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docs(hermes): document namespace addressability and fix stale claims

Browse Source 
New page Architecture/Container Network Namespaces.md: which local services are
addressable from which Podman network namespace on Dankclaw (rootless podman +
netavark). Verified live 2026-09-02: gateway/webui/CDP run in the host netns and
dial loopback; hermes-dashboard is the only Hermes container on a bridge network
(dankclaw_default, 10.89.1.0/24 gw 10.89.1.1) and can dial published ports only —
unpublished host-netns listeners (signal-cli :8080, webui :8787) are refused from
that namespace even though both bind 0.0.0.0.

Corrected while verifying the above:
- Hermes.md: data root is /home/dank/Containers/hermes/data (not the retired
  /home/dank/hermes-data); gateway dials the Signal daemon on loopback; the
  daemon itself is a host user unit (signal-cli-daemon.service) bound to
  0.0.0.0:8080, so the Signal HTTP API is LAN-reachable.
- Hermes-Dashboard.md: it is a Quadlet unit (Network=dankclaw_default), not a
  compose service; data root + /opt/data anonymous volume corrected.
- Hermes-WebUI.md: binds 0.0.0.0:8787 in the host netns (verified: unauthenticated
  GET /health from another LAN machine returned 200) — the SSH tunnel is an access
  path, not a containment boundary; HealthCmd and data-path corrections.
- Network Architecture.md: no hermes vhost exists in either the tracked or the live
  Caddyfile (hermes.franksdank.cloud resolves but routes nowhere); SearXNG exits the
  tunnel via the shared named network searxng.network, not service:gluetun.

Docs only — deploy is a no-op for this change.
This commit is contained in:
Frank
2026-09-02 16:10:57 -07:00
parent 834ad54112
commit 2e179b024d
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serverAppConfigs-docs/Architecture/Container Network Namespaces.md
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---
type: reference
title: Container Network Namespaces
description: Which local services are addressable from which Podman network namespace on
Dankclaw, and why bridge-network containers cannot dial host-netns loopback listeners.
tags:
- networking
- podman
- netavark
- rootless
- dankclaw
timestamp: 2026-09-02
---
# Container Network Namespaces
On a rootless-Podman host, "talk to a local service" is not one question — it is
one question **per network namespace**. A container in the host network
namespace sees every host listener on `127.0.0.1`; a container on a bridge
network does not, and cannot be made to by name or by loopback. This page is the
address map for Dankclaw (192.168.0.143) and the rule that explains it.
## The rule
A container only reaches services that are reachable **from inside its own
network namespace**:
- `Network=host` → the container *is* in the host netns. It dials other host
services on loopback (`127.0.0.1:PORT`) and binds any free port itself.
- `Network=<name>.network` / `Network=dankclaw_default` (bridge, netavark) → the
container has its own netns. Loopback inside it is **its own** loopback. The
only host address it can dial is the network's gateway IP, and on a rootless
host that path is served by `rootlessport`, which forwards **published port
maps only**. An unpublished host listener is refused immediately (RST), not
routed.
- Container DNS names (`gitea-server`, `authentik-postgres`, `valkey`) resolve
**only inside the network that owns them**, so a container on another network
can never reach a peer by name — see the naming quirk below.
## Live address map (Dankclaw, verified 2026-09-02)
| Container | `NetworkMode` | Reachable from it |
|---|---|---|
| `systemd-hermes` (gateway) | `host` | everything on the host netns, incl. signal-cli at `127.0.0.1:8080` and the webui on `:8787` |
| `hermes-webui` | `host` | same; binds `0.0.0.0:8787`, so it is LAN-reachable, not loopback-only |
| `chrome-devtools-protocol` | `host` | binds `127.0.0.1:9222` — deliberately loopback-only, unreachable from the LAN and from bridge nets |
| `hermes-dashboard` | `dankclaw_default` (bridge) | only published ports, via the gateway IP `10.89.1.1` |
`Network=` values are read from the live Quadlet sources in
`/home/dank/.config/containers/systemd/*.container`; runtime network names on the
host at the same date were `podman`, `dankclaw_default`, `systemd-gitea`,
`systemd-searxng`, `systemd-open-webui`.
