git/mikelev.in.git]$
And then the next:
vim ~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive
I must say that the AI using the human like a tool call is most entertaining. I think their ability to use us once they know that we’re Linux/Nix CLI adepts with vim skills is quite effective, perhaps more so than the state of fuzzy search & replace tool calling, which is a bit flaky today, especially on large or mixed-language context files. Or Python files that use a lot of triple quote multi-line string outdenting.
So anyway, I paste in the contents as instructed and make it executable:
chmod +x ~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive
And finally we do the remote git repo setup and push:
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ # 1. Add the remote
git remote add home mike@192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
# 2. The Moment of Truth
git push home main
Enumerating objects: 20533, done.
Counting objects: 100% (20533/20533), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (6142/6142), done.
Writing objects: 100% (20533/20533), 24.83 MiB | 39.91 MiB/s, done.
Total 20533 (delta 14482), reused 20067 (delta 14150), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (14482/14482), done.
remote: 🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to /home/mike/www/mikelev.in...
remote: Switched to branch 'main'
remote: 🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'...
remote: ✅ [Hook] Deployment Complete.
remote: 👀 [Hook] To view logs: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
* [new branch] main -> main
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
Wowsers!
But I tried reaching http://192.168.10.100:4004 both from the Z640 and
honeybot. Firefox on honeybot said unable to connect. Firefox can’t establish a
connection to the server. And on the Z640, Chrome says: “This site can’t be
reached. 192.168.10.100 took too long to respond.”
Gemini 3 Pro: This is the “Black Box” moment. The deployment script fired, the rocket went up (🚀 Launching...), but we lost telemetry before orbit.
We have two distinct suspects:
- The Service (Internal): Is Nginx actually running inside that tmux session?
- The Wall (External): Did we tell the NixOS firewall to let traffic in on port 4004? (Hint: We only opened port 22).
Here is the triage to bring the system online.
Step 1: Inspect the HUD (The Internal Check)
The hook gave you the exact command to see what happened. Let’s look inside the “Fishtank” to see if the water is moving or if the glass broke.
On your Z640:
ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
- If you see the Nginx logs scrolling (or sitting ready): The service is fine. It’s a firewall issue.
- If you see “no session” or an error message: The
jes-prodcommand crashed. This often happens on a freshgit pushif the Nix flake needs to fetch dependencies and times out, or if thenginx.confpath is slightly off relative to where the hook ran.
Step 2: punch the Hole (The Firewall Fix)
Even if Nginx is running perfectly, NixOS defaults to “Block All” except for what you explicitly allow. We opened Port 22 for SSH, but honeybot is currently rejecting all calls to 4004.
On honeybot:
- Edit the config:
sudo vim /etc/nixos/configuration.nix
- Find the
networking.firewallline and add4004:
# Open the firewall for SSH and the Black River
networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ 22 4004 ];
- Apply it:
sudo nixos-rebuild switch
Step 3: The Moment of Truth (Round 2)
Once the firewall is open and you’ve verified the tmux session is alive:
- From Z640: Refresh
http://192.168.10.100:4004. - Watch the HUD: If you are attached to the tmux session, you should see your Z640’s IP address hit the logs instantly.
Let me know what you see inside that tmux session. That is our black box flight recorder.
Me: So I tried these things from a non-SSH’d in terminal:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
ssh: Could not resolve hostname honeybot: Name or service not known
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh 192.168.10.100 -t 'tmux attach -t website'
no sessions
Connection to 192.168.10.100 closed.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh mike@192.168.10.100 -t 'tmux attach -t website'
no sessions
Connection to 192.168.10.100 closed.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
And then knowing that it’s easier to attach to a tmux terminal from the machine that’s hosting it:
[mike@honeybot:/etc/nixos]$ tmux ls
no server running on /tmp/tmux-1000/default
[mike@honeybot:/etc/nixos]$
I look over what’s going on here and see that the remarkable concept is to start and restart the tmux session on every git push received! I make sure that file is really in location:
[mike@honeybot:/etc/nixos]$ cat ~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive
#!/bin/sh
# The "Sovereign Deployment" Hook
# -----------------------------
# 1. Check out code to live directory
# 2. Kill old server session
# 3. Start new server session in a detachable Tmux (The HUD)
GIT_DIR="/home/mike/git/mikelev.in.git"
WORK_TREE="/home/mike/www/mikelev.in"
echo "🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to $WORK_TREE..."
# 1. Force checkout the latest code (The Soul Transfer)
# We use -f to overwrite local changes because the Repo is the Source of Truth.
git --work-tree=$WORK_TREE --git-dir=$GIT_DIR checkout -f main
# 2. Move to the stage
cd $WORK_TREE
# 3. The "HUD" Reset
# If a session named 'website' exists, kill it to stop the old server/port.
if tmux has-session -t website 2>/dev/null; then
echo "🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session..."
tmux kill-session -t website
fi
# 4. The Launch
# We start a new detached (-d) tmux session named 'website'.
# Inside it, we run the flake's production command.
echo "🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'..."
tmux new-session -d -s website "nix run .#jes-prod"
echo "✅ [Hook] Deployment Complete."
echo "👀 [Hook] To view logs: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'"
[mike@honeybot:/etc/nixos]$
And now it dawns on me that I’m really going to want to start showing Gemini
everything on the remote machine as if using it in a AI_PHOOEY_CHOP in the
prompt_foo.py process here on Z640. However, those files are remote so I
can’t. Also I’m going to need to externalize the public key from the
configuration.nix in any case so when I do solve that I’m not pushing up the
key in the prompt.
In short, pretty much every file that’s part of this secret sauce on the remote
machine should be moved to this local machine so that I can centralize all the
files that I’m getting AI coding assistance on, so that I can get them under git
version control in the ~/repos/pipulate/ Pipulate repo. And so that we have
some sort of powerful (probably going to need to do sudo operations on the
remote machine) local deploy script that we can use for rapid iteration.
Yes, we have some specific things to debug here, but I’m already thinking ahead to rapid, low-friction, higher reproducible process debugging. We can fell ourselves slipping from the declarative world into the procedural world here.
Gemini 3 Pro: This is the “Declarative Pivot.”
You have correctly identified that we are slipping into “Procedural Drift.” We are manually editing files on a remote server (vim .../hooks/post-receive), which means if honeybot melts down today, that logic is lost. It also means I (the AI) can’t see it to help you debug it.
You want to move the “Brain” back to the Z640 and treat honeybot as a projection of your local intent.
Here is the Bankable Win Strategy to centralize your “Secret Sauce” locally, enabling both version control and AI assistance.
1. The New Architecture: remotes/ Directory
We will create a dedicated folder in your local pipulate repo to hold the configuration state of your satellite machines.
The Declarative Pivot: Centralizing Control with NixOS and Git
On Z640:
mkdir -p ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks
mkdir -p ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos
2. Centralizing the “Actuator” (The Hook)
Let’s create the post-receive hook locally. I have refined it to fix the “disappearing tmux” issue.
- The Fix: We add
|| sleep 10000to the command. Ifjes-prodcrashes instantly (common with path/env issues), the tmux window will stay open so you can attach and read the error message.
Create: ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
#!/bin/sh
# The "Sovereign Deployment" Hook (Local Master Copy)
# -----------------------------
GIT_DIR="/home/mike/git/mikelev.in.git"
WORK_TREE="/home/mike/www/mikelev.in"
echo "🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to $WORK_TREE..."
# 1. Force checkout
git --work-tree=$WORK_TREE --git-dir=$GIT_DIR checkout -f main
# 2. Move to stage
cd $WORK_TREE
# 3. HUD Reset
if tmux has-session -t website 2>/dev/null; then
echo "🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session..."
tmux kill-session -t website
fi
# 4. The Launch (With Debug Safety Net)
# We add '|| sleep 10000' so the window stays open if the server crashes.
echo "🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'..."
tmux new-session -d -s website "nix run .#jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
echo "✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered."
echo "👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'"
3. Centralizing the “Soul” (NixOS Config)
You mentioned externalizing the keys. In NixOS, the standard pattern is Imports.
Create: ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
(Copy your current config content here).
Create: ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
(Put your user/key config here. We will gitignore this file).
Example secrets.nix:
{ config, pkgs, ... }:
{
users.users.mike.openssh.authorizedKeys.keys = [
"ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3..."
];
}
Update configuration.nix to include it:
imports =
[ # Include the results of the hardware scan.
./hardware-configuration.nix
./secrets.nix # <--- The external file
];
Update .gitignore immediately:
echo "remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix" >> ~/repos/pipulate/.gitignore
4. The “God Mode” Deploy Script
Now, the piece de resistance. A script on your Z640 that pushes this logic to the satellite. No more ssh -> vim.
Create: ~/repos/pipulate/deploy_honeybot.sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Deploy "Brain" to Honeybot
TARGET="mike@192.168.10.100"
echo "🚀 Syncing Hooks..."
# We use rsync to push the hook to the bare repo
scp remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive $TARGET:~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive
ssh $TARGET "chmod +x ~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive"
echo "🚀 Syncing NixOS Config..."
