Connecting your AI

Once your assistant is connected, you run your hosting by describing what you want in a chat window. You say "list my projects", "set up WordPress", "deploy this repository" or "this site is broken, what happened?", and it does the work.

You need an installed engine. The installer already printed a Claude Code command. For any other assistant, get yours with Create a token.

Set your assistant up

On your VPS, run pae connect and pick yours with the arrow keys. Each page below has how to check it worked and what usually goes wrong.

Assistant	Page
Claude Code	Set up Claude Code
Claude Desktop	Set up Claude Desktop
Cursor	Set up Cursor
Codex	Set up Codex
ChatGPT Desktop	Set up ChatGPT Desktop
Gemini CLI	Set up Gemini CLI
VS Code / GitHub Copilot	Set up VS Code and Copilot
Grok	Set up Grok
OpenCode	Set up OpenCode
Windsurf	Set up Windsurf
Pi	Set up Pi
Hermes	Set up Hermes
OpenClaw	Set up OpenClaw

Using something else? Any assistant that speaks MCP will work: Connecting other assistants.

Decide what the assistant may do

Read this before you paste a token anywhere.

A token with default permissions can permanently delete an entire project and everything in it, including its files, databases and websites. That is what the engine's own interface can do, and the token grants access to all of it.

The quick way: let the engine ask

pae configure mcp-tokens

What this does: opens the assistant part of Configure the engine. Choose Global scope for checkboxes, whole groups or one group's commands at a time, and one setting for how far a ticked command may go. Tick what every assistant may use, untick what it may not. Nothing is written until you pick Review and save and say yes, and what it replaces is printed so you can put it back. Add --dry-run to see what it would write and write nothing.

pae configure on its own starts one level up, with the address, tokens, the queue, and telemetry.

Use it instead of editing the file by hand. The rest of this section is the reference for the settings it writes, and how to set the same things yourself.

Different limits for different assistants

Everything above applies to the whole engine. To give one assistant less than another, run the same command and choose Tokens. It lists your assistants' tokens, and lets you tick what each one may use. It can only take away. An assistant cannot be given a command the engine is not offering. Ticking everything means "no limit", so that assistant keeps whatever the engine offers. pae mcp:token:list shows the result in its Commands column.

An assistant asked for its command list when it connected, so reconnect it to see the change.

A token minted for an assistant is refused if someone tries to use it against the engine's own API directly, so these limits are not one command away from being stepped around. A token minted for your own software (pae api:token:create) is refused at the assistant endpoint for the same reason. Tokens made before this distinction existed can still do both; mint a new one of the right kind to narrow that.

A token can also be limited to some projects instead of some commands. pae cannot make one, software that calls the engine's API does: A token limited to some projects.

Whatever the limits, a token you no longer trust should be revoked with pae mcp:token:revoke {id}, which stops it everywhere at once.

These settings live in /opt/panelalpha/shared-hosting/.env-core. If you edit that file by hand, the change does nothing until you restart the engine: Change a setting. Either way, an assistant that is already connected keeps the tool list it was given when it connected. Reconnect it to see the change.

How far it may go

Value	What the assistant can do
readonly	Look at what is switched on, change nothing. Inspecting a repository still works. The tools that hand out a password or a login (system_exim_config_get, app_credentials_get) are not offered.
modify	Create and change things, and blocks only DELETE routes. It is not a "no destructive actions" setting: the write tools that are not plain creations (ssh_run, wp_cli_run, backup_restore, file_write, system_update, firewall_disable, project_rebuild) still run.
full	Everything, including deletion. This is the default.

MCP_PERMISSION_MODE=readonly

Which areas it can see

A new install exposes every group. The group names the setting accepts are in the table on Every tool. That is also the default:

MCP_TOOLSETS=all

To limit the assistant to some groups, replace all with a comma-separated list of those names. Do not add one name on top of all: all already includes every group.

An empty value means every group, not none. A setting nobody has touched and one that permits everything are the same thing here, so if you want no group at all, write MCP_TOOLSETS=none. Single tools named in MCP_TOOLS still work on top of that.