Two consequences that are easy to miss:
1. **The Hermes gateway can dial the Signal daemon on loopback only because it
runs in the host netns.** The dashboard — same image, same `/data` — cannot;
it shares state through the bind mount instead, never over the network.
2. **Caddy sits on `dankclaw_default`**, so every upstream it proxies must be
reachable from that network by **IP + published port**. Cross-network traffic
by container DNS name is not available to it: `gitea-server` lives on
`systemd-gitea`, `valkey` on `systemd-searxng`, and neither resolves from
Caddy's namespace. That is why Gitea is fronted as `IP:3000` and SearXNG as
`:8081` rather than by service name.
## Naming quirk: `<name>.network` becomes `systemd-<name>`
A Quadlet `Network=gitea.network` yields a runtime network named
**`systemd-gitea`**, not `gitea`. Probe with `podman network ls`, never by the
filename, or health checks and `Network-Alias` plans target a network that does
not exist.
## Verification recipe (read-only)
```bash
# which containers are on which network? (`podman network inspect` in this
# podman version has no `.containers` field, so list from the container side)
podman ps -a --format '{{.Names}} {{.Networks}}' # empty Networks = host or shared netns
# what listens on the host netns, and who owns it?
sudo ss -ltnp 'sport = :8080'
# what can a bridge-net container actually dial? run the probe inside its netns
podman exec <name> cat /proc/net/route # default route → gateway IP
podman exec <name> sh -c 'timeout 2 bash -c "exec 3<>/dev/tcp/10.89.1.1/8080"; echo rc=$?'
```
Verified outcomes of that recipe on 2026-09-02: from inside `hermes-dashboard`,
`10.89.1.1:3000` (Gitea, published), `:8081` (SearXNG via Gluetun's netns,
published) and `:9119` (its own published port) connect; `:8080` and `:8787`
are **refused instantly** even though both listeners are bound to `0.0.0.0` in
the host netns. Probes to `host.containers.internal` (`169.254.1.2`) from that
network time out rather than refuse — the alias is an address on the *default*
`podman` network, and this container is not on it.
## Operational rules
- Health checks for a bridge-network service must target a **published** port (or
run via `podman exec` inside the unit), never `localhost:<port>` from the
host — and never the reverse either: the deployer's health probe runs on the
host, so it sees host-netns listeners that the container itself cannot dial.
- To give a bridge-net container access to a host-netns listener, the options
are (a) move it to `Network=host`, or (b) publish the needed port. Option (b)
makes that port reachable from every netns and from the LAN — an exposure
change that needs operator approval before deployment, not a silent fix.
- `chrome-devtools-protocol` is intentionally `Network=host` with a loopback-only
bind so the browser tool stays unreachable from the LAN; do not "tidy" it onto
a bridge network — its two consumers (gateway, webui) are host-netns and reach
it on loopback.
## Exposure note: signal-cli-daemon is a host process, not a container
`signal-cli-daemon.service` runs as a **user** unit for `dank`
(`systemctl --user cat signal-cli-daemon.service`) with
`org.asamk.signal.Main --account <redacted> daemon --http 0.0.0.0:8080`. The
bind is all-interfaces, so the daemon's HTTP API is reachable from anywhere on
the LAN; verified from a second LAN machine with an unauthenticated
`GET /v1/version` → `HTTP 404` and body `<h1>404 Not Found</h1>No context found
for request` (Micronaut's no-route response), i.e. the socket answers to
strangers. The Hermes gateway in the host netns dials it on loopback, which is
the only reason a non-loopback bind is not *required* by any consumer here —
see [[Hermes]] for the consumer side.