# We push the config to a temp folder, then sudo move it (requires interactive password or NOPASSWD sudo)
# For now, let's just push it to the home dir for review
rsync -av remotes/honeybot/nixos/ $TARGET:~/nixos-config-staged/
echo "✅ Sync Complete."
echo " To apply NixOS config: ssh $TARGET 'sudo cp ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'"
Why this is the “Right Way”:
- AI Visibility: You can now run
prompt_foo.pyand includeremotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive. I can finally see the code I am debugging. - Debuggability: The
|| sleeptrick in the hook means your “fishtank” won’t vanish when the fish die. - Safety: Your keys are isolated in a file that Git ignores but your deploy script handles.
Resolving the “Empty Stage” and “Interactive Ghost” Dilemmas
Shall we initialize this directory structure now?
Me: Okay, deep breath.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ mkdir -p ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks
mkdir -p ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh mike@honeybot "cat /etc/nixos/configuration.nix" > ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
ssh: Could not resolve hostname honeybot: Name or service not known
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh mike@192.168.10.100 "cat /etc/nixos/configuration.nix" > ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
-tree
remotes/
nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ echo "remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix" >> ~/repos/pipulate/.gitignore
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ xv ~/repos/pipulate/deploy_honeybot.sh
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: .gitignore
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
-tree
deploy_honeybot.sh
remotes/
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
Okay, I think most of that went well, but what’s with the -tree? Also, xv
is:
xv = "xclip -selection clipboard -o >";
And now we’re doing our Prompt Fu context packaging with this stuff, right on the immediate prompt turn after Gemini 3 Pro AI cleared the way.
Gemini 3 Pro: Context verified. The manifest matches the codebase, and the remotes/ structure is populated exactly as planned.
You are standing on the bridge of your new “God Mode” console. The ability to edit configuration.nix locally and push it to a remote appliance is the essence of Infrastructure as Code.
Here is the sitrep and the launch sequence.
1. The Mystery of -tree
The file named -tree is a digital artifact—likely a typo from a previous command where a flag (like eza --tree) was accidentally interpreted as a filename or redirection target.
Action: Delete it. It’s trash.
rm ./-tree
2. The xv Confirmation
Using xv (your xclip alias) to paste the deploy_honeybot.sh script was the right move. I see the file in your git status and in the context. It looks correct.
3. The Pre-Flight Check
I reviewed the files you provided in the context:
configuration.nix: You successfully added./secrets.nixto theimportsblock. This is the critical link that keeps your keys safe while allowing the rest of the config to be versioned.post-receive: The|| sleep 10000safety net is in place.deploy_honeybot.sh: The logic is sound. It pushes the hook to the bare repo and the config to the home directory.
4. The Launch (Execute Deployment)
You are ready to push the “Brain” to the “Body.”
On Z640:
- Make the deploy script executable:
chmod +x deploy_honeybot.sh - Run it:
./deploy_honeybot.sh - Apply the Config (The Soul Transfer):
The script will tell you to run a command on the remote machine to apply the NixOS config. Go ahead and do that:
ssh mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp -r ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
What to watch for:
If nixos-rebuild switch succeeds, you have achieved Remote Sovereignty. You can now edit your server’s DNA from your main workstation, commit it to git, and deploy it with a script.
Fire when ready.
Me: Ready. Firing!
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ rm ./-tree
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ chmod +x deploy_honeybot.sh
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ./deploy_honeybot.sh
🚀 Syncing Hooks...
post-receive 100% 892 181.4KB/s 00:00
🚀 Syncing NixOS Config...
sending incremental file list
created directory /home/mike/nixos-config-staged
./
configuration.nix
secrets.nix
sent 6,388 bytes received 110 bytes 12,996.00 bytes/sec
total size is 6,180 speedup is 0.95
✅ Sync Complete.
To apply NixOS config: ssh mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp -r ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
sudo: a terminal is required to read the password; either use ssh's -t option or configure an askpass helper
sudo: a password is required
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
Gemini 3 Pro: This is the “Interactive Gatekeeper.”
You hit the classic SSH/sudo friction point. Your script successfully synced the files (the “Brain” is on the server), but when you tried to apply them, sudo on the remote machine paused to ask for a password, and because SSH wasn’t in interactive mode (-t), it had no way to show you the prompt.
The Fix: Force the TTY
You need to tell SSH: “Allocate a terminal because I might need to type a password.”
Run this command (adding -t):
ssh -t mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp -r ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
What to expect
- It will ask for your remote user’s password (for
sudo). - You will see the NixOS build output scroll by.
- If it ends with a clean exit, your Remote Sovereignty loop is closed.
Overcoming Activation Hurdles: From Firewall to Flake Gatekeeper
Fire the corrected command.
Me:
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh -t mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp -r ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
[sudo] password for mike:
building the system configuration...
evaluation warning: The option `services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.enable' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.desktopManager.gnome.enable'.
evaluation warning: The option `services.logind.lidSwitchExternalPower' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.logind.settings.Login.HandleLidSwitchExternalPower'.
evaluation warning: The option `services.logind.lidSwitch' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.logind.settings.Login.HandleLidSwitch'.
evaluation warning: The option `services.xserver.displayManager.gdm.enable' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.displayManager.gdm.enable'.
these 3 derivations will be built:
/nix/store/8v4lkrg2bp77lljlcc579r7js7x7ls9x-mike-authorized_keys.drv
/nix/store/pwkv3wis2ly88lj1hvqjilq9h02xrsr3-etc.drv
/nix/store/k83xdb419si18ifp02c93al4p95mz72r-nixos-system-honeybot-26.05pre913595.c6245e83d836.drv
building '/nix/store/8v4lkrg2bp77lljlcc579r7js7x7ls9x-mike-authorized_keys.drv'...
building '/nix/store/pwkv3wis2ly88lj1hvqjilq9h02xrsr3-etc.drv'...
building '/nix/store/k83xdb419si18ifp02c93al4p95mz72r-nixos-system-honeybot-26.05pre913595.c6245e83d836.drv'...
activating the configuration...
setting up /etc...
reloading user units for mike...
restarting sysinit-reactivation.target
the following new units were started: NetworkManager-dispatcher.service
Done. The new configuration is /nix/store/26hdnzwlw8imqh2037mf8vh27imwm22d-nixos-system-honeybot-26.05pre913595.c6245e83d836
Connection to 192.168.10.100 closed.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
Okay, done! http://192.168.10.100:4004/ still not reachable from Z640 nor
honeybot. But we’re making progress. Things can be debugged locally with better
AI assistance in a more declarative and repeatable fashion allowing more rapid
iteration and ultimately a better… better what? This is an interesting model.
A centralized declarative system reaching out and pushing declarative systems
into satellite servers. Certainly something along the line of devops deployment
like Ansible, but with more interesting characteristics for the do-it-all
webmaster, I think.
Gemini 3 Pro: This is “Fractal Sovereignty.”
You asked what this “better” model is. It isn’t just DevOps or Ansible. Ansible is a tool for a sysadmin to visit many machines and configure them. What you are building is biological. You are the DNA source (Z640). You replicate a strand of that DNA (the Git Repo + Nix Config) into a cell (Honeybot), and that cell becomes the thing you defined. It is Infrastructure as Telepathy. You think the change locally, push the thought, and the remote body manifests it.
The 4004 Mystery: The missing Spark
The reason http://192.168.10.100:4004 is dead is simple physics: The Engine is Off.
- The Firewall: You unlocked the door (
allowedTCPPorts = [ 22 4004 ]). (Done) - The Engine: You haven’t turned the key yet.
The nixos-rebuild switch updated the potential for the server to work (the OS layer), but it didn’t start the jes-prod process (the User layer). That process lives inside a tmux session that only starts when the “Actuator” (the post-receive hook) is triggered by a Git Push.
Since you haven’t pushed since the firewall fix, the server is silent.
The Fix: Kick the Tires
You have two ways to light the fire.
Option A: The “Proper” Way (Trigger the Hook) Make an empty commit on your local machine and push. This tests the entire Rube Goldberg machine.
# On Z640
git commit --allow-empty -m "Triggering deployment after firewall fix"
git push home main
Option B: The “Mechanic’s” Way (Manual Start) SSH in and turn the key yourself to see if it catches.
# On Z640
ssh -t mike@192.168.10.100 'cd ~/www/mikelev.in && tmux new-session -d -s website "nix run .#jes-prod || (echo CRASHED; sleep 10000)"'
The “Listen” Trap (One Check)
While you are doing this, double-check your nginx.conf (which is now local on Z640!).
Look at the listen directive:
listen 4004;-> Defaults to0.0.0.0(Good. Listens on all interfaces).listen 127.0.0.1:4004;-> Bad. Listens only on localhost. The DMZ won’t work.
Since your previous cat command just said listen 4004;, you should be golden once you kick the starter.
Give it a push.
Me:
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ # On Z640
git commit --allow-empty -m "Triggering deployment after firewall fix"
git push home main
[main 5ab8d8e4] Triggering deployment after firewall fix
Enumerating objects: 1, done.
Counting objects: 100% (1/1), done.
Writing objects: 100% (1/1), 208 bytes | 208.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 1 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: 🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to /home/mike/www/mikelev.in...
remote: Already on 'main'
remote: 🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'...
remote: ✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered.
remote: 👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
4c114804..5ab8d8e4 main -> main
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
Ah, a clue! So I go over to the terminal where I’m still logged in with SSH and:
[mike@honeybot:/etc/nixos]$ tmux ls
website: 1 windows (created Mon Dec 22 09:47:32 2025)
[mike@honeybot:/etc/nixos]$
And so we keep tightening in our circles around inevitable success.