If this engine was installed earlier and you never set MCP_TOOLSETS, the assistant now sees every group, including ones it could not see before. Narrow the list if that is more than you want.

One tool from an off group

Use this when you want a single operation from a group you are otherwise leaving off:

MCP_TOOLS=wp_cli_run,project_setting_set

What this does: exposes those tools on top of the groups above. Names must match the tool names on Every tool.

Tools to take away

MCP_DENIED_TOOLS=project_delete,*_delete

What this does: removes those tools no matter what enabled them. * matches a family: project_* is every project tool, *_delete is every delete.

A regular expression, without delimiters, is also accepted as MCP_DENIED_TOOLS_REGEX. An invalid pattern is ignored, so a typo cannot silently disable the denylist.

A tool has to be in an enabled group (or named in MCP_TOOLS), allowed by the permission ceiling, and not denied. Denials always win. Naming a destructive tool in MCP_TOOLS does not get it past MCP_PERMISSION_MODE=readonly.

How many tools the assistant loads

The full list is 225 tools, and an assistant loads every listed tool's description when it connects. That is about 95 KB of text it carries around before you have asked for anything. So by default the engine lists only what deploying, checking and running a project takes, plus two more:

• search_tools finds any other tool by what it does, for example mysql user or cron.
• execute_tools runs the tool it found.

The assistant does this on its own when you ask for something that is not in the short list. Nothing is hidden this way. Everything the settings above allow can still be found and run, and nothing they remove can.

MCP_TOOL_SEARCH=true
MCP_DIRECT_TOOLS=project_get,project_create,project_rebuild,task_get,deploy_log_get

MCP_DIRECT_TOOLS is the short list, comma-separated, with * wildcards. To list every tool directly, as older engines did, set MCP_TOOL_SEARCH=false. Left unset, the short list is:

For	Tools
Overview	metrics_latest, project_list_summary, project_list
Deploying	project_create, project_deploy_archive, file_upload, file_write, project_rebuild, deploy_log_get, deploy_cancel, task_get
Checking	project_get, project_inspect, app_health_check, container_service_logs
Running	project_suspend, project_unsuspend, project_delete, container_project_action, domain_list, domain_create, ssl_cert_request

Large results come back in pieces. deploy_log_get returns about 48 KB of log at a time, and file_download and domain_log_download return about 48 KB of a file at a time, as text when the file is text. Each result says whether there is more and where the next piece starts. Any other result over 256 KB is refused with a note on how to ask for less. The assistant handles this itself.

One thing to know if your assistant asks before it runs a tool: it sees execute_tools, not the tool inside it. If you tell it to always allow execute_tools, you have allowed every tool it can find. Use MCP_PERMISSION_MODE and MCP_DENIED_TOOLS for the limits that must hold. The engine enforces those itself.

These settings only affect the assistant. They do not change the REST API or pae.

Check what is on offer

After a restart:

pae mcp:tool:list

What you should see: a table of tool names, their group, the HTTP verb, and whether each is a read or a write. The summary line is how many are exposed and how many are withheld.

To see what this configuration removes:

pae mcp:tool:list --excluded

To see one group:

pae mcp:tool:list --toolset=projects

Anything missing from the first list is missing for the assistant too.

What to ask

These are not magic phrases. Describe things your own way. They show the level of detail worth giving. If the assistant refuses, you have limited what it may do: Decide what the assistant may do.

See what you already host

List the projects on this engine.

Look after a WordPress site that is already here

List the users on this WordPress site.
Update all plugins on this site.

Backups and domains work on WordPress that is already on this engine. The WordPress user, install and one-click-login actions need a WordPress site in its own container. WP-CLI and changing PHP need traditional PHP hosting: If WordPress is already on this engine.

Change the PHP version on traditional WordPress

What PHP versions can this engine run?
Set shop.example.com to PHP 8.2.

Raise PHP memory on this project

Set PHP memory_limit to 256M on this project.

Deploy a public repository

Deploy my application https://github.com/org/app on this PanelAlpha Engine.

Deploy a private repository

Deploy https://github.com/org/private-app on this PanelAlpha Engine.
The repository is private.

