Computers Guides
79 Computers guides. Weight: evidence — the work was tested, the steps are real.
- 01 computers
What Is Tailcat? The Encrypted Netcat That Trades a Tailnet for a Token
Tailcat is Tailscale's account-free encrypted netcat. Understand the token trade-off, direct-versus-relay path, and why it is not a tailnet.
- 02 computers
Cheapest Way to 128GB of Local AI Memory in 2026 (the Chart That Actually Matters)
The viral 128GB-local-AI chart gets prices right but conflates capacity with usefulness. Here is the chart that actually matters: bandwidth, interconnect, and real tok/s.
- 03 computers
Your Agent Reviewing Its Own Work Is Not a Check
Why a same-model self-review is not an independent safety gate. Schema proves shape; intent and permission need a different layer. With a bounded retry pattern and the right list of real checks.
- 04 computers
Hermes vs OpenClaw: Pick a Path (Not a Fandom)
A fair, source-cited side-by-side of Hermes Agent and OpenClaw. Where each is strong, where each is wrong-fit, and how to choose honestly. Not a verdict.
- 05 computers
Start Here: Local AI and Agents Without Wasting a Weekend
A working first-night path for ABS operators: pick API or local, set up Hermes, cap cost, add one log line, then stop. Verifiable against our live guides and the OpenClaw comparison.
- 06 computers
GitHub Actions CI for Astro: lint, build, and deploy on every push
Add a three-job GitHub Actions workflow that checks an Astro site, builds it, and deploys to GitHub Pages whenever main changes.
- 07 computers
Turn Off Ring Video Descriptions: The Fast Way (and What You're Actually Turning Off)
A 30-second path to disable Ring's AI-generated Video Descriptions across every camera, plus the per-device path, what the feature does, and who can't see the toggle.
- 08 computers
ABS Search Bar: The Cheap State Update, Not a Popup
A single client-side script, four pages, no backend. The ABS search bar filters a JSON index already on the page — sub-50ms on every keystroke, no popup.
- 09 computers
Cron Job Prompts That Stay Self-Contained: The Discipline
A Hermes cron runs in a fresh session with zero memory. Six elements make the prompt self-contained; three anti-patterns break it. Skip any and the job runs but does nothing.
- 10 computers
Daily Memory Audit and the 4-Step Merge Plan: From Cron Flag to Clean Memory
Operator playbook for the nightly memory-audit cron: the 4-step merge plan (read / propose / dedupe / commit), the 3 categories of stale memory, and the 5 traps that look mergeable but are not.
- 11 computers
Hermes Curator: The Weekly Lint Gate for Skills and Memory
Operator playbook for hermes curator as the weekly lint gate: the 13-verb CLI surface, the 4 lint rules (orphan / stale / oversized / duplicate), and the pin-vs-prune decision.
- 12 computers
Hermes Memory Trim: A Proposal-Only Workflow
Operator playbook for the weekly memory trim: the proposal-only contract (never mutate), the 4 verdicts and 5 trim candidates, the diff-and-confirm UX, and the 3 verification checks.
- 13 computers
How to Read an LLM Pricing Table Without Fooling Yourself
A practical guide to the LLM pricing table: compare input, output, and context window first, then treat cached, batch, and free-tier prices with care.
- 14 computers
ABS Chat with Skills and Memory: A Practical Scoping Guide
Run ABS chat sessions with skills, memory, and fact_store in context, then scope the load when cost, latency, or focus matters.
- 15 computers
ABS Cron Job Self-Contained Prompts: The Rule
A Hermes cron prompt runs in a fresh session — no memory of past runs, no inline handoff. Six elements make it self-contained. Skip any one and the job silently returns nothing useful.
- 16 computers
ABS Frontmatter: Required vs Optional Fields, the Rule
ABS frontmatter is enforced by six Zod validators in src/content.config.ts — title ≤120, description ≤200, four enums, and a URL array. Build fails loudly on violation. Defaults fill the rest.