## See Also
- [[Hermes]] — the gateway + Signal daemon this page's address map is keyed on
- [[Hermes-Dashboard]] — the one Hermes container that is *not* in the host netns
- [[Hermes-WebUI]] — host-netns service with a `0.0.0.0` bind and password-only auth
- [[Network Architecture]] — the Caddy/Anubis/Authentik front door this map feeds
serverAppConfigs-docs/Architecture/Network Architecture.md
+11 -4
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@@ -28,7 +28,6 @@ graph TB
AUTH -->|session valid, provider internal_host| POST[Caddy post-auth listener :8017]
POST --> HOME[Homepage file_server]
POST --> SEARCH[SearXNG via Gluetun netns :8081]
POST --> HERMES[Hermes :8090]
POST --> PROM[Prometheus :9090]
DIRECT -->|3000 + ssh 2222| GITEA[Gitea]
DIRECT -->|3005| OWEBUI[OpenWebUI]
@@ -56,7 +55,7 @@ graph TB
DIRECT --> ARR
```
Guarded (through Anubis): homepage, search, hermes, prometheus, romm, files.
Guarded (through Anubis): homepage, search, prometheus, romm, files.
Exempt by construction: `auth.` (the IdP login itself), plex (plain HTTP),
gitea (git smart-HTTP clients cannot solve JS challenges — `/info/refs` and
`git-*-pack` pass unchallenged), grafana (own auth).
@@ -78,7 +77,14 @@ Caddy holds one Let's Encrypt certificate per vhost, issued and renewed through
## Gluetun Path (SearXNG only)
SearXNG attaches to the Gluetun network namespace (`network_mode: service:gluetun`). Only SearXNG shares the tunnel. Everything else on Dankclaw uses the normal LAN route. This matches KB Pattern 2 in [[Gluetun]].
`gluetun.container`, `searxng.container` and `searxng-valkey.container` all set
`Network=searxng.network` in their Quadlet sources (runtime network
`systemd-searxng`); only those three share the tunnel. The old compose idiom
(`network_mode: service:gluetun`) is gone — a shared named network is what
carries SearXNG's outbound traffic through the VPN exit. Everything else on
Dankclaw uses the normal LAN route. This matches KB Pattern 2 in [[Gluetun]].
See [[Container Network Namespaces]] for which addresses are reachable from that
namespace (none of the unpublished host-netns listeners).
## Access Policy
@@ -92,4 +98,5 @@ SearXNG attaches to the Gluetun network namespace (`network_mode: service:gluetu
- [[Caddy]] — vhost map, TLS, basic auth
- [[Dankserver Stack]], [[Dankclaw Stack]]
- [[Gluetun]]
- Knowledge base: [[Gluetun]], [[SearXNG]]
- Knowledge base: [[Gluetun]], [[SearXNG]]
- [[Container Network Namespaces]] — who can dial what on Dankclaw (host netns vs bridge nets)
serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/Hermes-Dashboard.md
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@@ -12,17 +12,36 @@ The Hermes web dashboard is a browser UI for managing the agent. It shows config
| Command | `hermes dashboard --host 0.0.0.0 --port 9119 --no-open --skip-build` |
| Port | `9119` (published to the LAN) |
| Auth | HTTP basic auth (username + scrypt password hash) |
| Data | shares `/home/dank/hermes-data` with the gateway |
| Data | bind mount `/home/dank/Containers/hermes/data` → `/data`, shared with the gateway; plus a fresh anonymous volume at `/opt/data` per recreation |
## Why a separate container
The gateway container runs `hermes gateway run` (the Signal platform). That entrypoint does not start the dashboard. The dashboard is a separate process. So it runs in its own compose service (`hermes-dashboard`). Both services mount the same data volume. Both restart at boot (`restart: unless-stopped`).