Do not paste the git token into the chat. The assistant sends a link on the engine; open it, paste the token, save, and tell the assistant you are done. Full steps: A private repository.

Check what a repository is before deploying it

Inspect this repository and tell me what stack you detect, without creating
anything: https://github.com/org/app

If it lists more than one way to run the project, you can pick:

Deploy https://github.com/org/app as php

Add your own domain with HTTPS

Add the domain shop.example.com to this project and request a Let's Encrypt
certificate for it.

Point the DNS record at your VPS first, or the certificate request will fail.

Reach a site through Cloudflare

Attach shop.example.com to this project through a Cloudflare tunnel.

Do not paste the Cloudflare API token into the chat. The assistant sends a paste link for it. Full steps: Cloudflare.

Fix a site that is not working

This site does not open. Read the deploy log, check what the site is actually
serving, and fix what you can.

The assistant sees the deploy log, the health checks, and what the site returns from inside your VPS.

Create a database

Create a MySQL database named shop on this project, create a user for it, and
grant that user access.

Back up and restore

Create a backup of this project.
Restore last backup onto this project.

A restore overwrites the live site. Ask to see the list of backups first.

Make a test copy of a live site

Make a staging copy of this project.
Push the staging copy live.

Install WordPress

Install WordPress on this project. Title: My Site. Admin user: admin.
Admin email: [email protected]. Admin password: <password>

Change a setting your application reads

Set DATABASE_URL to <value> on this project and rebuild.

The rebuild matters. Most applications only read their settings when they start.

Check the VPS itself

How much CPU, memory and disk is this host using, and how close is this
project to its limits?

Report that the engine got something wrong

File a bug: the engine treated this project wrongly. Here is what happened
and what should have happened instead.

Open the address the assistant gives you, not the one you expected. If it ends in .local, the site is not reachable from the internet: Domains and HTTPS. When something is wrong, say so in the same conversation rather than starting over.

Troubleshooting

The assistant registered your VPS but will not connect. Almost always the certificate. Your engine is self-signed and the assistant's machine does not trust it. Fixed on your computer, not your VPS: Trust a self-signed certificate.

A 401 error. Wrong token type. Assistants need a token from pae connect or pae mcp:token:create, not pae api:token:create. Or the token was truncated when you copied it.

The assistant says it cannot do something you know the engine can do. The permission settings are filtering it out. Run pae mcp:tool:list on your VPS. Check MCP_PERMISSION_MODE, MCP_TOOLSETS, MCP_TOOLS and MCP_DENIED_TOOLS in .env-core. If the tool is allowed but not in the assistant's list, ask it to look for it with search_tools (see How many tools the assistant loads). Every tool is the full list. That list is not the same as what your assistant is currently allowed to call.

I set a permission mode and everything became read-only. The value must be exactly readonly, modify or full. Anything else is treated as readonly.

The assistant is being rate limited. There is a limit of 60 requests a minute per token. If you hit it routinely, something is probably retrying in a loop rather than doing 60 real operations.

The assistant asked me to paste a git or Cloudflare token in the chat. Do not. Those go on a paste page the assistant should send you: A private repository · Cloudflare.

My assistant can still do something I removed. Your assistant is using a list it loaded earlier. Restart your assistant, then run pae mcp:tool:list on your VPS to see the truth.

Every tool

This is every MCP tool the engine ships: 225 tools, grouped by area. You do not type these names. You describe the work in chat, and the assistant picks the tool.

A project is one hosting account. Every tool takes it as name; what the tools return still calls that value username, the REST API's name for it.

