Deploy Julian

Deploy Julian to an exe.xyz VM. Two paths: provision a new VM or update an existing one. The instance registry at

deploy/instances.json

tracks which VMs have been provisioned.

Target VM

Determine the target VM name:

1. If

   $ARGUMENTS

   is provided, use it as the VM name (e.g.,

   /julian:deploy screen-test

   )
2. If no arguments, derive from current git branch:

   julian-<branch>

   (e.g., branch

   screen

   →

   julian-screen

   )
3. Strip any characters not valid in hostnames (keep alphanumeric and hyphens)

PRODUCTION SAFETY: If the resolved VM name is exactly

julian

(the production instance), STOP and warn the user before proceeding. Only proceed after explicit confirmation.

Routing: Provision or Update?

Read

deploy/instances.json

. If the target VM name exists in the registry, run the Update path. Otherwise, run the Provision path.

If

deploy/instances.json

doesn't exist, create it as

{}

.

---

Path A: Provision (New VM)

Full first-time setup. Run all steps in order.

Pre-flight

1. Get current git branch:

   git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

2. Pull Julian's changes locally:

   git pull

   (stop on merge conflicts)
3. Check for uncommitted changes:

   git status --porcelain

   (warn but don't block)
4. Push to GitHub:

   git push

5. Print target: VM name and URL (

   https://<vmname>.exe.xyz/

   )

OIDC Pre-flight

Read the local

.env

file and check for

VITE_OIDC_AUTHORITY

:

• If present (HTTPS URL): Extract the value for later. Proceed.
• If missing or invalid: STOP and guide the user:
  • Option A: Run

    /vibes:connect

    to set up Connect + Pocket ID end-to-end
  • Option B: Manually add

    VITE_OIDC_AUTHORITY=https://studio.exe.xyz/auth

    and

    VITE_OIDC_CLIENT_ID=<id>

    to

    .env

Step P1: Create VM

IMPORTANT: All SSH commands targeting the VM must include

-o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new

.

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new -o ConnectTimeout=5 <vmname>.exe.xyz echo ok

If unreachable, create it:

ssh exe.dev new --name=<vmname>
ssh exe.dev share set-public <vmname>

Wait for boot (up to 90 seconds):

for i in $(seq 1 9); do
  ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new -o ConnectTimeout=5 <vmname>.exe.xyz echo ok && break
  echo "Attempt $i failed, retrying in 10s..."
  sleep 10
done

Step P2: Install system dependencies

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash && sudo apt-get update -qq && sudo apt-get install -y npm inotify-tools"

Step P3: Set up directory structure

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "sudo mkdir -p /opt/julian && sudo chown exedev:exedev /opt/julian && mkdir -p /home/exedev/mailbox"

Step P4: Generate deploy key and clone repo

Generate an SSH key for push access:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/julian-deploy -N '' -C '<vmname>-deploy'"

Configure SSH to use it for GitHub:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && cat >> ~/.ssh/config << 'SSHEOF'
Host github.com
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/julian-deploy
  StrictHostKeyChecking accept-new
SSHEOF"

Add the deploy key to GitHub with write access:

DEPLOY_KEY=$(ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cat ~/.ssh/julian-deploy.pub")
gh repo deploy-key add - --repo popmechanic/Julian --title "<vmname>-deploy" --allow-write <<< "$DEPLOY_KEY"

If the key title already exists, skip — it's fine.

Clone the repo and configure git identity:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "git clone git@github.com:popmechanic/Julian.git /opt/julian"
ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cd /opt/julian && git config user.name 'Julian' && git config user.email 'julian@exe.xyz'"

Step P5: Install dependencies

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cd /opt/julian && /home/exedev/.bun/bin/bun install"

Step P6: Create .env

Use the

VITE_OIDC_AUTHORITY

and

VITE_OIDC_CLIENT_ID

from pre-flight (do NOT hardcode):

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cat > /opt/julian/.env << 'ENVEOF'
VITE_OIDC_AUTHORITY=<value from local .env>
VITE_OIDC_CLIENT_ID=<value from local .env>
ALLOWED_ORIGIN=https://<vmname>.exe.xyz
ENVEOF"

Step P6b: Configure Claude Code settings

Enable Agent Teams (disabled by default) so Julian can spawn and manage agent teammates:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "mkdir -p /home/exedev/.claude && cat > /home/exedev/.claude/settings.json << 'SETTINGSEOF'
{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS": "1"
  }
}
SETTINGSEOF"

