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Your Name 70403854ff v0.0.73 - Refined Nostr handler and tool dispatch/schema updates for relay and my-events flows

2026-03-17 10:30:22 -04:00

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Didactyl Server Installation Guide — systemd + Dedicated User Model

Overview

This document describes how to install Didactyl on a Linux server as a dedicated system user, managed by systemd, with scoped sudo privileges for server maintenance tasks.

The mental model: Didactyl is a person on your server. It gets its own home directory, its own login identity, and explicit permission to manage the services you delegate to it — nothing more.

Architecture

graph TD
    subgraph Internet
        RELAYS[Nostr Relays<br/>wss://relay.damus.io<br/>wss://relay.primal.net]
        LLM_API[LLM Provider API<br/>OpenAI / PPQ / Ollama]
    end

    subgraph Server
        subgraph "systemd"
            SVC[didactyl.service<br/>User=didactyl<br/>Group=didactyl]
        end

        subgraph "/home/didactyl/"
            BIN[didactyl binary]
            CFG[genesis.jsonc<br/>mode 600]
            LOGS[context.log.md<br/>didactyl.log]
        end

        subgraph "Privilege Boundary"
            SUDOERS[/etc/sudoers.d/didactyl<br/>Whitelisted commands only]
        end

        subgraph "Unprivileged Commands"
            MON[free / df / uptime<br/>ps / cat /proc/*<br/>ss -tlnp / top]
        end

        subgraph "Privileged Commands via sudo"
            SYSD[systemctl status/restart/start/stop<br/>journalctl<br/>daemon-reload]
        end
    end

    ADMIN[Administrator<br/>via Nostr DM] -->|NIP-04 encrypted| RELAYS
    RELAYS <-->|WebSocket| SVC
    SVC --> BIN
    BIN <-->|HTTPS| LLM_API
    BIN -->|popen as didactyl| MON
    BIN -->|sudo via popen| SUDOERS
    SUDOERS --> SYSD

    style CFG fill:#f66,stroke:#333,color:#fff
    style SUDOERS fill:#ff9,stroke:#333
    style SVC fill:#9f9,stroke:#333

Security Model

Privilege Tiers

Didactyl enforces three privilege tiers for inbound Nostr messages (see src/config.h security_config_t):

Tier	Who	Can use tools?	Can chat?
ADMIN	Your npub (config `admin.pubkey`)	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
WoT	Contacts in your follow list	❌ No (configurable)	✅ Yes
Stranger	Everyone else	❌ No	Canned response or ignored

Only the ADMIN tier can trigger local_shell_exec — the tool that runs commands on the server.

OS-Level Privilege Separation

The local_shell_exec tool in src/tools/tool_local.c calls popen() directly. Whatever the process user can do, the agent can do. This is why we:

Run as a dedicated unprivileged user (didactyl)
Grant specific sudo permissions via /etc/sudoers.d/didactyl
Use systemd sandboxing directives to limit filesystem access

What the Agent Cannot Do

With the configuration described in this guide:

❌ Write anywhere outside /home/didactyl/
❌ Run arbitrary root commands not in the sudoers whitelist
❌ Install or remove packages (unless explicitly whitelisted)
❌ Modify system configuration files in /etc/
❌ Access other users' home directories (with proper home directory permissions)
❌ Accept tool commands from anyone except the ADMIN pubkey

Installation Steps

Prerequisites

A Linux server with systemd (Debian/Ubuntu, RHEL/Fedora, Arch, etc.)
Network access to Nostr relays and your LLM provider
The Didactyl static binary (download from releases or build with ./build_static.sh)
A Nostr keypair for the agent (nsec)
Your admin Nostr keypair (npub)
An LLM API key

Step 1: Create the Didactyl User

# Create a regular user with a home directory and bash shell
sudo useradd -m -s /bin/bash -c "Didactyl Nostr Agent" didactyl

Why bash and not nologin? The local_shell_exec tool runs commands via sh -lc (login shell). A real shell ensures PATH, locale, and environment are properly initialized. The agent needs to "log in" to do its job.