A new install exposes all of them. Every group in the table below is on by default. The group name in the Toolset column is what you put in MCP_TOOLSETS if you want to narrow what the assistant can see. How to turn a group off, add one tool, or deny one: Decide what the assistant may do. What this engine is actually offering:

pae mcp:tool:list

Groups

Group	Toolset	Default	Tools
Engine summaries	engine	On	2
Projects	projects	On	22
Domains	domains	On	8
Domain PHP	domainphp	On	4
Domain ACME	domainacme	On	5
Domain log files	domainlogfiles	On	2
SSL certificates	sslcertificates	On	3
MySQL databases	mysqldatabases	On	5
MySQL users	mysqlusers	On	6
MySQL privileges	mysqlprivileges	On	3
MySQL server	mysqlserver	On	2
FTP accounts	ftpaccounts	On	4
SFTP accounts	sftpaccounts	On	6
Cron jobs	cronjobs	On	4
Files	files	On	15
PHP	php	On	4
Containers	containers	On	5
App users	appusers	On	8
Usage	usage	On	5
WP-CLI	wpcli	On	1
Deploy	deploy	On	7
Proxy rules	proxyrules	On	5
System	system	On	15
Server metrics	servermetrics	On	5
Firewall	firewall	On	12
IP management	ipmanagement	On	6
ModSecurity	modsecurity	On	11
Lighthouse	lighthouse	On	1
Backup stores	backupcontainers	On	6
Bug reports	bugreports	On	1
Backups	backups	On	9
Tunnels	tunnels	On	3
Git	git	On	16
Project settings	projectsettings	On	4
SSH	ssh	On	1
Tasks	tasks	On	4
Secret vault	secretvault	On	5

Engine summaries

Tool	What it does
metrics_latest	The most recent CPU, RAM, disk I/O and network I/O sample. metrics_current is the same reading through the API
project_list_summary	Every hosting project on this VPS: name, status, and how many domains it has. One call, never paginates

Projects

Tool	What it does
app_credentials_get	Get the admin login the engine generated for the deployed application
env_var_list	List the environment variables a container project holds, with the values hidden unless asked for
env_var_set	Set or remove environment variables of a container project, and apply them without a rebuild if asked
project_clone	Clone a project
project_create	Create a new hosting project (async)
project_create_sync	Create a project and wait for the deploy in the same call. Same body as project_create
project_delete	Delete a project and everything in it
project_deploy_archive	Deploy an uploaded zip/tar into ~/project
project_get	Get a project
project_list	List projects (paginated)
project_list_all	List all projects (no pagination)
project_password_set	Set a password visitors must type before they see the site
project_password_unset	Remove that password
project_push	Push project state to a paired staging or live project
project_push_diff	Compare the database tables of a staging project with its live project, without copying anything
project_rebuild	Redeploy a project
project_source_attach	Attach a git repository to a project created without one, and deploy it
project_staging	Create a linked staging mirror of a live project
project_suspend	Suspend a project
project_unsuspend	Unsuspend a project
project_update	Update a project
project_verify_name	Check that a project name is available

Domains

Tool	What it does
domain_create	Add a domain to a project
domain_delete	Delete a domain
domain_find	Get a domain by name (system-wide)
domain_get	Get a domain
domain_list	List domains of a project
domain_mail_dns_get	List and check the mail DNS records of a domain
domain_update	Update a domain
ssl_cert_request	Request a Let's Encrypt certificate for a domain

Domain PHP

Tool	What it does
domain_php_directives_get	Show the PHP settings for one domain. Traditional PHP hosting
domain_php_directives_set	Replace the whole set of PHP settings for one domain. Naming one setting drops the others. An empty set removes them
domain_php_version_get	Get PHP version for a domain
domain_php_version_set	Set PHP version for a domain

Domain ACME

Tool	What it does
acme_challenge_create	Create an HTTP-01 ACME challenge
acme_challenge_delete	Delete a single HTTP-01 ACME challenge
acme_challenge_delete_all	Delete all HTTP-01 ACME challenges for a domain
acme_challenge_get	Get a single HTTP-01 ACME challenge
acme_challenge_list	List HTTP-01 ACME challenges for a domain

Domain log files

Tool	What it does
domain_log_download	Download a domain log file
domain_log_list	List log files for a domain

SSL certificates

Tool	What it does
ssl_cert_get	Get installed SSL cert for a domain
ssl_cert_install	Install a custom SSL certificate on a domain
ssl_cert_list	List installed SSL certificates for the domains of a project

MySQL databases

Tool	What it does
mysql_database_create	Create a MySQL database
mysql_database_delete	Delete a MySQL database
mysql_database_get	Get a MySQL database
mysql_database_list	List MySQL databases of a project
mysql_database_rename	Rename a MySQL database