The gateway container runs `hermes gateway run` (the Signal platform). That
entrypoint does not start the dashboard. The dashboard is a separate process, so
it runs in its own Quadlet unit
([`dankclaw/hermes/quadlet/hermes-dashboard.container`](../../dankclaw/hermes/quadlet/hermes-dashboard.container):
image `localhost/hermes-agent:latest`, `Pull=never`, `Exec=hermes dashboard
--host 0.0.0.0 --port 9119 --no-open --skip-build`, `Restart=always`,
`RestartSec=5`). All three Hermes containers mount the same `/data` bind mount.
Unlike its two siblings — `hermes.container` and `hermes-webui.container` both
run with `Network=host` — the dashboard is the only Hermes container on a bridge
network (`Network=dankclaw_default`, subnet `10.89.1.0/24`, gateway `10.89.1.1`).
That has a functional consequence: from inside its namespace it can dial only
published ports via the gateway IP, and `host.containers.internal`
(`169.254.1.2`) is an alias on the *default* `podman` network that this container
is not attached to, so probes to it time out. It therefore never talks to the
gateway, the webui, or the CDP daemon over the network — it shares their state
through the bind mount instead. See [[Container Network Namespaces]].
## Authentication
The dashboard refuses to bind to a non-loopback address without an auth provider. There is no unauthenticated public bind. This repo uses basic auth:
- `dashboard.basic_auth.username` and `dashboard.basic_auth.password_hash` live in the live `/home/dank/hermes-data/config.yaml`; the tracked backup at `dankclaw/hermes/config.yaml.example` intentionally omits the password hash.
- `dashboard.basic_auth.username` and `dashboard.basic_auth.password_hash` live in
the live `/data/config.yaml` (host path
`/home/dank/Containers/hermes/data/config.yaml`); the tracked backup at
`dankclaw/hermes/config.yaml.example` intentionally omits the password hash.
- The stored value is a one-way scrypt hash. The plaintext password is never written to a file or the repo.
- The hash is generated with `plugins.dashboard_auth.basic.hash_password`.
@@ -39,3 +58,4 @@ Open `http://192.168.0.143:9119` in a browser on the LAN. Log in with the config
## See Also
- [[Hermes-WebUI]] — the phone-facing API server (Hermex)
- [[Container Network Namespaces]] — why this container cannot dial the gateway, webui, or CDP daemon
serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/Hermes-WebUI.md
+33 -17
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@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
---
type: configuration
title: Hermes-WebUI (Hermex server)
description: The hermes-webui compose service on Dankclaw — the loopback-only API server that the Hermex iPhone app talks to over an SSH tunnel.
description: The hermes-webui container on Dankclaw — the API server that the Hermex iPhone app talks to, reachable over an SSH tunnel and, because it binds all interfaces, from the whole LAN.
tags:
- hermes
- hermes-webui
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ the Hermes agent in-process from the shared `HERMES_HOME`, so it is the *same*
agent — same memory, skills, and sessions — as the [[Hermes]] gateway and the
[[Hermes-Dashboard]].
**Host:** Dankclaw — **Port:** `127.0.0.1:8787` (loopback only) — **Ingress:** SSH tunnel
**Host:** Dankclaw — **Port:** `0.0.0.0:8787` (all interfaces) — **Ingress:** SSH tunnel for the phone app; direct LAN access also works
## Facts
@@ -27,11 +27,11 @@ agent — same memory, skills, and sessions — as the [[Hermes]] gateway and th
|------|-------|
| Image | `docker.io/nousresearch/hermes-agent:latest` (same as the gateway) |
| Command | `python3 /webui/bootstrap.py --foreground` |
| Source checkout | `/home/dank/hermes-webui` on Dankclaw (mounted at `/webui`) |
| Port | `8787`, published to `127.0.0.1` only |
| Source checkout | `/home/dank/Containers/hermes/webui` on Dankclaw, bind-mounted at `/webui` |
| Port | `8787`, bound to `0.0.0.0` in the **host** network namespace (`Network=host`) — LAN-reachable, not loopback-only |
| Auth | `HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD` (host `.env`; Hermex signs in with it) |
| Data | shares `/home/dank/hermes-data` with the gateway and dashboard |
| Health | `GET /health` (compose healthcheck + deployer) |
| Data | bind mount `/home/dank/Containers/hermes/data` → `/data`, shared with the gateway and dashboard; anonymous volume at `/opt/data` |
| Health | `HealthCmd=` in the Quadlet unit probes `http://127.0.0.1:8787/health` from inside the unit (works because the webui runs in the host netns); the deployer probes the same path from the host |
## Why a container, not a host process
@@ -56,9 +56,15 @@ gateway's `0600` state files.