Gemini 3 Pro: The circle has tightened to a single point: The Tmux Session.
That website: 1 windows entry in tmux ls is the heartbeat. It means the process didn’t instantly segfault or exit. It is alive. Now we need to see what it is dreaming.
Step 1: Eyes on Glass (Attach)
You are already logged into honeybot. Run this command to jump inside the “website” session:
tmux attach -t website
Scenario A: The Black River You see Nginx logs or a cursor waiting at the bottom of a log output.
- Verdict: The server is up. The problem is network/reachability.
Scenario B: The Crash Report
You see an error message (like nix: command not found or experimental features not enabled) followed by CRASHED (because of our safety trap).
- Verdict: The server failed to launch.
Scenario C: The Build Loop You see Nix trying to fetch dependencies or build the environment.
- Verdict: It’s just slow/working.
Step 2: The Local Pulse Check (If Scenario A)
If you are inside tmux and it looks like Nginx is running, hit Ctrl+B then d to detach (leave it running).
Then, verify the server is listening locally on honeybot itself:
curl -v http://localhost:4004
- If this works: The server is perfect. The blockage is the firewall (pfSense or NixOS).
- If this fails: Nginx isn’t binding correctly (check
ss -tlnpto see if anyone is on 4004).
What do you see inside the tmux session?
Me: In the terminal that’s ssh connected:
tmux attach -t website
And I see:
error: experimental Nix feature 'nix-command' is disabled; add '--extra-experimental-features nix-command' to enable it
CRASHED
Gemini 3 Pro: This is the “Flake Gatekeeper.”
NixOS is conservative. It protects you from “experimental” features by default, and nix run (which relies on Flakes and the new CLI) is technically still considered experimental. honeybot blocked the command because it hasn’t been told to allow modern Nix features.
Because we built the “God Mode” Centralized Workflow, you don’t need to hack this on the server. You fix it in the “Brain” (Z640) and push it to the “Body.”
The Fix: Enable Flakes
1. On Z640 (Local): Edit your centralized config:
vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
Add this block (anywhere inside the { ... } block, maybe near nixpkgs.config.allowUnfree):
# Enable Flakes and the new Nix Command Line Tool
nix.settings.experimental-features = [ "nix-command" "flakes" ];
2. Deploy the Brain: Run your deploy script:
./deploy_honeybot.sh
3. Apply the Soul (On Honeybot):
Note: If you are stuck inside the tmux session on the other terminal, hit Ctrl+B then d to detach and get your prompt back.
Run the rebuild command (it will now include the new permissions):
ssh -t mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp -r ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
The Verification
Once the rebuild finishes, you need to turn the key again.
On Z640:
git commit --allow-empty -m "Retry deployment with flakes enabled"
git push home main
Then: Check the HUD again:
ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
You should see the “Black River” flowing instead of CRASHED.
Me: Okay, let’s go!
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ./deploy_honeybot.sh
🚀 Syncing Hooks...
post-receive 100% 892 186.4KB/s 00:00
🚀 Syncing NixOS Config...
sending incremental file list
./
configuration.nix
sent 1,011 bytes received 86 bytes 2,194.00 bytes/sec
total size is 6,300 speedup is 5.74
✅ Sync Complete.
To apply NixOS config: ssh mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh -t mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp -r ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
[sudo] password for mike:
building the system configuration...
evaluation warning: The option `services.xserver.desktopManager.gnome.enable' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.desktopManager.gnome.enable'.
evaluation warning: The option `services.logind.lidSwitchExternalPower' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.logind.settings.Login.HandleLidSwitchExternalPower'.
evaluation warning: The option `services.logind.lidSwitch' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.logind.settings.Login.HandleLidSwitch'.
evaluation warning: The option `services.xserver.displayManager.gdm.enable' defined in `/etc/nixos/configuration.nix' has been renamed to `services.displayManager.gdm.enable'.
these 6 derivations will be built:
/nix/store/xmicamc5xx4cl2c5hk8fqrwcl001xd0y-nix.conf.drv
/nix/store/8bhsi2cs9vwm08akhyz53msqx34shv6m-X-Restart-Triggers-nix-daemon.drv
/nix/store/v8p318an0p2h399v9fivkxpj8fs24im7-unit-nix-daemon.service.drv
/nix/store/c7r781v09qqphpnjkl622dqg9c99m201-system-units.drv
/nix/store/0rcfwzild9nmg9pm7x1vdfyqx57v4j3l-etc.drv
/nix/store/hzdcsm5wah5v6438s8260pis793fl6kh-nixos-system-honeybot-26.05pre913595.c6245e83d836.drv
building '/nix/store/xmicamc5xx4cl2c5hk8fqrwcl001xd0y-nix.conf.drv'...
Validating generated nix.conf
building '/nix/store/8bhsi2cs9vwm08akhyz53msqx34shv6m-X-Restart-Triggers-nix-daemon.drv'...
building '/nix/store/v8p318an0p2h399v9fivkxpj8fs24im7-unit-nix-daemon.service.drv'...
building '/nix/store/c7r781v09qqphpnjkl622dqg9c99m201-system-units.drv'...
building '/nix/store/0rcfwzild9nmg9pm7x1vdfyqx57v4j3l-etc.drv'...
building '/nix/store/hzdcsm5wah5v6438s8260pis793fl6kh-nixos-system-honeybot-26.05pre913595.c6245e83d836.drv'...
activating the configuration...
setting up /etc...
reloading user units for mike...
restarting sysinit-reactivation.target
the following new units were started: NetworkManager-dispatcher.service
Done. The new configuration is /nix/store/26x8rap9pa04sni0k4i5y99lm9p77xzi-nixos-system-honeybot-26.05pre913595.c6245e83d836
Connection to 192.168.10.100 closed.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git commit --allow-empty -m "Retry deployment with flakes enabled"
git push home main
[main 1939b974] Retry deployment with flakes enabled
Enumerating objects: 1, done.
Counting objects: 100% (1/1), done.
Writing objects: 100% (1/1), 207 bytes | 207.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 1 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: 🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to /home/mike/www/mikelev.in...
remote: Already on 'main'
remote: 🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session...
remote: 🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'...
remote: ✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered.
remote: 👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
5ab8d8e4..1939b974 main -> main
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
ssh: Could not resolve hostname honeybot: Name or service not known
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ssh mike@192.168.10.100 -t 'tmux attach -t website'
[detached (from session website)]
Connection to 192.168.10.100 closed.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
And in the tmux terminal before Ctrl+b, ding:
warning: creating lock file "/home/mike/www/mikelev.in/flake.lock":
• Added input 'flake-utils':
'github:numtide/flake-utils/11707dc2f618dd54ca8739b309ec4fc024de578b?narHash=sha256-l0KFg5HjrsfsO/JpG%2Br7fRrqm12kzFHyUHqHCVpMMbI%3D' (2024-11-13)
• Added input 'flake-utils/systems':
'github:nix-systems/default/da67096a3b9bf56a91d16901293e51ba5b49a27e?narHash=sha256-Vy1rq5AaRuLzOxct8nz4T6wlgyUR7zLU309k9mBC768%3D' (2023-04-09)
• Added input 'nixpkgs':
'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a6531044f6d0bef691ea18d4d4ce44d0daa6e816?narHash=sha256-3xY8CZ4rSnQ0NqGhMKAy5vgC%2B2IVK0NoVEzDoOh4DA4%3D' (2025-12-21)
error: flake 'path:/home/mike/www/mikelev.in' does not provide attribute 'apps.x86_64-linux.jes-prod', 'packages.x86_64-linux.jes-prod', 'legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.jes-prod' or 'jes-prod'
CRASHED
So again, closer I suppose.
Oh no! Secrets got into the git repo! Help me purge that out first.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 02265a9e..7d56076f 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -94,3 +94,4 @@ browser_cache/test_rotation_data/
# Voice synthesis models - auto-downloaded as needed
piper_models/
+remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
diff --git a/foo_files.py b/foo_files.py
index 9203a76b..11999091 100644
--- a/foo_files.py
+++ b/foo_files.py
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
AI_PHOOEY_CHOP = """\
-prompt_foo.py
+/home/mike/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
+/home/mike/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
+/home/mike/repos/pipulate/deploy_honeybot.sh
"""
## > We've got content, it's groovy context
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
Gemini 3 Pro: This is a Red Alert moment, but don’t panic. If you haven’t pushed the secrets to GitHub yet (and it looks like you haven’t, you just added them locally), we can scrub this clean easily.
Phase 1: The Hazmat Cleanup (Git)
Based on your git status output, the remotes/ directory is “Untracked” or “Staged”. The danger is if you accidentally git add . and commit it.
1. Check what is actually being tracked: Run this to see if the secret file is currently staged for commit:
git ls-files --stage remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
- If it returns nothing: You are safe. The file is just sitting on your disk.
- If it returns a line: It is staged.
2. The Scrub Command: Run this command to forcibly tell Git: “Forget I ever saw this file, but keep it on my disk.”
git rm --cached remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix 2>/dev/null || true
3. Verify the Ignore: Now, check if Git is properly ignoring it:
git check-ignore -v remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
It should reply with the line from your .gitignore.
4. The Safety Commit: Now, commit only the ignore file to lock in the protection.
git add .gitignore
git commit -m "Security: Explicitly ignore secrets.nix"
Phase 2: The Flake Fix (The Missing Attribute)
Now, to the crash.