MySQL users

Tool	What it does
mysql_user_change_password	Change a MySQL user password
mysql_user_create	Create a MySQL user
mysql_user_delete	Delete a MySQL user
mysql_user_get	Get a MySQL user
mysql_user_list	List MySQL users of a project
mysql_user_rename	Rename a MySQL user

MySQL privileges

Tool	What it does
mysql_privileges_get	Get MySQL privileges for a user on a database
mysql_privileges_revoke	Revoke all MySQL privileges for a user on a database
mysql_privileges_set	Update MySQL privileges for a user on a database

MySQL server

Tool	What it does
mysql_server_info	Get MySQL server connection info
phpmyadmin_sso_token_create	Create a phpMyAdmin SSO token for a project

FTP accounts

Tool	What it does
ftp_account_create	Create an FTP account
ftp_account_delete	Delete an FTP account
ftp_account_list	List FTP accounts for a user
ftp_account_update	Update an FTP account

SFTP accounts

Tool	What it does
sftp_account_create	Create an SFTP account
sftp_account_delete	Delete an SFTP account
sftp_account_list	List SFTP accounts for a user
sftp_account_update	Update an SFTP account
sftp_session_kill	End the open SFTP sessions of one account
sftp_session_kill_all	End every open SFTP session of a project

Cron jobs

Tool	What it does
cron_job_create	Create a cron job
cron_job_delete	Delete a cron job
cron_job_list	List cron jobs of a project
cron_job_update	Update a cron job

Files

Tool	What it does
file_chmod	Set the mode of one file or directory. Three or four octal digits. Does not walk into folders inside it
file_copy	Copy a file or directory
file_delete	Delete a file or directory
file_download	Download a file
file_exists	Check if a file or directory exists
file_fetch	Download an http or https address into a directory that already exists. Does not deploy the file
file_list	List what is in a directory, directories first
file_mkdir	Create a directory
file_move	Move or rename a file or directory
file_move_contents	Move the immediate children of a directory into a destination that already exists
file_stat	Get file or directory stats
file_unzip	Extract a ZIP archive
file_upload	Upload a file
file_write	Write content to a file
file_zip	Create a ZIP archive

PHP

Tool	What it does
php_error_log_get	Read the PHP error log of a project
php_ini_get	Get custom PHP INI settings of a project
php_ini_set	Update custom PHP INI settings of a project
php_version_list	List available PHP versions on your VPS

Containers

Tool	What it does
app_health_check	Check that the deployed application answers on its published ports
container_list	List Docker containers of a project
container_project_action	Perform a project-level Docker Compose action
container_service_action	Perform a service-level Docker action
container_service_logs	Get logs from a Docker service

App users

Tool	What it does
app_info	Get app info and capabilities
app_install	Install the app (e.g. run WordPress installer)
app_role_list	List available app roles
app_user_create	Create an app user
app_user_delete	Delete an app user
app_user_list	List app users (e.g. WordPress users)
app_user_reset_password	Reset an app user password
app_user_sso_create	Create an SSO token for an app user

Usage

Tool	What it does
project_usage	Resource usage for a project, including this month's transfer vs the bandwidth limit
project_bandwidth	Project transfer over a date range (start, end, group_by day or month), in bytes
domain_bandwidth	Transfer over a date range for one domain
domain_visitors	Visitor overview for a domain. start/end clip daily hits and visits; unique visitors, session length, and breakdowns are overlapping calendar months. Period aliases such as last-week stay in the client.
domain_visitors_breakdown	Visitor breakdown by pages, countries, continents, regions, referrers, os, or browsers (month grain), or requests and bytes per HTTP status (status_codes, exact range)

WP-CLI

Tool	What it does
wp_cli_run	Run a WP-CLI command

Deploy

Tool	What it does
deploy_cancel	Cancel a running deploy: mark cancelled, kill the subprocess tree, clean up
deploy_list	List the deploys the project still has a log of, newest first
deploy_log_get	Poll the deploy log (JSON-lines) from a byte-like line offset
deploy_log_read	Read a page of one kept deploy's log by its id
project_inspect	Inspect a project's deployed application files
source_inspect	Inspect an application source and report its stack, ports and services
source_refs	List the branches and tags of a remote repository, without cloning it

