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marcopan fc349e634c fix: close server bypass edge cases

2026-08-05 12:09:32 +02:00

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Install ThothII on a Linux server

This guide is for an installer with basic Linux administration and very basic Docker knowledge. It deploys the same Compose distribution used on a local PC: the mandatory application is exactly frontend plus core, and pinned Pi is inside core. The server does not need host Pi, Node.js, Python, Go, a browser shell, or a Docker socket inside either container.

Examples use /srv/thothii as an example operator root, thoth.example.com as a replaceable DNS name, and systemd-based command names. Adapt them to local policy. Complete the server session storage overlay and migration procedure before exposing a production installation.

Deployment contract

The generic Linux host and Docker Compose v2 are the deployment platform. No other application's Compose project, network, path, or runtime is required.
frontend is the only published service and defaults to 127.0.0.1:8080; core has no host port. A host Nginx or Caddy listener terminates TLS and sends all application traffic to frontend, never directly to core.
DWH, vector database, embedding service, and LLM are external configurable endpoints. This remains true when they happen to run on the same physical server.
Application, Git, connector, and session credentials are protected host files mounted read-only under /run/secrets. Pi's protected auth JSON uses its dedicated read-only Pi mount. No secret value belongs in Git, images, browser storage, environment values, rendered Compose, or logs.
The Git-backed workspace registry is the source of truth. Installation-local bindings identify endpoints and secret-file paths; they do not replace the reviewed Git workspace descriptors.
thothctl is the operator CLI for start, stop, status, health, logs, Pi lifecycle, drain, and rollback. Raw Compose lifecycle commands bypass installation state and are unsupported.

Read server workspace-registry installation, Pi management, and the session-server comments in deploy/compose.session-server.yaml.example before the first public start.

Service account and directories

The container runtime identity is fixed at UID/GID 10001. Reserve the same host ID for a dedicated non-login thothii account so bind-mounted ownership is obvious. Stop if either ID is already used by another account; choose a reviewed host mapping instead of changing the image identity.

getent passwd 10001
getent group 10001
sudo useradd --system --uid 10001 --user-group --home-dir /srv/thothii \
  --create-home --shell /usr/sbin/nologin thothii

Use a dedicated thothii-ops group for the small set of human operators. A human who runs thothctl must be in both thothii-ops (to traverse operator paths and read declared secret files for output redaction) and the host docker group (to invoke Docker). Docker-group membership is effectively host-root access; grant both memberships only to reviewed administrators. The non-login thothii account owns files and writable data but does not need Docker access.

sudo groupadd --system thothii-ops
sudo usermod --append --groups thothii-ops,docker "$USER"

Log out and back in before continuing; id must show both groups. Do not run thothctl through sudo -u thothii: that account deliberately lacks Docker access. Do not grant the human direct write access to runtime bind trees.

Create explicit directories. source contains the clone; operator contains untracked path-only configuration; the three writable trees are bind-mounted into core; secrets contains regular files only. Backups are separate from live data. Reset the account home explicitly because distribution useradd defaults may otherwise leave /srv/thothii non-traversable by thothii-ops.

sudo install -d -o 10001 -g thothii-ops -m 2750 /srv/thothii
sudo install -d -o 10001 -g thothii-ops -m 2750 /srv/thothii/source
sudo install -d -o 10001 -g thothii-ops -m 2770 /srv/thothii/operator
sudo install -d -o 10001 -g thothii-ops -m 2750 /srv/thothii/secrets
sudo install -d -o 10001 -g 10001 -m 0750 /srv/thothii/data
sudo install -d -o 10001 -g 10001 -m 0750 /srv/thothii/pi-state
sudo install -d -o 10001 -g 10001 -m 0750 /srv/thothii/workspace-registry
sudo install -d -o root -g root -m 0700 /srv/thothii-backups

Verify /srv/thothii is owned by 10001:thothii-ops with mode 2750. The human operator can traverse the parent but can write only operator; setgid keeps generated files in thothii-ops. source, secrets, and all runtime bind trees remain non-group-writable. Do not make /srv/thothii a shared application directory.