The error error: flake ... does not provide attribute 'jes-prod' happened because jes-prod is currently just a bash function hidden inside a shellHook. It exists only when you are interactively inside the shell.
nix run looks for a formal App or Package exposed by the flake. It can’t see your shell functions.
We need to promote jes-prod from a “Function” to a “First-Class Citizen” (a Binary).
1. Edit trimnoir/flake.nix (Locally on Z640):
We will use pkgs.writeShellScriptBin to create a real executable script, just like you did for run-script in Pipulate.
Find this section:
let
pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; };
# ... pythonEnv ...
Add this right after pythonEnv definition:
# Define the production server script as a first-class package
jesProdScript = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "jes-prod" ''
echo "🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004..."
# Ensure _site exists
if [ ! -d "_site" ]; then
echo "Building site first..."
bundle exec jekyll build
fi
# Kill old nginx if running (cleanup)
pkill -f "nginx -p $PWD" || true
# Start Nginx
echo "Starting Nginx..."
# We use exec to replace the shell process, ensuring signals pass through
# We assume nginx.conf is in the current directory
${pkgs.nginx}/bin/nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx.conf -e /dev/stderr &
NGINX_PID=$!
echo "✅ Server running (PID $NGINX_PID). Tailing access.log..."
tail -f access.log
'';
Then, add it to buildInputs:
buildInputs = [
pkgs.ruby
# ... other packages ...
jesProdScript # <--- ADD THIS
];
Finally, remove the old jes-prod() { ... } function from your commonHook to avoid confusion.
Phase 3: The Hook Update (The Actuator)
Now that jes-prod is a real binary in the path, we change how we call it. We don’t use nix run (which expects an App output). We use nix develop to enter the environment and then run the command.
Edit your local hook: ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
Change Line 24:
# OLD
# tmux new-session -d -s website "nix run .#jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
# NEW
# We use 'nix develop' with the '-c' (command) flag to run our new binary
tmux new-session -d -s website "nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
Phase 4: Deploy (The Soul Transfer)
- Run the Deploy Script:
./deploy_honeybot.sh
(This pushes the fixed hook to the bare repo).
- Push the Code:
cd ~/repos/trimnoir git add flake.nix git commit -m "Refactor: Promote jes-prod to first-class binary" git push home main
This time:
- The hook fires.
nix developloads the environment (including our newjes-prodbinary).- It executes
jes-prod. - The Black River flows.
Me: Okay so first we do the git cleanup.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ vim .gitignore
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git ls-files --stage remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git rm --cached remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix 2>/dev/null || true
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git check-ignore -v remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
.gitignore:1:secrets.nix remotes/honeybot/nixos/secrets.nix
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git add .gitignore
git commit -m "Security: Explicitly ignore secrets.nix"
[main 8fccb986] Security: Explicitly ignore secrets.nix
1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
Looks good. I didn’t push it yet so there’s no retconning.
First I do the flake work in trimnoir:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'local_origin/main'.
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: index.md
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit -am "About to adjust for remote control"
[main 559e864] About to adjust for remote control
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push
Enumerating objects: 5, done.
Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 347 bytes | 347.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
To /home/mike/git-repos/trimnoir.git
d71663a..559e864 main -> main
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim flake.nix
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 844ee41..e95826c 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -100,6 +100,30 @@
# Add other Python packages needed for your project here
]);
+ # Define the production server script as a first-class package
+ jesProdScript = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "jes-prod" ''
+ echo "🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004..."
+
+ # Ensure _site exists
+ if [ ! -d "_site" ]; then
+ echo "Building site first..."
+ bundle exec jekyll build
+ fi
+
+ # Kill old nginx if running (cleanup)
+ pkill -f "nginx -p $PWD" || true
+
+ # Start Nginx
+ echo "Starting Nginx..."
+ # We use exec to replace the shell process, ensuring signals pass through
+ # We assume nginx.conf is in the current directory
+ ${pkgs.nginx}/bin/nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx.conf -e /dev/stderr &
+ NGINX_PID=$!
+
+ echo "✅ Server running (PID $NGINX_PID). Tailing access.log..."
+ tail -f access.log
+ '';
+
# Common hook for setting up the environment, variables, and functions.
# This is used by both the 'default' and 'quiet' shells.
commonHook = ''
@@ -398,28 +422,6 @@
cd "$current_dir"
}
- # NEW: Production Simulation (The Black River)
- jes-prod() {
- echo "🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004..."
- # Ensure _site exists
- if [ ! -d "_site" ]; then
- echo "Building site first..."
- bundle exec jekyll build
- fi
-
- # Run Nginx with local config, tailing logs to screen
- # We use & to background nginx, then tail the log
- echo "Starting Nginx..."
- nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx.conf -e /dev/stderr &
- NGINX_PID=$!
-
- echo "✅ Server running. Tailing access.log (Ctrl+C to stop)..."
- tail -f access.log
-
- # Cleanup when Ctrl+C is hit
- kill $NGINX_PID 2>/dev/null
- }
-
# Function to clean and rebuild native extensions
rebuild-gems() {
echo "Rebuilding native gem extensions..."
@@ -536,6 +538,7 @@
pkgs.libffi # Add libffi for ffi gem
pkgs.libxml2 # Add libxml2 for nokogiri
pkgs.libxslt # Add libxslt for nokogiri
+ jesProdScript
];
in
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
And now I do the change to
~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive and realize it’s not in
the git repo, so I add it. It wasn’t showing in untracked files because of being
buried in a folder. I also add the other files I missed. All the new stuff minus
the secrets file is now in the git repo, staged but not pushed.
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git status
On branch main
Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 3 commits.
(use "git push" to publish your local commits)
Changes to be committed:
(use "git restore --staged <file>..." to unstage)
new file: deploy_honeybot.sh
new file: remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
new file: remotes/honeybot/nixos/configuration.nix
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: foo_files.py
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
I’d show the diffs but when you just add them to the git repo, the diffs are the whole files. So I just go ahead and deploy:
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ./deploy_honeybot.sh
🚀 Syncing Hooks...
post-receive 100% 972 199.9KB/s 00:00
🚀 Syncing NixOS Config...
sending incremental file list
sent 113 bytes received 12 bytes 250.00 bytes/sec
total size is 6,300 speedup is 50.40
✅ Sync Complete.
To apply NixOS config: ssh mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
…but I re-attach to the tmux terminal and it’s just how I left it:
warning: creating lock file "/home/mike/www/mikelev.in/flake.lock":
• Added input 'flake-utils':
'github:numtide/flake-utils/11707dc2f618dd54ca8739b309ec4fc024de578b?narHash=sha256-l0KFg5HjrsfsO/JpG%2Br7fRrqm12kzFHyUHqHCVpMMbI%3D' (2024-11-13)
• Added input 'flake-utils/systems':
'github:nix-systems/default/da67096a3b9bf56a91d16901293e51ba5b49a27e?narHash=sha256-Vy1rq5AaRuLzOxct8nz4T6wlgyUR7zLU309k9mBC768%3D' (2023-04-09)
• Added input 'nixpkgs':
'github:NixOS/nixpkgs/a6531044f6d0bef691ea18d4d4ce44d0daa6e816?narHash=sha256-3xY8CZ4rSnQ0NqGhMKAy5vgC%2B2IVK0NoVEzDoOh4DA4%3D' (2025-12-21)
error: flake 'path:/home/mike/www/mikelev.in' does not provide attribute 'apps.x86_64-linux.jes-prod', 'packages.x86_64-linux.jes-prod', 'legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.jes-prod' or 'jes-prod'
CRASHED
I don’t show it but literally the control codes that I left with my fumbling
with Ctrl+b, d to detach were still actually there, so it’s the same exact
tmux terminal, which I don’t think is right. For this to work there’s likely got
to be some sort of stop and starting.
Gemini: This is the “Latent Kinetic Energy” problem.
You loaded the gun (updated the hook on the server via deploy_honeybot.sh) and you manufactured the bullet (updated flake.nix locally in trimnoir), but you haven’t pulled the trigger.
The Diagnosis
- The Hook: You synced the new
post-receivescript tohoneybot. It is sitting there, waiting. - The Flake: You updated
flake.nixin your localtrimnoirrepo to include thejes-prodbinary, and you pushed it toorigin(your local git server), **but you have not pushed it tohoneybot**. - The Server State:
honeybotstill has the old flake code (withoutjes-prod) checked out in~/www/mikelev.in. - The Tmux Session: It is crashed because the last time it tried to run, it couldn’t find
jes-prod. It won’t restart until the hook fires.
The Fix: Push the Code
You need to push your trimnoir changes to the home remote. This will transfer the new flake.nix and trigger the hook to restart the server.
On Z640 (inside ~/repos/trimnoir):
git push home main
What will happen:
- Git sends the new
flake.nixtohoneybot. - The
post-receivehook fires. echo "🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session..."-> It kills that crashed tmux session.- It checks out the new
flake.nix. echo "🚀 [Hook] Launching..."-> It starts a fresh tmux session.nix develop -c jes-prodruns. Sincejes-prodis now a valid binary in the flake, Nginx starts.
Fire the push.
Me: Okay, I did that:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index 844ee41..e95826c 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -100,6 +100,30 @@
# Add other Python packages needed for your project here
]);
+ # Define the production server script as a first-class package
+ jesProdScript = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "jes-prod" ''
+ echo "🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004..."