Proxy rules

Tool	What it does
proxy_rule_create	Create a proxy rule
proxy_rule_delete	Delete a proxy rule
proxy_rule_get	Get a proxy rule
proxy_rule_list	List all proxy rules
proxy_rule_update	Update a proxy rule

System

Tool	What it does
system_api_access_allow	Let a project call this engine's API, or change its scope
system_api_access_deny	Take that access away from a project
system_api_access_list	List the projects allowed to call the engine's API
system_api_access_rotate	Replace an allowed project's API token
system_engine_cert_request	Request the engine's own Let's Encrypt certificate
system_exim_config_get	Get Exim mail server configuration
system_exim_config_set	Update Exim mail server configuration
system_info	Get system information
system_ssl_config_get	How certificates for project sites are obtained
system_ssl_config_set	Set how certificates for project sites are obtained
system_test_email_send	Send a test email via Exim
system_update	Starts a background updater on the VPS. Not how you update day to day: Updating
system_webserver_change	Change the active webserver. Not supported: the engine runs nginx-proxy only
system_webserver_config_set	Update webserver configuration
system_webserver_password_reset	Reset a webserver admin panel password. Not supported on the default nginx-proxy install

Server metrics

Tool	What it does
metrics_current	Get current server metrics
metrics_last_12_hours	Get metrics for the last 12 hours
metrics_last_5_minutes	Get metrics for the last 5 minutes
metrics_last_hour	Get metrics for the last hour
metrics_last_hour_averages	Get last hour metric averages

Firewall

Tool	What it does
firewall_disable	Disable the firewall
firewall_enable	Enable the firewall
firewall_log_list	Read what the firewall blocked and banned
firewall_reload	Reload the firewall
firewall_rule_create	Add a firewall rule
firewall_rule_delete	Delete a firewall rule
firewall_rule_list	List firewall rules
firewall_rule_update	Edit a firewall rule
firewall_status	Get the firewall status
firewall_trusted_add	Trust an address
firewall_trusted_delete	Stop trusting an address
firewall_trusted_list	List trusted addresses

IP management

Tool	What it does
ip_assign	Assign an IP address to a project
ip_assigned_list	List assigned IP addresses
ip_subnet_create	Add an IP subnet
ip_subnet_delete	Delete an IP subnet
ip_subnet_list	List IP subnets
ip_unassign	Unassign an IP address from a project

ModSecurity

Tool	What it does
modsec_audit_log_download	Download a ModSecurity audit log file
modsec_audit_log_list	List ModSecurity audit log files
modsec_audit_log_tail	Tail a ModSecurity audit log file
modsec_custom_rules_get	Get the custom ModSecurity rules
modsec_custom_rules_set	Replace the custom ModSecurity rules
modsec_mode_get	Get ModSecurity mode
modsec_mode_set	Set ModSecurity mode
modsec_ruleset_configs_set	Toggle ModSecurity ruleset config files
modsec_ruleset_disable	Disable a ModSecurity ruleset
modsec_ruleset_enable	Enable a ModSecurity ruleset
modsec_ruleset_list	List ModSecurity rulesets

Lighthouse

Tool	What it does
lighthouse_report_create	Generate a Lighthouse performance report

Backup stores

Tool	What it does
backup_container_create	Create a backup container
backup_container_delete	Delete a backup container
backup_container_get	Get a backup container
backup_container_list	List backup containers
backup_container_test	Test backup container connectivity
backup_container_update	Update a backup container

Bug reports

Tool	What it does
bug_report_create	File a bug report about a deployed application

Backups

Tool	What it does
backup_create	Create a project backup
backup_delete	Delete a project backup
backup_get	Get a project backup
backup_item_download	Download one item of a finished backup
backup_list	List backups for a project
backup_restore	Restore a project backup
backup_schedule_delete	Remove a project's automatic backup schedule
backup_schedule_get	Show a project's automatic backup schedule
backup_schedule_set	Create or replace a project's automatic backup schedule