Firewall and network boundaries

Set THOTH_SERVER_BIND=127.0.0.1. Permit inbound TCP 80/443 only to the TLS proxy; port 80 should redirect to HTTPS. Do not open 8080 externally, and do not add a core port. If a separate proxy host is used, replace loopback with a private, firewalled address and allow only that proxy source.

Allow outbound DNS and HTTPS to the source/Git registries, plus only the configured ports for the Git remote, DWH, vector database, embedding service, LLM, session PostgreSQL, and any approved bastion. Docker's private thothii network carries only frontend↔core traffic. Do not attach the mandatory stack to another application's network.

After start, confirm the host listens as intended:

sudo ss -lntp

Expected public listeners are the proxy on 80/443 and the frontend on loopback 8080. There must be no host listener for core port 8787.

Address co-resident external services

Endpoint values are resolved inside core. Therefore container 127.0.0.1 means the container itself, not the Linux host. Prefer real DNS names with TLS, authentication, and firewall policy, even for services on this physical server.

When DNS is unavailable for a host-published service, create an untracked override such as /srv/thothii/operator/host-gateway.yaml and add it to the installation descriptor:

services:
  core:
    extra_hosts:
      - "host.docker.internal:host-gateway"

Use host.docker.internal in the endpoint binding. The host-gateway mapping supplies routing; it does not bundle or trust the target service. A host service listening only on host 127.0.0.1 is not reachable through this mapping. Bind that service to the ThothII Docker bridge gateway address or to a dedicated private host interface—never to 0.0.0.0 merely to make the check pass. A stable internal DNS record routed through an authenticated private listener is the preferred alternative.

After the first bounded start attempt, copy the exact core container name from thothctl status into CORE_NAME, then derive—not guess—the network ID, Linux bridge interface, gateway, and subnet. Compose networks normally use br-<first-12-network-id>; an explicit com.docker.network.bridge.name option takes precedence:

CORE_NAME=replace-with-exact-core-container-name
NETWORK_ID=$(docker inspect --format '{{range .NetworkSettings.Networks}}{{.NetworkID}}{{end}}' "$CORE_NAME")
NETWORK_NAME=$(docker network inspect --format '{{.Name}}' "$NETWORK_ID")
BRIDGE=$(docker network inspect --format '{{index .Options "com.docker.network.bridge.name"}}' "$NETWORK_ID")
test -n "$BRIDGE" || BRIDGE="br-${NETWORK_ID%${NETWORK_ID#????????????}}"
GATEWAY=$(docker network inspect --format '{{(index .IPAM.Config 0).Gateway}}' "$NETWORK_ID")
SUBNET=$(docker network inspect --format '{{(index .IPAM.Config 0).Subnet}}' "$NETWORK_ID")
printf 'network=%s bridge=%s gateway=%s subnet=%s\n' "$NETWORK_NAME" "$BRIDGE" "$GATEWAY" "$SUBNET"
ip address show dev "$BRIDGE"

Bind the co-resident service to $GATEWAY. In the host firewall INPUT chain, allow its exact TCP port only when source is $SUBNET, input interface is $BRIDGE, and destination is $GATEWAY; reject other sources to that listener and persist the rules using the distribution's firewall manager. Docker's DOCKER-USER chain governs forwarded/published traffic and does not replace this host-input rule. Ask the firewall administrator to implement the equivalent policy with nftables when iptables is not the site's source of truth.

For an iptables-managed host, replace the port before applying these reviewed rules; the second rule prevents any other interface/source from reaching that gateway listener:

EXTERNAL_PORT=replace-with-exact-service-port
sudo iptables -I INPUT 1 -i "$BRIDGE" -s "$SUBNET" -d "$GATEWAY" -p tcp --dport "$EXTERNAL_PORT" -j ACCEPT
sudo iptables -I INPUT 2 -d "$GATEWAY" -p tcp --dport "$EXTERNAL_PORT" -j REJECT

Confirm reachability with thothctl pi test for the configured LLM/Pi path and with the authenticated Workspace Diagnostics action for DWH, vector collection/embedding pairing, and embedding endpoints. A timeout paired with ss -lntp, ip address show dev "$BRIDGE", and the firewall counters distinguishes a loopback bind from a subnet/interface rule failure. Do not add a shell to the browser or mount the Docker socket into core for this diagnostic.