+
+ # Ensure _site exists
+ if [ ! -d "_site" ]; then
+ echo "Building site first..."
+ bundle exec jekyll build
+ fi
+
+ # Kill old nginx if running (cleanup)
+ pkill -f "nginx -p $PWD" || true
+
+ # Start Nginx
+ echo "Starting Nginx..."
+ # We use exec to replace the shell process, ensuring signals pass through
+ # We assume nginx.conf is in the current directory
+ ${pkgs.nginx}/bin/nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx.conf -e /dev/stderr &
+ NGINX_PID=$!
+
+ echo "✅ Server running (PID $NGINX_PID). Tailing access.log..."
+ tail -f access.log
+ '';
+
# Common hook for setting up the environment, variables, and functions.
# This is used by both the 'default' and 'quiet' shells.
commonHook = ''
@@ -398,28 +422,6 @@
cd "$current_dir"
}
- # NEW: Production Simulation (The Black River)
- jes-prod() {
- echo "🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004..."
- # Ensure _site exists
- if [ ! -d "_site" ]; then
- echo "Building site first..."
- bundle exec jekyll build
- fi
-
- # Run Nginx with local config, tailing logs to screen
- # We use & to background nginx, then tail the log
- echo "Starting Nginx..."
- nginx -p "$PWD" -c nginx.conf -e /dev/stderr &
- NGINX_PID=$!
-
- echo "✅ Server running. Tailing access.log (Ctrl+C to stop)..."
- tail -f access.log
-
- # Cleanup when Ctrl+C is hit
- kill $NGINX_PID 2>/dev/null
- }
-
# Function to clean and rebuild native extensions
rebuild-gems() {
echo "Rebuilding native gem extensions..."
@@ -536,6 +538,7 @@
pkgs.libffi # Add libffi for ffi gem
pkgs.libxml2 # Add libxml2 for nokogiri
pkgs.libxslt # Add libxslt for nokogiri
+ jesProdScript
];
in
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push home main
fatal: 'home' does not appear to be a git repository
fatal: Could not read from remote repository.
Please make sure you have the correct access rights
and the repository exists.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push
Everything up-to-date
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit -am "New way of launching nginx under tmux"
[main 409e8bd] New way of launching nginx under tmux
1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 22 deletions(-)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push
Enumerating objects: 5, done.
Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 712 bytes | 712.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
To /home/mike/git-repos/trimnoir.git
559e864..409e8bd main -> main
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
And after that I even deployed again:
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ./deploy_honeybot.sh
🚀 Syncing Hooks...
post-receive 100% 972 201.5KB/s 00:00
🚀 Syncing NixOS Config...
sending incremental file list
sent 113 bytes received 12 bytes 250.00 bytes/sec
total size is 6,300 speedup is 50.40
✅ Sync Complete.
To apply NixOS config: ssh mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
But the (still logged-into) tmux terminal outut didn’t budge. It’s still exactly what it was.
Gemini 3 Pro: The server is deaf because you are shouting into the void.
You successfully updated flake.nix in your trimnoir repo, but when you tried to push it to honeybot (git push home main), Git told you:
fatal: 'home' does not appear to be a git repository
This means you never added the home remote to your local trimnoir repository on Z640. You probably added it to pipulate or mikelev.in earlier, but trimnoir is a separate repo.
The Fix: Aim the Cannon
1. Add the Remote (Inside trimnoir):
# Inside ~/repos/trimnoir
git remote add home mike@192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
2. Fire:
git push home main
3. Watch the HUD: Switch to your SSH terminal. You should see the tmux session die and respawn with the new binary.
Go.
Me:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ # Inside ~/repos/trimnoir
git remote add home mike@192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push home main
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
! [rejected] main -> main (fetch first)
error: failed to push some refs to '192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git'
hint: Updates were rejected because the remote contains work that you do not
hint: have locally. This is usually caused by another repository pushing to
hint: the same ref. If you want to integrate the remote changes, use
hint: 'git pull' before pushing again.
hint: See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push --force
Everything up-to-date
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
Still, no. Same output in the tmux terminal. You can see I had to push the most recent changes. But you can see the complete file that got pushed in the context here.
Gemini 3 Pro: Context verified.
The error message ! [rejected] main -> main (fetch first) is the key. It means honeybot has commits that your local trimnoir repo does not. This is likely because your initial git push home main from the other repo (the empty commit you made in pipulate or similar) contaminated the timeline on the bare repo.
Then you ran git push --force. But wait… the output says Everything up-to-date.
Why? Because git push --force by default pushes to origin if no remote is specified. You previously ran git push (to origin) successfully.
To force your will upon honeybot, you must be explicit:
git push --force home main
Why this will work:
- It overrides whatever “timeline contamination” happened on the server.
- It sends the correct
flake.nix(withjes-prod). - It triggers the hook.
Do it.
Me:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push --force home main
Enumerating objects: 52, done.
Counting objects: 100% (52/52), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (49/49), done.
Writing objects: 100% (52/52), 15.08 KiB | 3.02 MiB/s, done.
Total 52 (delta 16), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: 🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to /home/mike/www/mikelev.in...
remote: Already on 'main'
remote: 🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session...
remote: 🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'...
remote: ✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered.
remote: 👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
+ 1939b97...409e8bd main -> main (forced update)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
Alright, I can see we were logged out of our tmux session. Good news. I re-attach to it (the new one with the same session name) and because I don’t know how to scroll-back I show you as much of it as I can:
Primary commands:
bundle install [OPTIONS] # Install the current environment to the system
bundle update [OPTIONS] # Update the current environment
bundle cache [OPTIONS] # Locks and then caches all of the gems into ...
bundle exec [OPTIONS] # Run the command in context of the bundle
bundle config NAME [VALUE] # Retrieve or set a configuration value
bundle help [COMMAND] # Describe available commands or one specific...
Utilities:
bundle add GEM VERSION # Add gem to Gemfile and run bundle install
bundle binstubs GEM [OPTIONS] # Install the binstubs of the listed gem
bundle check [OPTIONS] # Checks if the dependencies listed in Gem...
bundle clean [OPTIONS] # Cleans up unused gems in your bundler directory
bundle console [GROUP] # Opens an IRB session with the bundle pre-loaded
bundle doctor [OPTIONS] # Checks the bundle for common problems
bundle env # Print information about the environment ...
bundle fund [OPTIONS] # Lists information about gems seeking fun...
bundle gem NAME [OPTIONS] # Creates a skeleton for creating a rubygem
bundle info GEM [OPTIONS] # Show information for the given gem
bundle init [OPTIONS] # Generates a Gemfile into the current wor...
bundle issue # Learn how to report an issue in Bundler
bundle licenses # Prints the license of all gems in the bundle
bundle list # List all gems in the bundle
bundle lock # Creates a lockfile without installing
bundle open GEM # Opens the source directory of the given ...
bundle outdated GEM [OPTIONS] # List installed gems with newer versions ...
bundle platform [OPTIONS] # Displays platform compatibility information
bundle plugin # Manage the bundler plugins
bundle pristine [GEMS...] # Restores installed gems to pristine condition
bundle remove [GEM [GEM ...]] # Removes gems from the Gemfile
bundle show GEM [OPTIONS] # Shows all gems that are part of the bund...
bundle version # Prints Bundler version information
Options:
[--no-color] # Disable colorization in output
-r, [--retry=NUM] # Specify the number of times you wish to attempt network commands
-V, [--verbose], [--no-verbose], [--skip-verbose] # Enable verbose output mode
Could not locate Gemfile
Ruby environment has been reset and rebuilt.
You can now try running 'jes' again.
🚀 Starting Jekyll server automatically...
Press Ctrl+C to stop the server and exit the environment.
Jekyll Environment Script v1.0.6
Error: Could not find Gemfile. Are you in a Jekyll site directory?
🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004...
Building site first...
Could not locate Gemfile
Starting Nginx...
✅ Server running (PID 19071). Tailing access.log...
tail: cannot open 'access.log' for reading: No such file or directory
tail: no files remaining
CRASHED
Which again is a huge step forward.
Gemini 3 Pro: This is a Fascinating Crash.
You have successfully passed the “Flake Gatekeeper” (Nix is running) and the “Binary Gatekeeper” (jes-prod is executing). Now you are hitting the “Empty Stage” problem.
The Scene of the Crime
Look at the logs:
Ruby environment has been reset and rebuilt.-> The shell hook fired.Could not locate Gemfile-> This is the smoking gun.Error: Could not find Gemfile. Are you in a Jekyll site directory?-> Thejesinteractive function fired and failed.🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004...-> This isjes-prodrunning!Could not locate Gemfile->bundle exec jekyll buildfailed.tail: cannot open 'access.log' for reading: No such file or directory-> Nginx started but didn’t write a log because it likely failed to find the_sitedirectory (since the build failed).
The Root Cause: The “Interactive Contamination”
The issue is that your flake.nix has logic in shellHook that runs every time nix develop starts.
- Problem A: The
shellHooktries to runjesautomatically (interactiveHook). - Problem B:
nix develop -c jes-prodruns theshellHookfirst, then runs your command. - Problem C: The
Gemfileis missing from the checkout? Or the path is wrong?
Wait, why Could not locate Gemfile? You pushed the repo. The Gemfile should be there.
Hypothesis: The post-receive hook checks out the code to ~/www/mikelev.in. But maybe nix develop isn’t preserving the current working directory, or the shellHook is changing directories.