- 17 computers
ABS Content Frontmatter: The Canonical Shape
A field-by-field guide to the canonical ABS post header, including key order, image conventions, valid enums, and the Astro publishing pipeline.
- 18 computers
ABS Keyboard Shortcuts: n, r, b (No Prefix)
ABS ships three single-letter shortcuts, no prefix, no modifiers, no armed state. The bindings, why we left a g-prefix design behind, what we considered and cut, and the skip-rules.
- 19 computers
ABS pubDate: Timezone UTC-Only, the Decision
ABS coerces pubDate to a UTC Date via z.coerce.date() and sorts by epoch ms. Local-clock pubDates are an anti-pattern; DST swaps a post's rank twice a year. The schema, the comparator, the verify.
- 20 computers
ABS Mobile Nav: The Three Rules
Mobile nav on ABS runs through a drawer (not modal), with aria-expanded state on the toggle, and focus stays trapped inside until closed. The body-scroll-lock and the close behaviors, in three rules.
- 21 computers
ABS Regression Suite: Eight Failure Modes and Their Cheap-First Checks
A troubleshooting reference for the eight ABS regression scripts: what each failure looks like, the cheap-first check before anything else, and the canonical fix.
- 22 computers
Hermes `--resume` vs `--continue`: When Each Fits and the Stale-Session Trap
When to use `hermes chat --resume <id>` (deterministic) vs `--continue` (convenient): the trade-off, the decision rule, and three stale-session failure shapes.
- 23 computers
ABS RSS and Reader-Friendly Output: The Decisions
ABS publishes a single RSS feed at /rss.xml carrying news, reviews, and guides sorted newest first. The autodiscovery link tag, the no-JS reader-friendly HTML pages, and the verify commands.
- 24 computers
Hermes Terminal Output: The 50 KB Cap and the Pipe Fix
Hermes terminal output can stop before the line you need. Here is how to recognise the 50 KB cap, reduce noisy output, and recover the missing bottom safely.
- 25 computers
Hermes write_file: When to Write to Which Path, the Rule
Hermes write_file uses three buckets: /tmp/ for ephemeral scripts, /srv/abs-site/src/ for canonical in-tree files, /opt/data/ for operator scripts and backups. Includes the wrong-path failure shape.
- 26 computers
ABS Sort Pages: By Grade and Date, the Rules
ABS review listings default to newest-first; the secondary key is grade. URL params (?sort=grade|oldest|new) reach a /reviews/[sort].astro. The four tie-breakers and why we don't sort by score.
- 27 computers
Affiliate Link Auto-Tag: On Every Publish, the Rule
Every review publish runs an affiliate-link-rewrite pass: amazon.com URLs become amzn.to/agenticbotsit-20 tracked. Idempotent, run-at-deploy, audit-visible. Script, verify, failure shapes.
- 28 computers
Agents and the Critique Loop: When to Self-Review
When an agent should self-review before surfacing, when to defer to a steelman judge in a multi-agent swarm, and the four-question self-check that catches the most common regression.
- 29 computers
Agents and the Deploy Gate: When They Push
How an agent runs the ABS deploy playbook end-to-end: three-SHA check, regression gate, rsync to webroot, CF cache purge, commit, github push, ship-ready for operator review.
- 30 computers
Agents and Their Rules of Engagement: No Bulk Surprises
An agent's contract with the operator: no surprise bulk actions, surface decisions, ask before irreversible changes, quiet mode for crons. Shipping 10 guides unchecked is a broken rule.
- 31 computers
Building and Deploying an Astro Static Site Behind a Cloudflare Tunnel
An operator's recipe for taking a static Astro site from `npm run build` to a live URL behind a Cloudflare Tunnel, with rsync, edge cache purges, and the three-SHA deploy gate.
- 32 computers
ABS Affiliate Link Convention: Voice Note + amzn.to, Built-In Tag
How the botsitter-review skill handles affiliate links: the voice note + amzn.to input shape, the auto-tag rewrite to agenticbotsit-20 at build, and the rules for writing tag-safe from URLs.
