nanobot/docs/deployment.md

Deployment

Use this page after nanobot agent -m "Hello!" works locally. Deployment keeps long-running surfaces online: WebUI, chat apps, heartbeat, Dream, cron jobs, and channel connections.

Before You Deploy

Check these once before Docker, systemd, or LaunchAgent:

Check	Why it matters
nanobot status shows the expected config and workspace	Confirms the process will read the instance you meant to run
nanobot agent -m "Hello!" works	Proves install, config, provider, model, and workspace writes before adding a service layer
Secrets are in environment variables or protected config files	API keys, bot tokens, OAuth state, and chat credentials should not be world-readable
~/.nanobot/ or your custom config/workspace path is persistent	Sessions, memory, channel login state, generated artifacts, and cron jobs live there
Channel access control is intentional	Use allowFrom, pairing, WebSocket token/tokenIssueSecret, or private test channels before exposing the bot
Ports are planned	Gateway health defaults to 18790; WebUI/WebSocket defaults to 8765; nanobot serve defaults to 8900
Logs are easy to reach	Use docker compose logs, journalctl, LaunchAgent log files, or nanobot gateway --verbose while diagnosing startup

Restart the deployed process after editing config.json. Long-running processes read config at startup.

Choose a Runtime

Runtime	Use it for	State location	Useful first command
Docker Compose	Repeatable container runs on Linux servers or workstations	Bind-mount ~/.nanobot to /home/nanobot/.nanobot	docker compose run --rm nanobot-cli agent -m "Hello!"
Docker CLI	Manual container testing or small one-off hosts	Bind-mount ~/.nanobot to /home/nanobot/.nanobot	docker run -v ~/.nanobot:/home/nanobot/.nanobot --rm nanobot status
systemd user service	Linux user-level gateway that restarts automatically	Host user's ~/.nanobot unless you pass explicit paths	systemctl --user status nanobot-gateway
macOS LaunchAgent	macOS gateway that starts after login	Host user's ~/.nanobot unless the plist passes explicit paths	`launchctl list

Docker

Tip

The -v ~/.nanobot:/home/nanobot/.nanobot flag mounts your local config directory into the container, so your config and workspace persist across container restarts. The container runs as the non-root user nanobot (UID 1000) and reads config from /home/nanobot/.nanobot. Always mount your host config directory to /home/nanobot/.nanobot, not /root/.nanobot. If you get Permission denied, fix ownership on the host first: sudo chown -R 1000:1000 ~/.nanobot, or pass --user $(id -u):$(id -g) to match your host UID. Podman users can use --userns=keep-id instead.

[!IMPORTANT] Official Docker usage currently means building from this repository with the included Dockerfile. Docker Hub images under third-party namespaces are not maintained or verified by HKUDS/nanobot; do not mount API keys or bot tokens into them unless you trust the publisher.

Important

The gateway and WebSocket channel default to host: "127.0.0.1" in config.json (set in nanobot/config/schema.py). Docker -p port forwarding cannot reach a container's loopback interface, so for the host or LAN to reach the exposed ports you must set both binds to 0.0.0.0 in ~/.nanobot/config.json before starting the container. To serve the bundled WebUI from Docker, enable the WebSocket channel and protect bootstrap with a secret:

{
  "gateway": { "host": "0.0.0.0" },
  "channels": {
    "websocket": {
      "enabled": true,
      "host": "0.0.0.0",
      "port": 8765,
      "tokenIssueSecret": "your-secret-here"
    }
  }
}

When the WebSocket host is 0.0.0.0, the channel refuses to start unless token or tokenIssueSecret is also configured — see webui/README.md for details.