Configure each boundary independently:

DWH: read-only runtime identity, database/schema, verified TLS, and direct or REST endpoint.
Vector database: endpoint plus exact database/schema, collection, distance metric, and writer policy declared by the reviewed workspace.
Embedding service: endpoint and the collection/embedding pairing—model and dimensions must match the existing collection. Co-residence does not permit silently changing that pairing.
LLM: authenticated endpoint selected through deployment and Pi configuration.

Never add those services to ThothII's mandatory Compose files. Follow the diagnostic protocol before enabling a workspace.

Prepare operator files and secrets

Clone with LF line endings, then verify before every build:

sudo -u thothii git -c core.autocrlf=false clone \
  https://github.example.invalid/your-org/ThothII.git /srv/thothii/source/ThothII
cd /srv/thothii/source/ThothII
sudo -u thothii git config --local core.autocrlf false
bash scripts/verify-line-endings.sh

Copy the path-only server environment and installation descriptor:

sudo -u thothii cp deploy/env/server.env.example /srv/thothii/operator/server.env
sudo -u thothii cp docs/install/examples/thothii-installation.server.yaml \
  /srv/thothii/operator/thothii-installation.yaml
sudo chown 10001:thothii-ops /srv/thothii/operator/server.env \
  /srv/thothii/operator/thothii-installation.yaml
sudo chmod 0660 /srv/thothii/operator/server.env \
  /srv/thothii/operator/thothii-installation.yaml

The named human operator can now edit both placeholder files without sudo; use an editor that preserves the group, or create replacements under umask 0007 in the setgid operator directory. Replace every placeholder with an absolute path. Use exactly one Git transport override. For HTTPS, replace deploy/compose.git-ssh.yaml with deploy/compose.git-https.yaml. Keep the required session-server overlay and generated connector-secret override. Optional host-gateway or pinned image overrides go after them.

Create each credential as an independent regular file in /srv/thothii/secrets, owned by UID 10001, group thothii-ops, and mode 0640. Owner access lets the UID 10001 container read a file mounted under /run/secrets; group access lets the reviewed human run thothctl. The operator environment records only absolute *_FILE or *_SOURCE paths. Compose mounts application and connector targets read-only under /run/secrets; the frontend receives none. Do not print file contents while testing permissions.

sudo find /srv/thothii/secrets -type f -exec chown 10001:thothii-ops {} +
sudo find /srv/thothii/secrets -type f -exec chmod 0640 {} +
sudo find /srv/thothii/secrets -type f \( ! -user thothii -o ! -group thothii-ops -o ! -perm 0640 \) -print

Add THT_WORKSPACE_BINDINGS_ENV_FILE=/srv/thothii/operator/workspace-bindings.env and the matching connector *_SOURCE paths to server.env. Generate /srv/thothii/operator/connector-secrets.server.yaml as described in server workspace-registry installation. Secret values must never be pasted into server.env, the installation YAML, a URL, or a shell argument.

Build locally or select pinned images

Choose one image source. For a source build, the repository's reproducible launcher builds the same core and frontend images used by the local profile. It requires only Git, Docker, and Compose; copy the reviewed path-only server environment to the launcher's untracked input first:

cd /srv/thothii/source/ThothII
sudo -u thothii cp /srv/thothii/operator/server.env deploy/env/local.env
bash scripts/build-local.sh

The printed local-profile start command is not the server start command; use thothctl below.

Alternatively, create a reviewed untracked override with release images pinned by immutable digest. Mutable tags are not a production pin:

services:
  core:
    build: !reset null
    image: registry.example.com/thothii/core@sha256:<64-lowercase-hex-digits>
  session-migrate:
    build: !reset null
    image: registry.example.com/thothii/core@sha256:<64-lowercase-hex-digits>
  frontend:
    build: !reset null
    image: registry.example.com/thothii/frontend@sha256:<64-lowercase-hex-digits>

Add that absolute file last in overrides. core and session-migrate must use the exact same core digest; neither may retain a local build or :local image. Frontend uses its own exact digest. Both images must come from one compatible release; the core image must retain the declared Pi version labels checked by thothctl pi doctor. Pull access belongs in the host Docker credential store, not in Compose or the installation descriptor.