- 33 computers
Cloudflare Access Policies for Internal Tools
Put Cloudflare Access (Zero Trust) in front of an internal tool: app definition, Allow policy bound to an email domain, service-token back door for crons, and the audit log to subscribe to.
- 34 computers
Cloudflare Edge Cache: Purging Without Stale 404 Leaks
How to purge CF edge cache so a deploy doesn't serve 404s to users mid-flight: ordered purge, HTML-first then assets, deployment window, and verification probes.
- 35 computers
Cloudflare HSTS Preload: The Hard-to-Undo Directive
HSTS preload pins your domain into the browser-shipped list. Once on hstspreload.org, removing the entry takes 6-12 weeks to reach Chrome and Firefox. Avoid shipping it prematurely.
- 36 computers
Cloudflare Tunnel: Adding Multiple Hostnames Without Breaking the Others
How to put several public hostnames on a single Cloudflare Tunnel: cloudflared tunnel route dns per hostname, ingress rule order, incremental test pattern, and the catch-all 404 fallback.
- 37 computers
Cloudflare Tunnel: When the Daemon Dies, How to Recover (cfOrigin;dur=122)
Diagnose and recover a broken Cloudflare Tunnel: cloudflared is up but origin is silent, cfOrigin;dur=N ms traps, tunnel info diff, restart workflow, and what NOT to try before a restart.
- 38 computers
Cron Watchdogs vs Cron Monitors: When Each Fits and the Silent-Watchdog Trap
The semantic gap between watchdogs (fix-then-alert) and monitors (alert-only), the 3 shapes where a monitor is right, and the 3 shapes where a watchdog is the only correct choice.
- 39 computers
First-Hand Versus Research-Only Product Reviews: The ABS Editorial Bar
The ABS editorial bar is first-hand: did the operator actually use the product, in what setting, compared to what. Research-only reviews don't ship. The botsitter-review skill enforces the line.
- 40 computers
Git Commands an AI Agent Should Know
The ~15 git commands an agent uses in 95% of work, the failure modes for each, and the discipline that keeps an agent's git history clean.
- 41 computers
Git Commit and Push as the Deploy Gate: The ABS Convention
Why the live ABS site only deploys when local/origin/github are on the same commit. What this convention prevents, what it doesn't, and the post-receive hook that enforces it.
- 42 computers
Hermes Agent Cron Jobs: Authoring, Scheduling, and the Self-Contained Prompt Rule
Author Hermes cron jobs that survive a fresh session: prompt self-containment, schedule patterns, dry-run, pause/resume, run-once, and the difference between agent and no_agent modes.
- 43 computers
Hermes Agent Gateway: When Messages Don't Arrive
A troubleshooting reference for the Hermes messaging gateway: token/allow-list, adapter, runtime, routing — separating failures by cheap-first check order when the bot doesn't respond.
- 44 computers
Connecting Hermes Agent to Telegram: A First-Time Setup Guide
Step-by-step setup of the Hermes messaging gateway for Telegram: BotFather token, allow-list, home chat ID, and proof that the first message actually arrives back in the chat.
- 45 computers
Hermes Agent Memory vs Skills: Where Things Belong
A practical decision rule for the four Hermes storage surfaces — memory, skills, fact_store, session handoff — so durable preferences land in memory and procedures land in skills.
- 46 computers
Hermes Agent on a VPS: Hostinger, DigitalOcean, or Vultr First-Run Setup
Step-by-step setup of Hermes Agent on a Linux VPS: SSH key, non-root user, Python 3.11, Ubuntu 22.04 base, cloudflared install, and the first 'Reply with OK' chat.
- 47 computers
Hermes Agent on Your Local PC: Windows, Linux, macOS, and WSL2
How to install Hermes Agent on a workstation: native macOS, native Linux, Windows via WSL2, and what changes vs the VPS path.