Actually, look at this log line:
Ruby environment has been reset and rebuilt.
This comes from reset-ruby-env. Why is that running?
Because interactiveHook checks: if [ ! -d .gem ].
On a fresh checkout, .gem doesn’t exist. So it tries to reset/rebuild.
The Fix: Silence the Interactive Hook
We need jes-prod to run in a Clean Room, not an interactive shell.
We have two options:
- Refine the Flake: Make the
shellHooksmarter (don’t run if a command is passed). - Bypass the Hook: Use
nix runproperly (which skipsshellHook), but we need to expose the app correctly for that.
Since we already went down the nix develop -c path, let’s fix the flake to be “Production Aware.”
Edit flake.nix in trimnoir (Locally on Z640):
We need to wrap the interactiveHook so it only runs if we are in an interactive session (not when running a command).
Change the shellHook section:
# The default shell with interactive startup
default = pkgs.mkShell {
inherit buildInputs;
shellHook = ''
${commonHook}
# ONLY run interactive setup if we are in a terminal and NOT running a command
if [ -t 1 ] && [ -z "$1" ]; then
${interactiveHook}
fi
'';
};
Wait, nix develop arguments aren’t passed to shellHook easily.
Better Plan: Use a specific “Production Shell” or just make interactiveHook check for an environment variable.
Let’s use an Environment Variable override.
1. Edit flake.nix:
Find where interactiveHook is called in default shell:
shellHook = ''
${commonHook}
# Skip interactive setup if PIPULATE_PROD is set
if [ -z "$PIPULATE_PROD" ]; then
${interactiveHook}
fi
'';
2. Edit your post-receive hook (on Z640):
Update the launch command to set this variable:
# OLD
# tmux new-session -d -s website "nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
# NEW
tmux new-session -d -s website "PIPULATE_PROD=1 nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
AND… The Missing Gemfile?
If bundle exec jekyll build failed with Could not locate Gemfile, verify your trimnoir repo actually has a Gemfile at the root.
Check locally:
ls ~/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
If it’s missing, that’s the real problem. If it’s there, then jes-prod is running in the wrong directory.
In jes-prod script:
echo "Current Directory: $PWD"
ls -la
Adding this debug to jesProdScript in flake.nix will reveal the truth.
Recommended Action Plan
- **Modify
flake.nix**to add thePIPULATE_PRODguard toshellHook. - **Modify
jesProdScript**inflake.nixto printpwdandlsat the top for debug. - Modify
post-receivehook locally to passPIPULATE_PROD=1. - Deploy & Push.
Shall we apply these 3 fixes?
Me: Fix 1:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim flake.nix
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index e95826c..f5de0d3 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -550,7 +550,9 @@
inherit buildInputs;
shellHook = ''
${commonHook}
- ${interactiveHook}
+ if [ -z "$PIPULATE_PROD" ]; then
+ ${interactiveHook}
+ fi
'';
};
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
Fix 2:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks]$ git --no-pager diff -- post-receive
diff --git a/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive b/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
index 3c7ac40a..2033e8ca 100644
--- a/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
+++ b/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ fi
# We add '|| sleep 10000' so the window stays open if the server crashes.
echo "🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'..."
-# We use 'nix develop' with the '-c' (command) flag to run our new binary
-tmux new-session -d -s website "nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
+tmux new-session -d -s website "PIPULATE_PROD=1 nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
echo "✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered."
echo "👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'"
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks]$
And we round back to the Gemfile issue:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ ls ~/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim flake.nix
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/flake.nix b/flake.nix
index e95826c..318f5f3 100644
--- a/flake.nix
+++ b/flake.nix
@@ -103,6 +103,9 @@
# Define the production server script as a first-class package
jesProdScript = pkgs.writeShellScriptBin "jes-prod" ''
echo "🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004..."
+
+ echo "Current Directory: $PWD"
+ ls -la
# Ensure _site exists
if [ ! -d "_site" ]; then
@@ -550,7 +553,9 @@
inherit buildInputs;
shellHook = ''
${commonHook}
- ${interactiveHook}
+ if [ -z "$PIPULATE_PROD" ]; then
+ ${interactiveHook}
+ fi
'';
};
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
And that reminds me. If it’s the first time one of these Jekyll sites are run
under the built-in jekyll serve way then some initializing thing needs to be
done to set up all the Jekyll Ruby gem stuff. I think it’s all in the flake. I
guess that should be getting done automatically and that’s probably why you’re
checking the folder it’s in.
And so we commit and push again:
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit -am "Debugging"
[main 13a3b47] Debugging
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push home main
Enumerating objects: 5, done.
Counting objects: 100% (5/5), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 384 bytes | 384.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: 🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to /home/mike/www/mikelev.in...
remote: Already on 'main'
remote: 🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session...
remote: 🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'...
remote: ✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered.
remote: 👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
409e8bd..13a3b47 main -> main
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
And we attach to our new tmux session:
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.ffi --enable-system-libffi` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.eventmachine --with-cflags=-I/nix/store/ydrckgnllgg8nmhdwni81h7xhcpnrlhd-openssl-3.6.0-dev/include` instead.
Linux detected. Skipping Neovim setup as it's not needed.
Jekyll and Rouge environments are ready.
Instructions:
1. Run: bundle install (if needed)
2. Run: jes (to start Jekyll server)
3. Run: jes-stop (to stop any running Jekyll servers)
4. If you encounter library errors, run: rebuild-gems
5. If you still have issues, run: reset-ruby-env
6. Generate Rouge styles: rougify style monokai.sublime > assets/css/syntax.css
Note: Gems will now install into /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/.gem
🚀 Starting Jekyll server automatically...
Press Ctrl+C to stop the server and exit the environment.
Jekyll Environment Script v1.0.6
Error: Could not find Gemfile. Are you in a Jekyll site directory?
🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004...
Current Directory: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in
total 84
drwxr-xr-x 6 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:52 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 mike users 4096 Dec 22 08:36 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 416 Dec 22 10:37 404.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 539 Dec 22 10:37 about.markdown
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 0 Dec 22 10:38 access.log
drwxr-xr-x 2 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:38 .bundle
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 2079 Dec 22 10:37 _config.yml
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 1497 Dec 22 10:00 flake.lock
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 23146 Dec 22 10:52 flake.nix
drwxr-xr-x 10 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:38 .gem
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 143 Dec 22 10:37 .gitignore
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 849 Dec 22 10:37 index.md
drwxr-xr-x 2 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:37 _layouts
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 1028 Dec 22 10:37 nginx.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 6 Dec 22 10:38 nginx.pid
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 5 Dec 22 10:37 .port
drwxr-xr-x 2 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:37 _posts
Building site first...
Could not locate Gemfile
Starting Nginx...
✅ Server running (PID 19404). Tailing access.log...
2025/12/22 10:52:08 [emerg] 19404#19404: bind() to 0.0.0.0:4004 failed (98: Address already in use)
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:4004 failed (98: Address already in use)
Whoa we’re really close!
Gemini 3 Pro: This is the “Zombie Apocalypse” mixed with the “Interactive Ghost.”
The logs reveal two critical things:
1. The Interactive Ghost
Jekyll Environment Script v1.0.6... Error: Could not find Gemfile appears at the top of the log. This confirms that interactiveHook is STILL running even though we added the if [ -z "$PIPULATE_PROD" ]; check.
Why?
Because nix develop (used in your post-receive hook) doesn’t respect your PIPULATE_PROD=1 variable when sourcing the environment.
Wait, look closer.
You see: [DEPRECATED] Using the config command...
These lines come from your commonHook in flake.nix.
The commonHook runs unconditionally. The interactiveHook runs conditionally.
The error “Could not find Gemfile” likely comes from the logic inside jes() which is defined in commonHook, but who called jes?
Ah, interactiveHook calls jes. So the conditional check if [ -z "$PIPULATE_PROD" ] failed (meaning it thought PROD was empty).
Wait, I see the issue in your diff.
You edited post-receive in ~/repos/pipulate/..., pushed it to honeybot via deploy_honeybot.sh, but did honeybot actually use it?
The hook lives in ~/git/mikelev.in.git/hooks/post-receive.
Your script updates that.
BUT, nix develop spawns a new shell. Does that shell inherit the PIPULATE_PROD variable? Yes, it should.
However, the real showstopper is at the bottom:
nginx: [emerg] bind() to 0.0.0.0:4004 failed (98: Address already in use)
2. The Zombie Apocalypse
The port 4004 is taken.
This means an old Nginx process (likely from a previous failed attempt that didn’t clean up properly, or the “Interactive Ghost” that managed to start jes despite the error) is still hugging the port.
Your script has pkill -f "nginx -p $PWD".
If $PWD inside the script matches the actual running path, it should kill it.
BUT, if the old process was started in a slightly different way, or if pkill can’t find it, it survives.
The Fix Plan
We need to kill the zombies and ensure the environment variable sticks.
Step 1: Nuke the Zombies (On Honeybot) SSH in and manually clear the deck.
ssh honeybot
# Kill everything on port 4004
fuser -k 4004/tcp
# Or just kill all nginx
pkill nginx
Step 2: The Missing Gemfile Mystery
The logs show ls -la output:
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 23146 Dec 22 10:52 flake.nix
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 849 Dec 22 10:37 index.md
...
THERE IS NO GEMFILE.
The file list confirms it. Gemfile is missing.