Install thothctl

Build the operator binaries with Docker. No Go installation or Go knowledge is required:

cd /srv/thothii/source/ThothII
THT_THOTHCTL_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY=/srv/thothii/operator/build-output \
  bash scripts/build-thothctl.sh
sudo install -o root -g thothii-ops -m 0750 \
  /srv/thothii/operator/build-output/thothctl-linux-amd64 \
  /srv/thothii/operator/thothctl

The source checkout stays read-only to the human. The explicit output directory is the only build write boundary; the build script rejects relative or non-canonical output paths. After installation, remove or retain build-output according to the site's reviewed artifact policy.

Use thothctl-linux-arm64 on an ARM64 server. Set these variables in the maintenance shell; do not source server.env as shell code:

THTCTL=/srv/thothii/operator/thothctl
INSTALLATION=/srv/thothii/operator/thothii-installation.yaml
"$THTCTL" --help
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" update --check-only

Every operator command includes the descriptor explicitly. This preserves the installation's profile, overrides, project identity, and durable current-image selector. The general form is thothctl --installation /absolute/path/thothii-installation.yaml <command>.

Start and verify readiness

Keep the TLS proxy stopped or firewalled during bootstrap. First stop the app, run the installation-aware session migration, and inspect its pristine JSON. The command activates only the session-migrate profile/service with --no-deps --no-TTY; it derives the migrator image from the selected core image after all installation overrides, so this procedure is identical for source and pinned modes. It exits nonzero unless both arrays are empty:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" stop
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" sessions migrate --yes

Successful output has this shape (the applied list may contain versions on first use):

{"applied":[],"drifted":[],"pending":[]}

Only after seeing "pending":[] and "drifted":[], start and verify:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" start
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" status
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" doctor
curl --fail http://127.0.0.1:8080/health
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi doctor
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi test

/health proves process liveness. Readiness additionally requires both healthy services, a valid Pi provider/model smoke, a successful Git registry pull with an active validated snapshot, valid workspace diagnostics, and ready session PostgreSQL. Use the authenticated Workspace Management page to pull and diagnose the reviewed workspace. A liveness response alone is not release approval.

After configuring the proxy, open https://thoth.example.com in a browser. Verify an unauthenticated request is denied or redirected by the real identity provider, an authorized user can load the same-origin UI and /api, an unauthorized user is denied, and an administrator alone can open Pi Management. Keep port 8080 inaccessible from other hosts.

Configure TLS and upstream authentication

Choose Nginx or Caddy. Both examples terminate TLS and proxy only to loopback frontend. They preserve SSE and clear client-supplied identity headers before authentication.

The authentication gateway must validate a real login/session and return normalized issuer, subject, display-name, and admin claims only after success. Merely forwarding those headers does not authenticate anyone. Do not enable AUTH_MODE=upstream on a listener reachable around the trusted proxy, and never expose core.

Operate Pi, drain, and roll back

Configure only closed provider/model/reasoning choices. Credentials remain protected files:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi status
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi configure
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi doctor
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi logs

Before an update, announce maintenance and ask users to finish active work. --drain closes new admission and waits until no active sessions remain; it does not discard sessions. Build-source and registry-source examples are:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi update \
  --version 0.81.0 --source build --yes --drain
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi update \
  --version 0.81.0 --source pull \
  --image registry.example.com/thothii/core@sha256:<64-lowercase-hex-digits> \
  --yes --drain

The transaction recreates only core, preserves volumes, verifies health/configuration/Pi, and automatically attempts rollback after a post-mutation failure. For interrupted or ambiguous state:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi maintenance status
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi rollback --yes
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi maintenance recover --yes

Leave maintenance active if rollback cannot be verified. Preserve .thothctl/<installation-id>/ recovery state, repair the reported host/configuration issue, and rerun rollback or maintenance recovery. Never delete or edit current-image.yaml or update-state.json to force progress.