- 48 computers
Hermes Agent Plugins: The Shape, the Register Entry Point, and How to Test Locally
How to author a Hermes plugin: the directory layout, the register(ctx) entry point, three real plugin examples on this build, and how to test a plugin locally before installing.
- 49 computers
Hermes Agent: Switching Providers Mid-Run When a Provider Fails
How to detect and recover from a mid-task provider failure (Anthropic 529, OpenAI 429, local Ollama OOM): the symptom per provider, the runtime fallback, and the override path.
- 50 computers
Hermes Agent Sessions: Listing, Searching, Resuming, and Continuing
How Hermes persists sessions: what `hermes sessions list --source` shows, when to use --resume vs --continue, and how to grep old sessions via the SQLite store.
- 51 computers
Hermes Agent Skills: Authoring, Curating, and the Frontmatter Rules
Where skills live, the SKILL.md frontmatter fields, the cross_profile flag and pinning, when to update vs add a new skill, and how curator catches drift in the weekly sweep.
- 52 computers
Hermes Agent: Updating Without Breaking Running Crons or the Live Gateway
How to bring upstream Hermes commits in safely: the 10 active jobs to inventory, the pre-update disable list, the post-update smoke-test pattern, and the rollback rule.
- 53 computers
Hermes Agent Tools: Enabling Only What You Need
A practical guide to Hermes' toolsets: how to list them, enable what you actually use, scope per-call via --toolsets, and avoid loading the full platform surface by default.
- 54 computers
Hermes Agent CLI Tools: List and What Each One Does
The Hermes Agent CLI surface today: chat, config, sessions list --source, cron, skills, plugins, memory, fact_store, curator. The --toolsets flag for per-call scoped tool loading.
- 55 computers
Hermes Context Window: Budgeting for Long Sessions
How to keep a long Hermes session productive: per-tool, per-skill, per-conversation-history budgets. What to keep, what to compress, what to drop. Operator discipline for long sessions.
- 56 computers
Hermes Agent on a Mac mini M4 (or other Apple Silicon Macs)
How to install Hermes Agent on macOS: Homebrew for Python 3.11, Xcode CLI tools, launchd for cron, Ollama for local inference, and Apple Silicon-specific gotchas.
- 57 computers
Hermes Output: Streaming vs Final Blocks, When to Pick Which
Hermes output arrives two ways: streamed token-by-token, or as a single final block. Each fits different surfaces — CLI, Telegram, mobile push, automation logs. The matrix of when to pick which.
- 58 computers
Hermes Protocol: The System Prompt, the Context Window, and the Rule Boundary
What lives in the system prompt vs in the context window vs in user-side memory: how Hermes treats the instruction hierarchy, what travels where, and what the operator's contract actually is.
- 59 computers
Hermes Skills vs Memory vs Fact Store: The Storage Decision
Three storage surfaces, three jobs. Use this duration / reuse / scope rubric to put a fact in the right place, plus the bad-shape markers that tell you the rubric is failing.
- 60 computers
How an AI Agent Reads a Multi-Message Input Batch
When the operator sends multiple messages at once, the agent concatenates them into context with timestamps. A multi-message batch is one turn, not a multi-turn dialogue. The P43 rule.
- 61 computers
How an AI Agent Reads Your Memory on the Next Turn
Memory is loaded at session start, not mid-session; conversation history is in-memory and dies with the session. The full disk-to-context read path and the curation discipline that keeps memory clean.
- 62 computers
Image Gen Failover Chain: In Priority Order
When the openai plugin is degraded, ABS failover chain is: openai (real key) → cached PNG set → cache-bust query string → text-only social card. Each step's trigger and verify.
- 63 computers
Image Gen: OpenAI Backend (Real Key, Not Codex OAuth)
The working image-gen backend for ABS: the openai Python package driven by OPENAI_API_KEY, the model gpt-image-2-medium, ~$0.04 per 1024x1024 image, and why openai-codex OAuth is broken.