Step P7: Install and start systemd services

scp deploy/julian.service <vmname>.exe.xyz:/tmp/
scp deploy/julian-screen.service <vmname>.exe.xyz:/tmp/
ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "sudo cp /tmp/julian.service /etc/systemd/system/ && \
  sudo cp /tmp/julian-screen.service /etc/systemd/system/ && \
  sudo systemctl daemon-reload && \
  sudo systemctl enable --now julian julian-screen"

Step P8: Register instance

Add the VM to

deploy/instances.json

:

{
  "<vmname>": {
    "url": "https://<vmname>.exe.xyz",
    "provisioned": "<ISO 8601 timestamp>",
    "branch": "<git branch used for first deploy>"
  }
}

Read the existing file, merge the new entry, write it back. Commit and push the updated registry so other machines know about it:

git add deploy/instances.json
git commit -m "Register <vmname> instance"
git push

Step P9: Verify

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "systemctl is-active julian julian-screen"
curl -sf https://<vmname>.exe.xyz/ | head -5
curl -sf https://<vmname>.exe.xyz/api/health

Report: URL, service status, and remind user that Anthropic credentials need one-time setup on new instances.

---

Path B: Update (Existing VM)

Fast path — just sync code and restart. This is the common case.

Pre-flight

1. Pull Julian's changes locally:

   git pull

   (stop on merge conflicts)
2. Check for uncommitted changes:

   git status --porcelain

   (warn but don't block)
3. Push to GitHub:

   git push

4. Print target: VM name and URL

Change analysis

Before deploying, assess the scope of changes. Get the server's current commit and diff it against what you're about to deploy:

SERVER_HEAD=$(ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cd /opt/julian && git rev-parse HEAD")
git diff --stat $SERVER_HEAD HEAD
git diff --name-only $SERVER_HEAD HEAD

Classify the deploy based on what changed:

Content only (soul/, memory/, catalog.xml, docs/):

• Safe. Tell the user: "Content-only update — safe to deploy directly."
• Proceed without prompting.

Small code change (1-3 files changed in server/ or frontend, under ~100 lines total):

• Low risk. Tell the user: "Small code update — deploying to <vmname>."
• Proceed without prompting.

Large code change (4+ files changed, or 200+ lines, or structural changes to server.ts):

• Higher risk. Tell the user the scope, e.g.: "This is a larger change — 8 files, ~350 lines, including server.ts changes."
• If the target is production (

  julian

  ), suggest: "Want to deploy to a fresh test VM first? I can provision one with

  /julian:deploy test

  ."
• If the target is already a non-production VM, proceed — that's what test VMs are for.

Dependency change (package.json modified):

• Note it: "package.json changed — will run bun install."
• If combined with large code changes on production, reinforce the test VM suggestion.

No changes (server is already on the same commit):

• Tell the user: "Server is already up to date (commit <hash>). Nothing to deploy."
• Skip the deploy entirely.

Step U1: Pull latest code

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cd /opt/julian && git pull"

If git pull fails because Julian has uncommitted changes:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cd /opt/julian && git stash && git pull && git stash pop"

If there are merge conflicts after stash pop, report them to the user.

Step U2: Install dependencies (if needed)

Check if

package.json

changed in the pull:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cd /opt/julian && git diff HEAD~1 --name-only 2>/dev/null | grep -q package.json && echo changed || echo unchanged"

If changed (or if in doubt), run:

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "cd /opt/julian && /home/exedev/.bun/bin/bun install"

Step U3: Restart services

ssh -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new <vmname>.exe.xyz "sudo systemctl restart julian julian-screen"

Step U4: Verify

curl -sf https://<vmname>.exe.xyz/api/health

Confirm the

version

field in the health response matches the current git hash. Report the URL and version.

---

Error Recovery

• DNS not resolving after 90 seconds: Run

  ssh exe.dev list

  to verify VM exists. If it does, wait longer or check exe.dev status.
• Service won't start: Usually missing Bun. Check

  ssh <vmname>.exe.xyz "/home/exedev/.bun/bin/bun --version"

  .
• Connection refused on port 8000: Check logs:

  ssh <vmname>.exe.xyz "journalctl -u julian -n 20 --no-pager"

  . Common causes: missing Bun, missing

  jose

  dependency.
• git pull/push auth error: Deploy key issue. Check

  ssh <vmname>.exe.xyz "ssh -T git@github.com"

  . Re-run Step P4 if needed.
• git pull merge conflict: Julian has uncommitted changes. Stash first (see Step U1).
• Instance in registry but VM gone: Remove the entry from

  deploy/instances.json

  and re-run — it will take the Provision path.
• 401 on

  /tokens/with-email

  : Missing OIDC JWT configuration. Check Pocket ID admin panel for proper token template setup.
• VM creation fails: Check exe.dev status, retry once.