## Remote access (Hermex on iOS — persistent SSH tunnel)
Only port `22` is forwarded to Dankclaw at the router, so the webui is
reached through an SSH **local forward** — no extra router ports, no
third-party relay (no Tailscale, no Cloudflare). Implemented 2026-08-31:
Only port `22` is forwarded to Dankclaw at the router, so the phone reaches the
webui through an SSH **local forward** — no extra router ports, no third-party
relay (no Tailscale, no Cloudflare). Implemented 2026-08-31. The tunnel is an
*access path* for the phone, **not** a containment boundary: the server binds
`0.0.0.0:8787`, so any host that can route to `192.168.0.143` can reach the API
directly and needs only `HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD` to get in (verified 2026-09-02:
an unauthenticated `GET /health` from another LAN machine returned HTTP 200).
See [[Container Network Namespaces]] for why the webui is reachable this way and
the sibling dashboard on `9119` is not.
- Dedicated `tunnel` account on Dankclaw (`/usr/sbin/nologin` shell, password
locked). Authentication is key-only; the account can do nothing except
@@ -88,8 +94,8 @@ third-party relay (no Tailscale, no Cloudflare). Implemented 2026-08-31:
graph LR
A[Hermex app] -->|http://localhost:8787| B[SSH local forward on iPhone<br/>persistent via personal VPN]
B ==>|encrypted SSH to port 22| C[Dankclaw sshd<br/>tunnel user, forced nologin]
C --> D["hermes-webui 127.0.0.1:8787"]
D --> E["/home/dank/hermes-data (shared agent state)"]
C --> D["hermes-webui 0.0.0.0:8787 (host netns)"]
D --> E["/home/dank/Containers/hermes/data (shared agent state)"]
```
## Deployment
@@ -98,8 +104,11 @@ graph LR
./scripts/deploy.sh dankclaw --service hermes-webui
```
The planner maps changes to the `hermes-webui` compose block (and only that
block) to this service, so gateway and inference restarts stay isolated.
`deploy.sh` copies `dankclaw/hermes/quadlet/*.container` into the quadlet unit
directory and restarts `hermes.service`, `hermes-dashboard.service` and
`hermes-webui.service` in the **user** manager of `dank` (linger must be on for
them to come up at boot), so gateway/dashboard/webui restarts stay isolated from
inference deploys.
Before first deploy, set a strong `HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD` in the live
`dankclaw/.env`.
@@ -107,10 +116,16 @@ Before first deploy, set a strong `HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD` in the live
- The `/webui` mount is **rw on purpose**: `bootstrap.py` creates `.venv` in
the repo root. Do not flip it to `:ro`.
- Never publish `8787` beyond loopback without keeping the password set —
the webui can run agent commands.
- The webui and the gateway share one data volume. A config change made on one
side takes effect when the other restarts (same caveat as the dashboard).
- The webui binds `0.0.0.0:8787` today, so the SSH tunnel is an access path for
the phone, not a security boundary: any LAN host that can route to
`192.168.0.143` reaches the API and needs only `HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD`. The
webui can run agent commands, so treat that password as a credential with
command-execution blast radius. To make loopback-only binding true again, set
`HERMES_WEBUI_HOST=127.0.0.1` in the unit and require the tunnel for every
client — that is an exposure change to decide deliberately, not a silent fix.
- The webui and the gateway share one data root (`/data` is a bind mount of
`/home/dank/Containers/hermes/data`). A config change made on one side takes
effect when the other restarts (same caveat as the dashboard).