Why a real home directory? The agent needs a workspace for:

Its binary and config
Log files (context.log.md, didactyl.log)
Any files it creates during shell operations
The working_directory for the shell tool

Step 2: Install the Binary and Config

# Copy the static binary
sudo cp didactyl_static_x86_64 /home/didactyl/didactyl
sudo chmod 755 /home/didactyl/didactyl

# Copy and configure genesis.jsonc
sudo cp genesis.jsonc /home/didactyl/genesis.jsonc

# CRITICAL: Lock down permissions on the config file (contains nsec private key)
sudo chmod 600 /home/didactyl/genesis.jsonc

# Set ownership
sudo chown -R didactyl:didactyl /home/didactyl/

# Protect the home directory from other users
sudo chmod 750 /home/didactyl/

Step 3: Configure genesis.jsonc

Edit /home/didactyl/genesis.jsonc with the agent's identity, your admin pubkey, LLM credentials, and the shell working directory:

{
  "key": {
    "nsec": "nsec1..."                    // Agent's private key
  },

  "admin": {
    "pubkey": "npub1..."                  // YOUR public key
  },

  "dm_protocol": "nip04",

  "llm": {
    "provider": "openai",
    "api_key": "sk-...",
    "model": "gpt-4o-mini",
    "base_url": "https://api.openai.com/v1",
    "max_tokens": 512,
    "temperature": 0.7
  },

  "tools": {
    "enabled": true,
    "max_turns": 8,
    "shell": {
      "enabled": true,
      "timeout_seconds": 60,              // systemctl can be slow
      "max_output_bytes": 131072,         // journalctl output can be large
      "working_directory": "/home/didactyl"
    }
  },

  "api": {
    "enabled": true,
    "port": 8484,
    "bind_address": "127.0.0.1"           // Localhost only — do NOT expose
  },

  "startup_events": [
    {
      "kind": 10002,
      "content": "",
      "tags": [
        ["r", "wss://relay.damus.io"],
        ["r", "wss://relay.primal.net"]
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Key settings for server maintenance:

Setting	Value	Why
`shell.timeout_seconds`	`60`	`systemctl` and `journalctl` can take time
`shell.max_output_bytes`	`131072` (128KB)	Log output can be verbose
`shell.working_directory`	`/home/didactyl`	Agent's home — safe default CWD
`api.bind_address`	`127.0.0.1`	Never expose the admin API to the network

Step 4: Configure sudo Privileges

sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/didactyl

Add the following (adjust to your needs):

# /etc/sudoers.d/didactyl
# Didactyl agent — scoped system maintenance privileges

# Service management
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl status *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl restart *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl start *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl stop *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl enable *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl disable *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl is-active *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl is-enabled *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl list-units *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/systemctl daemon-reload

# Log inspection
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/journalctl *

# Network diagnostics (if needed)
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/lsof *

Commands that do NOT need sudo (the didactyl user can run these directly):

free -h — memory usage
df -h — disk usage
uptime — load averages
top -bn1 — process snapshot
ps aux — process list
cat /proc/cpuinfo — CPU info
cat /proc/meminfo — memory info
ss -tlnp — listening ports (as unprivileged user, shows own processes)
uname -a — kernel info
w — who is logged in

Step 5: Create the systemd Unit File

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/didactyl.service << 'EOF'
[Unit]
Description=Didactyl Sovereign Nostr Agent
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=didactyl
Group=didactyl
WorkingDirectory=/home/didactyl

ExecStart=/home/didactyl/didactyl --config /home/didactyl/genesis.jsonc --debug 3

# --- Privilege & Sandbox ---
# Must be false — sudo needs to escalate privileges
NoNewPrivileges=false

# Protect filesystem: read-only except for agent home
ProtectSystem=strict
ReadWritePaths=/home/didactyl

# Must be false — the agent's home IS its workspace
ProtectHome=false

# Isolate /tmp
PrivateTmp=yes

# --- Environment ---
Environment=SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

# --- Restart Policy ---
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=10

# --- Logging ---
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
SyslogIdentifier=didactyl

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Important systemd notes:

Directive	Value	Reason
`NoNewPrivileges`	`false`	Required for `sudo` to work from `popen()`
`ProtectSystem`	`strict`	Makes `/usr`, `/boot`, `/etc` read-only
`ReadWritePaths`	`/home/didactyl`	Whitelist the agent's home for writes
`ProtectHome`	`false`	The agent lives in `/home/` — can't protect it from itself
`PrivateTmp`	`yes`	Isolates `/tmp` so other processes can't snoop
`SSL_CERT_FILE`	path to CA bundle	Required for TLS connections to relays and LLM API

Step 6: Enable and Start

# Reload systemd to pick up the new unit
sudo systemctl daemon-reload

# Enable auto-start on boot
sudo systemctl enable didactyl

# Start the agent
sudo systemctl start didactyl

# Verify it's running
sudo systemctl status didactyl

# Watch logs in real-time
sudo journalctl -u didactyl -f

Step 7: Verify the Agent is Working

Check systemd status:
```
sudo systemctl status didactyl
```
Should show active (running).
Check logs for relay connections:
```
sudo journalctl -u didactyl --no-pager -n 50
```
Look for relay connection messages and "EOSE" (End of Stored Events).
Send a test DM via Nostr: From your admin Nostr client, send an encrypted DM to the agent's npub:
```
What is the server uptime?
```
The agent should call local_shell_exec with uptime and reply with the result.

Test sudo access:

What services are running? Use systemctl list-units --type=service --state=running

Check the local API (from the server itself):
```
curl http://127.0.0.1:8484/api/context
```

Updating the Agent

To update Didactyl to a new version:

# Stop the service
sudo systemctl stop didactyl

# Replace the binary
sudo cp didactyl_static_x86_64_new /home/didactyl/didactyl
sudo chown didactyl:didactyl /home/didactyl/didactyl
sudo chmod 755 /home/didactyl/didactyl

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start didactyl

The agent's identity, skills, and memory live on Nostr — replacing the binary doesn't lose any state.

Expanding Privileges

The sudoers file is the single control point for what the agent can do with elevated privileges. To grant additional capabilities:

sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/didactyl

Examples of additional privileges you might add:

# Package management (careful!)
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt update
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt install *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/apt upgrade -y

# Docker management
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/docker ps *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/docker restart *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/docker logs *

# Firewall inspection
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/ufw status *
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/iptables -L *

# Nginx/Apache config test
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/nginx -t
didactyl ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/sbin/apachectl configtest

Customizing the Agent's Personality for Server Maintenance

The agent's behavior is defined by its default skill content in genesis.jsonc (the default_skill.content field). For a server maintenance role, you should customize the soul/skill to include instructions like:

What services it's responsible for monitoring
How frequently to check (via triggered skills)
What constitutes an alert-worthy condition
How to format status reports
Which sudo commands are available to it
Escalation procedures (when to alert you vs. auto-fix)

This is a skill/prompt engineering task that can be done after the base installation is working.

Quick Reference

File Locations

File	Path	Permissions
Binary	`/home/didactyl/didactyl`	`755 didactyl:didactyl`
Config	`/home/didactyl/genesis.jsonc`	`600 didactyl:didactyl`
Home directory	`/home/didactyl/`	`750 didactyl:didactyl`
systemd unit	`/etc/systemd/system/didactyl.service`	`644 root:root`
sudoers	`/etc/sudoers.d/didactyl`	`440 root:root`

Common Commands

# Service management
sudo systemctl start didactyl
sudo systemctl stop didactyl
sudo systemctl restart didactyl
sudo systemctl status didactyl

# Logs
sudo journalctl -u didactyl -f          # follow live
sudo journalctl -u didactyl --since today
sudo journalctl -u didactyl -n 100      # last 100 lines

# Check agent's local API
curl http://127.0.0.1:8484/api/context

# Edit sudo permissions
sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/didactyl

# Edit config (stop service first)
sudo systemctl stop didactyl
sudo -u didactyl nano /home/didactyl/genesis.jsonc
sudo systemctl start didactyl

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