Tunnels

Tool	What it does
tunnel_create	Attach a public tunnel hostname to a domain
tunnel_delete	Remove a public tunnel hostname
tunnel_list	List a domain's public tunnel hostnames

Git

Tool	What it does
git_branches	List git branches
git_change_branch	Change the tracked git branch
git_commits	List git commits
git_connect	Connect a directory to a git remote
git_deploy_hook_create	Create a push-to-deploy hook
git_deploy_hook_delete	Delete a push-to-deploy hook
git_deploy_hook_rotate	Rotate a push-to-deploy hook
git_deploy_hook_show	Show a push-to-deploy hook
git_deploy_key_create	Create a git deploy key
git_deploy_key_delete	Delete a git deploy key
git_disconnect	Disconnect git from a directory
git_pull	Pull from the git remote
git_push	Push local git changes
git_revert	Revert local git changes
git_status	Git repository status
git_update_credentials	Update git credentials for a directory

Project settings

Tool	What it does
project_setting_delete	Clear one project setting
project_setting_get	Get one project setting
project_setting_list	List a project's settings
project_setting_set	Set one project setting

SSH

Tool	What it does
ssh_run	Run a shell command inside the project container

Tasks

Tool	What it does
task_cancel	Cancel a queued or running task; kill the work subprocess if it still matches
task_get	Poll a task status and new log lines after a cursor
task_list	List tasks, newest first, filtered by project, status, action or time
task_log_list	Page of task log lines after a timestamp and/or id cursor

Secret vault

Used when a private repository or a Cloudflare tunnel needs a token. You paste the value on a page the engine sends you, not in the chat: A private repository · Cloudflare.

Tool	What it does
vault_secret_create	Creates a paste page so you can give the engine a secret without putting it in chat
vault_secret_delete	Deletes a paste slot
vault_secret_list	Lists paste slots. The secret itself is never included
vault_secret_status	Whether a paste slot has a secret yet
vault_config_get	Which global secrets are stored

What you can see, and what you cannot

A secret is never readable again. Not by your assistant, not by you, not by any command. What you can always see is the inventory: each entry's reference (vault:<id>), what kind of secret it is, what it is for, which project owns it, whether it has been filled in yet, and the dates.

Give a purpose when you ask for a link ("deploy key for the shop repo"). It is shown on the paste page, so whoever hands over a credential can see why it is wanted, and it appears in the listing afterwards. Since the value itself can never be read back, the purpose is usually the only thing that tells two entries of the same kind apart when you come to tidy up.

A secret cannot be edited, only replaced

Once a value has been pasted it is final. Opening the link again will not change it. To replace one, delete the entry and create a fresh link. This is deliberate: an overwrite would be invisible afterwards, because nothing can read the value back to check.

Project secrets and global secrets

A secret belongs to one project by default. The first project it is given to owns it, and any other project that tries to use it is refused. You can also name the project when you ask for the link ("a Git token for the shop project"); then only that project can use it, even if it does not exist yet.

Ask for a global secret when several projects should share one:

Save a global Git token for the acme GitHub organisation.

You can keep several global secrets of the same kind; the purpose tells them apart. A global secret is used only for a project you name it for:

Create a project from https://github.com/acme/shop with the global
acme Git token.

The assistant passes the secret's reference, such as vault:7, in place of the token. A project created without a token gets none, even when the engine holds global secrets. Inspecting a repository can use a global secret, or a project secret that no project owns yet. Inspecting does not make the secret belong to anything; the first project given it does.

The paste page closes after an hour. A secret is kept until it is deleted, unless you give it an expiry when you ask for the link ("keep it for 7 days"); after that it is refused and the engine deletes it by itself. A project stores the secret it was given, so deleting the vault entry does not take it away from projects that already used it. The engine never looks a secret up in the vault on a project's behalf.

When the engine was updated to this scheme, each project that was using the old shared token had that token stored on it, so it keeps working. From the server: Secrets.

From the server

The same work without an assistant: CLI commands.