Docker Compose

docker compose run --rm nanobot-cli onboard   # first-time setup
vim ~/.nanobot/config.json                     # add API keys
docker compose up -d nanobot-gateway           # start gateway

docker compose run --rm nanobot-cli agent -m "Hello!"   # run CLI
docker compose logs -f nanobot-gateway                   # view logs
docker compose down                                      # stop

Docker

# Build the image
docker build -t nanobot .

# Initialize config (first time only)
docker run -v ~/.nanobot:/home/nanobot/.nanobot --rm nanobot onboard

# Edit config on host to add API keys
vim ~/.nanobot/config.json

# Run gateway (connects to enabled channels, e.g. Telegram/Discord/Mochat).
# Mirrors the security caps and port mappings declared in docker-compose.yml:
#   - `--cap-drop ALL --cap-add SYS_ADMIN` + unconfined apparmor/seccomp are required
#     when `tools.exec.sandbox: "bwrap"` is enabled (bwrap needs CAP_SYS_ADMIN for
#     user namespaces). Without them, `bwrap` exits with `clone3: Operation not permitted`.
#   - `-p 8765:8765` exposes the WebSocket channel / WebUI alongside the gateway health
#     endpoint on 18790.
docker run \
  --cap-drop ALL --cap-add SYS_ADMIN \
  --security-opt apparmor=unconfined \
  --security-opt seccomp=unconfined \
  -v ~/.nanobot:/home/nanobot/.nanobot \
  -p 18790:18790 -p 8765:8765 \
  nanobot gateway

# Or run a single command
docker run -v ~/.nanobot:/home/nanobot/.nanobot --rm nanobot agent -m "Hello!"
docker run -v ~/.nanobot:/home/nanobot/.nanobot --rm nanobot status

Linux Service

Run the gateway as a systemd user service so it starts automatically and restarts on failure.

1. Find the nanobot binary path:

which nanobot   # e.g. /home/user/.local/bin/nanobot

2. Create the service file at ~/.config/systemd/user/nanobot-gateway.service (replace ExecStart path if needed):

[Unit]
Description=Nanobot Gateway
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=%h/.local/bin/nanobot gateway
Restart=always
RestartSec=10
NoNewPrivileges=yes
ProtectSystem=strict
ReadWritePaths=%h

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

3. Enable and start:

systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable --now nanobot-gateway

Common operations:

systemctl --user status nanobot-gateway        # check status
systemctl --user restart nanobot-gateway       # restart after config changes
journalctl --user -u nanobot-gateway -f        # follow logs

If you edit the .service file itself, run systemctl --user daemon-reload before restarting.

Note: User services only run while you are logged in. To keep the gateway running after logout, enable lingering:

loginctl enable-linger $USER

macOS LaunchAgent

Use a LaunchAgent when you want nanobot gateway to stay online after you log in, without keeping a terminal open.

1. Get the absolute nanobot path:

which nanobot   # e.g. /Users/youruser/.local/bin/nanobot

Use that exact path in the plist. It keeps the Python environment from your install method.

2. Create ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.nanobot.gateway.plist:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>
  <string>ai.nanobot.gateway</string>

  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array>
    <string>/Users/youruser/.local/bin/nanobot</string>
    <string>gateway</string>
    <string>--workspace</string>
    <string>/Users/youruser/.nanobot/workspace</string>
  </array>

  <key>WorkingDirectory</key>
  <string>/Users/youruser/.nanobot/workspace</string>

  <key>RunAtLoad</key>
  <true/>

  <key>KeepAlive</key>
  <dict>
    <key>SuccessfulExit</key>
    <false/>
  </dict>

  <key>StandardOutPath</key>
  <string>/Users/youruser/.nanobot/logs/gateway.log</string>

  <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
  <string>/Users/youruser/.nanobot/logs/gateway.error.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>

3. Load and start it:

mkdir -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents ~/.nanobot/logs
launchctl bootstrap gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.nanobot.gateway.plist
launchctl enable gui/$(id -u)/ai.nanobot.gateway
launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/ai.nanobot.gateway

Common operations:

launchctl list | grep ai.nanobot.gateway
launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/ai.nanobot.gateway   # restart
launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.nanobot.gateway.plist

After editing the plist, run launchctl bootout ... and launchctl bootstrap ... again.

Note: if startup fails with "address already in use", stop the manually started nanobot gateway process first.