Back up and restore

Back up before source, workspace, session-schema, or Pi changes. Drain work, stop the installation, record git rev-parse HEAD, image digests, and thothctl status, then archive the three bind trees with numeric ownership. Do not include live secrets in this ordinary archive.

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" stop
BACKUP=/srv/thothii-backups/2026-08-05
sudo install -d -o root -g root -m 0700 "$BACKUP"
sudo tar --numeric-owner --xattrs --acls -C /srv/thothii -czf "$BACKUP/runtime-data.tgz" \
  data pi-state workspace-registry
sudo sh -ceu 'cd "$1"; sha256sum runtime-data.tgz > SHA256SUMS; sha256sum --check SHA256SUMS' sh "$BACKUP"

Back up the installation descriptor, path-only environment, generated overrides, source revision, and secret files to separate encrypted access-controlled storage. Database-backed production sessions require their own PostgreSQL-native consistent backup; the local bind tree is not a substitute. Test both restore paths periodically.

Restore only while stopped. Verify the checksum, extract first into a new empty root, inspect ownership and expected registry layout, then retain the old trees by renaming them before placing the restored set. This keeps the previous state recoverable:

RESTORE=/srv/thothii-restore-2026-08-05
sudo install -d -o root -g root -m 0700 "$RESTORE"
sudo sh -ceu 'cd "$1"; sha256sum --check SHA256SUMS' sh /srv/thothii-backups/2026-08-05
sudo tar --numeric-owner --xattrs --acls -C "$RESTORE" \
  -xzf /srv/thothii-backups/2026-08-05/runtime-data.tgz
sudo test -d "$RESTORE/workspace-registry/repo"
sudo test -d "$RESTORE/workspace-registry/snapshots"

During the reviewed restore window, move each old tree to a timestamped sibling, move the matching restored tree into /srv/thothii, restore the PostgreSQL session backup from the same recovery point, and keep the proxy closed. Run update --check-only, start, doctor, pi test, registry status, workspace diagnostics, and a known historical session before reopening traffic. Never merge an archive into a non-empty tree.

Diagnostics

Begin with bounded, sanitized installation-aware commands:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" status
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" doctor
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" logs
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi status
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi doctor
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi test
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi logs
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" pi maintenance status

Use the authenticated Workspace Management status and diagnostic actions for Git revision, degraded snapshot, bindings, DWH, vector, and embedding checks. Review proxy logs separately, but configure both proxy and log shipping to exclude cookies, authorization data, identity payloads, query strings, and secret values. Do not render Compose or print an environment as a diagnostic.

Typical boundaries are: doctor for Docker/Compose/LF/volume/service health; pi doctor for image and provider/model integrity; registry status for Git/snapshot health; workspace diagnostics for external service identity; and the proxy/identity provider for login failures.

Data-preserving uninstall

Drain and stop through thothctl, take and verify one final backup, and disable the TLS proxy route. Set THT_BACKUP_ROOT=/srv/thothii-backups in server.env; the removal command verifies the filesystem identity of that backup root, all three bind trees, and every declared secret before and after removing anything.

First run without confirmation. It displays the exact installation project, service, container name, container ID, and stopped state, then exits without mutation. Check every target:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" stop
"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" remove

If and only if both targets are the expected stopped frontend and core containers, confirm:

"$THTCTL" --installation "$INSTALLATION" remove --yes exact-core-id exact-frontend-id

Replace both example IDs with the values from the immediately preceding dry-run. The command refuses confirmation if the current target set differs. The confirmed operation passes only those previously displayed immutable container IDs to Docker, uses no force or volume option, rejects running/replaced containers, and proves the preservation paths still identify the same filesystem objects. Keep /srv/thothii/data, pi-state, workspace-registry, operator, protected secrets, database backups, and the installation descriptor if reinstallation is possible. Do not prune global Docker data.

Do not run docker compose down --volumes; it deletes persistent application data. Reusing the same protected descriptor path preserves the thothctl installation identity and allows a later compatible source checkout to reconnect the retained state.

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