- 64 computers
Pause and Resume Hermes Cron Jobs Without Deleting History
Why `hermes cron pause <id>` and `hermes cron resume <id>` beat `remove` for three operator cases. `paused_at` is added; prompt and history are preserved. Verified against 35 paused jobs on this VPS.
- 65 computers
Publishing a Product Review on Agentic Bot Sitter, End-to-End
The complete review-publishing loop on ABS: voice note + amzn.to → draft → image gen → WebP → build → rsync → CF purge → commit → push → three-SHA → live.
- 66 computers
Python Venv on This VPS: The Conventions
The canonical Python venv on this VPS is /opt/hermes/.venv/ with Python 3.11. Library surface today: openai 2.33.0, requests, pillow, ruff. Why we never call system python3 for agent scripts.
- 67 computers
Static Site Deploy: rsync, Cloudflare Purge, CDN Cache — The 3-Step Loop
The static-site deploy loop and what each step does: rsync dist/ to the webroot, ordered CF purge (HTML -> ASSETS -> BUNDLE), then verify. Plus failure shapes and the order that minimizes 404 leaks.
- 68 computers
Search the Codebase Before Fixing Anything
Before fixing any bug, search the codebase for prior attempts, related patterns, and existing utilities. The agent's most expensive mistake is fixing the wrong layer. A 4-step search workflow.
- 69 computers
site-watchdog-sweep: Every 5min, the Consolidation Story
Why one Python sweeper replaced five separate 5min watchdogs, what its six checks actually probe, and how it stays silent when the operator surface is healthy and only shouts when something is red.
- 70 computers
Terminal Commands Versus Python: When an Agent Should Write a Script
When to use one-liner terminal commands and when to write a 5-line Python script. The trade-off is readability and verifiability, not tool sophistication. Five signals that tip the choice.
- 71 computers
Terminal Commands Versus Python: When an Agent Should Write a Script
When to use one-liner terminal commands and when to write a 5-line Python script. The trade-off is readability and verifiability, not tool sophistication. Five signals that tip the choice.
- 72 computers
Three-SHA Check: Asserting local == origin == github == the Commit Going Live
The bash assertion that runs before every ABS deploy: Local and origin and github must all carry the same commit SHA as the change about to ship. Failure shapes and the auto-repair pattern for each.
- 73 computers
Tmp Folder vs Write_file: The Rule
When the agent writes to /tmp/ vs when to use write_file: long scripts (>300 lines) go to /tmp/, short content uses write_file. The bash heredoc trap and the agent-tool boundary.
- 74 computers
Voice Note to Published Review: The Input, the Pipeline, the Output
From a 60-second voice memo to a live ABS review: transcription, draft, image, build, deploy. What arrives in the voice note, what comes out the other side, what the operator does in between.
- 75 computers
WebP and PNG on the Same Deploy: The P42 Rule
P42: every ABS featured image deploys as both PNG and WebP in the same cycle. CF serves WebP via Accept-header; the PNG is canonical. The script, the 4h cache quirk, and the verify pattern.
- 76 computers
WebP Companion Images for Static Sites: A Sibling PNG+WebP Pattern
How to ship a PNG and a WebP companion for every static-site image with Pillow's quality=82, method=4, plus the <picture> helper that lets browsers pick the lighter file.
- 77 computers
Cloudflare Tunnel Setup for a Static Site Without Opening Any Ports
Setup guide for installing cloudflared, creating a named tunnel, routing a hostname to it, and verifying the public hostname reaches your local origin over the tunnel.
- 78 computers
How to troubleshoot a Cloudflare Tunnel that is not serving your site
Troubleshooting guide for separating local-origin, connector, DNS, and policy-layer failures in a named Cloudflare Tunnel. Cheap-first diagnostic order so you can tell which layer is broken.
- 79 computers
How to Set Up Hermes Agent Without Turning Everything On at Once
Setup guide for Hermes Agent: install the CLI, prove a plain chat works, then layer on tools, memory, skills, and messaging only after the base is healthy.