- `bootstrap.py` auto-installs a Hermes Agent if it cannot find one; in this
image the agent is already present, so that path should never fire. If the
log shows an install attempt, the image changed — re-verify the entrypoint.
@@ -125,3 +140,4 @@ Before first deploy, set a strong `HERMES_WEBUI_PASSWORD` in the live
- [[Hermes]] — the agent and its Signal gateway
- [[Hermes-Dashboard]] — the LAN browser management UI
- [[Dankclaw Stack]]
- [[Container Network Namespaces]] — why this host-netns service is LAN-reachable
serverAppConfigs-docs/Dankclaw/Hermes.md
+17 -6
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@@ -4,8 +4,11 @@ Hermes is the self-improving AI agent from Nous Research. It runs in a terminal,
**Host:** Dankclaw — **Hostname:** `hermes.dankclaw.local` — **Docs:** https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/docs
**Persistent state:** `/home/dank/hermes-data` on Dankclaw, mounted as `/data` in
both containers. The tracked, sanitized configuration baseline is
**Persistent state:** `/home/dank/Containers/hermes/data` on Dankclaw, bind-mounted
at `/data` in all three Hermes containers (gateway, webui, dashboard). Each
container additionally gets an anonymous volume at `/opt/data`, which is
re-created empty on every container recreation — anything that lives only there
is not durable. The tracked, sanitized configuration baseline is
[`dankclaw/hermes/config.yaml.example`](../../dankclaw/hermes/config.yaml.example).
## Facts (from research, primary source)
@@ -22,7 +25,12 @@ both containers. The tracked, sanitized configuration baseline is
## Configuration
- Point Hermes at the local model endpoint or an external provider through its provider config.
- The gateway process exposes one port for chat integration; the exact port is set in the Hermes config (`8090` convention in this repo).
- The gateway runs `hermes gateway run --force -v` in the **host** network
namespace (`Network=host` in its Quadlet unit) and reaches the Signal daemon at
`http://127.0.0.1:8080`. That loopback hop works only because the gateway is in
the host netns — see [[Container Network Namespaces]]. The daemon itself is a
**host** user unit (`signal-cli-daemon.service`), not a container, and binds
`0.0.0.0:8080`, so the Signal HTTP API is reachable from the whole LAN.
- The data volume persists skills, memory, and session history.
- Hermes has two named local providers: `dankclaw-large` reaches
`http://192.168.0.143:7770/v1` and exposes `frank-default-large`;
@@ -33,9 +41,11 @@ both containers. The tracked, sanitized configuration baseline is
## Volumes
| Container path | Host path (convention) |
|----------------|------------------------|
| `/data` | `/home/dank/hermes-data` |
| Container path | Host path (live) | Backing |
|----------------|------------------|---------|
| `/data` | `/home/dank/Containers/hermes/data` | bind mount (durable; shared by all three containers) |
| `/webui` | `/home/dank/Containers/hermes/webui` | bind mount (webui only — the `bootstrap.py` venv lives here) |
| `/opt/data` | anonymous volume | image `VOLUME`; fresh empty volume per recreation |
## Gotchas
@@ -64,3 +74,4 @@ restart) pays one first-call npm download; subsequent calls are cached.
- [[Dankclaw Stack]]
- [[OpenWebUI]] — the chat UI that pairs with Hermes
- Knowledge base: [[SearXNG]] (Hermes as the search agent)
- [[Container Network Namespaces]] — why the gateway and webui can dial loopback services and the dashboard cannot
serverAppConfigs-docs/index.md
+1
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@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ covers both workloads).
- [[Deployment Flow]] — service-scoped git deploy, target map, and health checks
- [[Testing Policy]] — the test seams and how to run them
- [[E2E Suite]] — the Playwright suite that drives the live guard chain
- [[Container Network Namespaces]] — which local services are addressable from each Podman network namespace on Dankclaw
## Dankserver Storage