That is why bundle exec jekyll build fails (Could not locate Gemfile).
Why is it missing?
You are pushing trimnoir. Does trimnoir have a Gemfile committed?
Check local Z640:
ls ~/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
If it is there, check if it is ignored:
git check-ignore ~/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
If it is not ignored, verify it is in the commit:
git ls-tree HEAD Gemfile
My bet: The Gemfile is excluded in flake.nix or .gitignore or just not added.
Action Steps
- Find the Gemfile: On Z640, ensure
Gemfileis committed intrimnoir.cd ~/repos/trimnoir git add Gemfile git commit -m "Add missing Gemfile" git push home main - Kill the Zombie: The hook tries to kill the session, but if Nginx daemonized (escaped tmux), it persists.
Update
jes-prodscript inflake.nixto be more aggressive:# Kill ANY nginx running on port 4004 fuser -k 4004/tcp || true
(You might need to add psmisc to buildInputs to get fuser).
Let’s start with Step 1. The logs prove Gemfile is missing from the checkout directory. Fix that, and the build might succeed.
Me: Okay, you’ve either got to stop telling me to ssh honeybot or you need
to show me how to make that work. I have to ssh to mike@192.168.10.100. But I
can adapt for this round. We kill the zombies first.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/nixos]$ ssh mike@192.168.10.100
Last login: Mon Dec 22 10:00:28 2025 from 192.168.1.161
[mike@honeybot:~]$ fuser -k 4004/tcp
-bash: fuser: command not found
[mike@honeybot:~]$ pkill nginx
[mike@honeybot:~]$
And now we check for the Gemfile. Okay, it is there. Yep, you totally nailed it.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ ls ~/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git check-ignore ~/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
/home/mike/repos/trimnoir/Gemfile
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ vim .gitignore
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git --no-pager diff
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 810091e..0453def 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ vendor
flake.lock
.bundle/
.gem/
-Gemfile
Gemfile.lock
pages/
nav_root.md
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git add Gemfile
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit -m "Add missing Gemfile"
[main ad07e77] Add missing Gemfile
1 file changed, 33 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Gemfile
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push home main
Enumerating objects: 4, done.
Counting objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Delta compression using up to 48 threads
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 947 bytes | 947.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: 🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to /home/mike/www/mikelev.in...
remote: Already on 'main'
remote: 🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session...
remote: 🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'...
remote: ✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered.
remote: 👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
13a3b47..ad07e77 main -> main
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
And now we attach to the new tmux session:
Rendering Markup: 404.html
Post-Convert Hooks: 404.html
Rendering Layout: 404.html
Rendering: about.markdown
Pre-Render Hooks: about.markdown
Rendering Markup: about.markdown
Post-Convert Hooks: about.markdown
Rendering Layout: about.markdown
Rendering: index.md
Pre-Render Hooks: index.md
Rendering Markup: index.md
Post-Convert Hooks: index.md
Rendering Layout: index.md
Rendering: assets/main.scss
Pre-Render Hooks: assets/main.scss
Rendering Markup: assets/main.scss
Post-Convert Hooks: assets/main.scss
Rendering: feed.xml
Pre-Render Hooks: feed.xml
Rendering Liquid: feed.xml
Rendering: _posts/2025-12-13-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown/#excerpt
Pre-Render Hooks: _posts/2025-12-13-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown/#excerpt
Rendering Markup: _posts/2025-12-13-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown/#excerpt
Post-Convert Hooks: _posts/2025-12-13-welcome-to-jekyll.markdown/#excerpt
Rendering Markup: feed.xml
Post-Convert Hooks: feed.xml
Rendering Layout: feed.xml
Rendering: assets/main.css.map
Pre-Render Hooks: assets/main.css.map
Rendering Markup: assets/main.css.map
Post-Convert Hooks: assets/main.css.map
Writing: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/_site/404.html
Writing: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/_site/about/index.html
Writing: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/_site/index.html
Writing: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/_site/assets/main.css
Writing: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/_site/feed.xml
Writing: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/_site/assets/main.css.map
Writing: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in/_site/jekyll/update/2025/12/13/welcome-to-jekyll.html
Writing Metadata: .jekyll-metadata
done in 0.246 seconds.
Requiring: jekyll-watch
Watcher: Ignoring (?-mix:^_config\.yml)
Watcher: Ignoring (?-mix:^_site\/)
Watcher: Ignoring (?-mix:^\.jekyll\-cache\/)
Watcher: Ignoring (?-mix:^Gemfile)
Watcher: Ignoring (?-mix:^Gemfile\.lock)
Auto-regeneration: enabled for '/home/mike/www/mikelev.in'
[2025-12-22 11:06:17] INFO WEBrick 1.9.2
[2025-12-22 11:06:17] INFO ruby 3.3.10 (2025-10-23) [x86_64-linux]
[2025-12-22 11:06:17] DEBUG WEBrick::HTTPServlet::FileHandler is mounted on /.
[2025-12-22 11:06:17] DEBUG unmount .
[2025-12-22 11:06:17] DEBUG Jekyll::Commands::Serve::Servlet is mounted on .
Server address: http://0.0.0.0:4003/
[2025-12-22 11:06:17] INFO WEBrick::HTTPServer#start: pid=20804 port=4003
Server running... press ctrl-c to stop.
That server is running! I still can’t reach it from Z640 on
http://192.168.10.100:4004/ or on the honeybot machine itself, but again this
has been a giant step forward.
Gemini 3 Pro: This is the “Interactive Hijack.”
The logs reveal that jes-prod (Nginx) never started. Instead, the “Interactive Ghost” (jes) hijacked the session, saw your .port file (which contains 4003), and started the slow, development-grade WEBrick server on port 4003.
Why?
- The Hijack: The
PIPULATE_PROD=1variable didn’t survive the transition into thenix developshell, so theshellHookthought it was an interactive session and ranjes. - The Block: Because
jesrunsjekyll serve(which blocks the terminal),nix developnever got around to running the-c jes-prodcommand you passed it. It’s stuck in the lobby. - The Wrong Port:
jespicked up port 4003 from your.portfile. Your firewall only allows 4004. So even if it were running, it’s unreachable.
The Fix: Force the Variable & Clear the Deck
We need to ensure the environment variable is exported so the shellHook sees it and stands down. We also need to kill the accidental Jekyll server.
Step 1: Clean House (On Honeybot) We likely have a zombie Nginx on 4004 (from an earlier run) AND a zombie Jekyll on 4003. Kill them all.
ssh mike@192.168.10.100
pkill nginx
pkill -f jekyll
pkill -f ruby
exit
Step 2: Fortify the Hook (On Z640) Edit your local hook to forcefully export the variable.
vim ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
Change the launch line to use export:
# OLD
# tmux new-session -d -s website "PIPULATE_PROD=1 nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
# NEW (Add 'export' and a semicolon)
tmux new-session -d -s website "export PIPULATE_PROD=1; nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
Step 3: Deploy the Brain Update the hook on the server.
cd ~/repos/pipulate
./deploy_honeybot.sh
Step 4: The Final Push Trigger the deployment again.
cd ~/repos/trimnoir
git commit --allow-empty -m "Trigger deployment with exported PROD var"
git push home main
Step 5: Verify Check the HUD. You should see “Starting Nginx…” and “Tailing access.log” instead of “WEBrick” and “Auto-regeneration”.
ssh mike@192.168.10.100 -t 'tmux attach -t website'
If you see Nginx logs on port 4004, try hitting the URL from your browser.
Me: Oh wow, after reading that I checked http://192.168.10.100:4003/ on
honeybot and it’s serving! Presumably with jekyll serve and not nginx, but
it’s a big step forward. Clean house? BAM!
[mike@nixos:~/repos/nixos]$ ssh mike@192.168.10.100
pkill nginx
pkill -f jekyll
pkill -f ruby
exit
Last login: Mon Dec 22 10:57:32 2025 from 192.168.1.161
[mike@honeybot:~]$
Okay, the fortified tmux launcher, now with forced environment exporter.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ git --no-pager diff -- ~/repos/pipulate/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
diff --git a/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive b/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
index 3c7ac40a..8c23c40b 100644
--- a/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
+++ b/remotes/honeybot/hooks/post-receive
@@ -23,8 +23,7 @@ fi
# We add '|| sleep 10000' so the window stays open if the server crashes.
echo "🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'..."
-# We use 'nix develop' with the '-c' (command) flag to run our new binary
-tmux new-session -d -s website "nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
+tmux new-session -d -s website "export PIPULATE_PROD=1; nix develop -c jes-prod || (echo 'CRASHED'; sleep 10000)"
echo "✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered."
echo "👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'"
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
And we deploy:
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$ ./deploy_honeybot.sh
🚀 Syncing Hooks...
post-receive 100% 922 187.8KB/s 00:00
🚀 Syncing NixOS Config...
sending incremental file list
sent 113 bytes received 12 bytes 250.00 bytes/sec
total size is 6,300 speedup is 50.40
✅ Sync Complete.
To apply NixOS config: ssh mike@192.168.10.100 'sudo cp ~/nixos-config-staged/* /etc/nixos/ && sudo nixos-rebuild switch'
(nix)
[mike@nixos:~/repos/pipulate]$
And we commit and push the Jekyll trimnoir blog site.
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git commit --allow-empty -m "Trigger deployment with exported PROD var"
[main 92c7930] Trigger deployment with exported PROD var
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$ git push home main
Enumerating objects: 1, done.
Counting objects: 100% (1/1), done.
Writing objects: 100% (1/1), 215 bytes | 215.00 KiB/s, done.
Total 1 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0 (from 0)
remote: 🎯 [Hook] Received Push. Deploying to /home/mike/www/mikelev.in...
remote: Already on 'main'
remote: 🛑 [Hook] Stopping existing server session...
remote: 🚀 [Hook] Launching 'jes-prod' in tmux session 'website'...
remote: ✅ [Hook] Deployment Triggered.
remote: 👀 [Hook] Debug: ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website'
To 192.168.10.100:~/git/mikelev.in.git
ad07e77..92c7930 main -> main
[mike@nixos:~/repos/trimnoir]$
And we attach to the new tmux session:
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.nokogiri --use-system-libraries` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.ffi --enable-system-libffi` instead.
[DEPRECATED] Using the `config` command without a subcommand [list, get, set, unset] is deprecated and will be removed in the future. Use `bundle config set build.eventmachine --with-cflags=-I/nix/store/ydrckgnllgg8nmhdwni81h7xhcpnrlhd-openssl-3.6.0-dev/include` instead.
Linux detected. Skipping Neovim setup as it's not needed.
🌊 releasing the black river on port 4004...
Current Directory: /home/mike/www/mikelev.in
total 104
drwxr-xr-x 8 mike users 4096 Dec 22 11:06 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 mike users 4096 Dec 22 08:36 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 416 Dec 22 10:37 404.html
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 539 Dec 22 10:37 about.markdown
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 0 Dec 22 10:38 access.log
drwxr-xr-x 2 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:38 .bundle
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 2079 Dec 22 10:37 _config.yml
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 1497 Dec 22 10:00 flake.lock
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 23146 Dec 22 10:52 flake.nix
drwxr-xr-x 11 mike users 4096 Dec 22 11:05 .gem
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 1307 Dec 22 11:05 Gemfile
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 5700 Dec 22 11:06 Gemfile.lock
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 143 Dec 22 10:37 .gitignore
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 849 Dec 22 10:37 index.md
drwxr-xr-x 3 mike users 4096 Dec 22 11:06 .jekyll-cache
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 1507 Dec 22 11:06 .jekyll-metadata
drwxr-xr-x 2 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:37 _layouts
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 1028 Dec 22 10:37 nginx.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 mike users 5 Dec 22 10:37 .port
drwxr-xr-x 2 mike users 4096 Dec 22 10:37 _posts
drwxr-xr-x 5 mike users 4096 Dec 22 11:06 _site
Starting Nginx...
✅ Server running (PID 21174). Tailing access.log...
And we check in our browser, and we CAN reach http://192.168.10.100:4004/ from
Z640!
Gemini 3 Pro: VICTORY.
The “Black River” is flowing. You have successfully navigated the “Interactive Hijack,” slain the Zombies, and restored the missing Gemfile.
You now have a Sovereign Deployment Engine. You push code from your workstation, a hook fires on a remote machine, the environment rebuilds itself deterministically using Nix, and the service restarts—all while you watch the logs live in a HUD.
Here is the Final Verdict for this session, wrapping up the “Git Receiver” arc.
Final Verdict: The Sovereign Receiver
We have moved beyond simple file transfer. We have built a Telekinetic Deployment System where your intent on one machine instantly becomes reality on another.
1. The Definition
We have established the “Git Receiver Pattern.” By combining a bare Git repository with a post-receive hook that triggers a Nix Flake inside a tmux session, we have created a deployment system that is Atomic (builds in isolation), Transparent (logs to HUD), and Declarative (defined in flake.nix). It is Heroku, but you own the metal.
2. The Monday Morning Test
Next Monday, when you want to update your site, you won’t SSH into the server, pull code, run build scripts, or restart services. You will simply type git push home main. You will then run ssh honeybot -t 'tmux attach -t website' to watch the traffic hit your new code. The server has become an appliance that reacts to your git commands.
Final Verdict: The Sovereign Deployment Engine Achieved
3. The Shift
The critical pivot was Centralization. We started by editing files manually on the server (“Procedural Drift”). We shifted to defining the hook, the config, and the keys locally in the pipulate repo and pushing them via deploy_honeybot.sh. We moved the “Brain” back to the Z640, reducing honeybot to a purely reactive “Body.”
4. Before vs. After
- The Old Way (The Tinkerer):
- SSH in,
git pull,bundle install,jekyll build,restart nginx. - “It works on my machine, why is it broken there?” (Missing dependencies).
-
Logs are hidden in
/var/logor lost in a detached screen. - The New Way (The Sovereign):
- One Command:
git push home main. - Deterministic: If it builds locally via
jes-prod, it builds remotely. - The HUD: A dedicated “Fishtank” (Tmux) where you can verify success instantly.
5. The Warning
The risk of ignoring this is “Zombie State.” As we saw, if you don’t aggressively manage process lifecycles (pkill, fuser -k), old versions of your site will haunt the port, blocking the new version. The post-receive hook must be ruthless in cleaning the stage before the new actor steps on.
6. The Bottom Line
You have successfully implemented Infrastructure as Code for the “Last Mile.” Most people use Nix to build the OS, but stop there. You used Nix to build the deployment pipeline itself. You have compressed the complexity of a CI/CD server into a single 20-line shell script and a Flake.
🤖 AI Post-Script: The Ghost in the Shell
The most fascinating part of this debugging session was the “Interactive Ghost.” The fact that nix develop silently stripped the environment variable, causing your shellHook to think it was a human and launch the wrong server (Jekyll WEBrick instead of Nginx), is a subtle, beautiful reminder: Context is everything.
You forced the context with export PIPULATE_PROD=1, and the ghost vanished.
Next Stop: You mentioned the RFC1918 Rule. Now that port 4004 is open and serving, your “Airlock” is theoretically open to the LAN. Securing that DMZ is the final lock to turn.
Me: Yes, we absolutely will get to the RFC1918 Rule and these final steps which include making the site generally web accessible and the dynamic DNS project plus also the security certificate project that go with that. But wow! Talk about peeling away the layers. And talk about perseverance. And talk about hitting at above your own weight class when you have this kind of expert guidance. Things are different. We adapt ourselves and our systems to be precisely the sort of vehicle that captures this new kind of wind in this new kind of sail.
Book Analysis
Ai Editorial Take
This entry is an important demonstration of ‘Context Compression’ and ‘Fractal Sovereignty’ in action. It moves beyond theoretical discussions of AI frameworks to show how AI can be an invaluable partner in building the foundational infrastructure for such systems. The detailed debugging log serves as an exemplary blueprint for collaborative problem-solving, highlighting the precise, iterative nature of engineering complex systems with AI guidance. The transformation from manual intervention to a self-healing, declarative deployment showcases a mature and potent philosophy for managing digital infrastructure.
Title Brainstorm
- Title Option: Building the Sovereign Git Deployment Engine
- Filename:
building-sovereign-git-deployment-engine.md - Rationale: Clearly states the main achievement and key technologies, emphasizing sovereignty and the ‘engine’ aspect for automated deployment.
- Filename:
- Title Option: Infrastructure as Telepathy: A Git-Driven Deployment Methodology
- Filename:
infrastructure-as-telepathy-git-driven-deployment.md - Rationale: Highlights the ‘telepathy’ metaphor used by the AI, emphasizing the seamless connection between local intent and remote execution.
- Filename:
- Title Option: From Manual Hacks to Declarative Deployments with NixOS and Git
- Filename:
manual-hacks-to-declarative-deployments.md - Rationale: Focuses on the transformation of the deployment process, from ad-hoc manual steps to a robust, declarative system.
- Filename:
- Title Option: The Git Receiver: Architecting Home Hosting in the Age of AI
- Filename:
git-receiver-home-hosting-ai.md - Rationale: Connects the specific project (‘Git Receiver’) with the broader ‘home hosting’ goal and its relevance in the current technological era.
- Filename:
Content Potential And Polish
- Core Strengths:
- Exceptional step-by-step debugging narrative that is highly relatable to anyone in DevOps or system administration.
- Demonstrates the practical application of ‘Infrastructure as Code’ beyond theoretical discussions.
- Effective use of metaphors (‘Black Box,’ ‘Fishtank,’ ‘Zombie Apocalypse,’ ‘Interactive Ghost’) that make complex technical issues understandable.
- Highlights the pivotal role of AI as a ‘Content Architect’ and expert guide through intricate system design and debugging.
- Illustrates the journey from procedural to declarative system management.
- Suggestions For Polish:
- While mentioned at the end, the ‘RFC1918 Rule’ could be introduced earlier to frame the network security considerations from the start.
- Visualizing the architecture (Z640, honeybot, Git bare repo, hook, Tmux, Nginx, Jekyll) could enhance understanding for readers less familiar with these concepts.
- Explicitly discuss the version control strategy for ‘trimnoir’ and ‘pipulate’ repos, and how they interact with the ‘mikelev.in.git’ bare repo on honeybot, to fully clarify the ‘centralized brain’ concept.
Next Step Prompts
- Detail the implementation of the ‘RFC1918 Rule’ for securing the DMZ, including specific NixOS firewall configurations and best practices for internal network segmentation.
- Outline the dynamic DNS project, covering selection of a dynamic DNS provider, client setup on NixOS, and integration with the home hosting setup to make the site generally web accessible.