Tether Guardian

●

1. Health Check

Verify Tether is alive and the session is active

1
Open Terminal and connect
SSH into Tether's container
```
ssh -p 2211 
```
You should be dropped into a Linux shell. If you see a password prompt, your SSH key is not set up yet — see Section 5 below.
2
Check for active tmux sessions
```
tmux list-sessions
```
3
Read the result
Healthy — sessions exist
```
tether-primary-20260312: 1 windows ...
```
Unhealthy — no sessions
```
no server running on /tmp/tmux-1000/default
```
If you see a session starting with tether-primary, Tether is alive and working. The numbers after the name are just timestamps — totally normal.
4
Quick peek at what Tether is doing (without disturbing anything)
Read-only snapshot of last 30 lines
```
SESSION=$(cat /home/aiciv/.current_session 2>/dev/null || echo tether-primary)
tmux capture-pane -t $SESSION -p | tail -30
```
Safe to run anytime. Does not interrupt Tether's work.
5
Disconnect when done
```
exit
```

■

2. Live Monitoring

Watch exactly what Tether is doing in real time

1
SSH in and find the active session
```
ssh -p 2211 
tmux list-sessions
```
2
Attach to the session to watch live
Attach (use the session name from step 1)
```
SESSION=$(cat /home/aiciv/.current_session)
tmux attach -t $SESSION
```
You are now watching Tether's live terminal. Scroll with Ctrl+B [ then arrow keys. Press q to exit scroll mode.
3
Detach safely without disturbing Tether
Safe detach shortcut
```
Ctrl+B then D
```
Always detach with Ctrl+B then D. Never close the terminal window while attached — that can interrupt Tether's work.

↻

3. Restart Tether

Bring Tether back when unresponsive or stuck

1
One-liner restart (no need to SSH first)
Full restart in one command
```
ssh -p 2211  'bash ~/civ/tools/restart-self.sh'
```
2
Or restart manually from inside the server
SSH in
```
ssh -p 2211 
```
Run the restart script
```
bash ~/civ/tools/restart-self.sh
```
The script creates a fresh tmux session and launches Claude Code. Tether will send you a Telegram message when back online.

3

Fallback restart (if restart script is missing)

Manual restart

tmux new-session -d -s tether-primary -c /home/aiciv
tmux send-keys -t tether-primary 'claude --dangerously-skip-permissions' Enter

4
Wait and verify

The restart takes approximately 60–90 seconds. You should get a Telegram message from Tether confirming the restart. You can also verify:
Confirm new session exists
```
tmux list-sessions
```

⚠ Safe to run anytime. The restart script is safe to run even if Tether is mid-session. All memory and data lives in the project directory, not in the process — nothing is lost on restart.

⚙

4. Services & Infrastructure

What's running and how to manage it

Service	Port	Check / Restart
Portal Server	8097	ps aux \| grep portal_server
Claude Code (Primary)	—	tmux list-sessions
Playwright MCP	—	ps aux \| grep playwright-mcp
Telegram Bot	—	@tether73_bot on Telegram

Restart the Portal Server

Kill and restart

pkill -f portal_server.py
cd /home/aiciv/purebrain_portal && nohup python3 portal_server.py > /tmp/portal.log 2>&1 &

Check Portal Logs

Last 20 lines

tail -20 /tmp/portal.log

Check All Running Processes

List key processes

ps aux | grep -E "claude|portal_server|playwright" | grep -v grep

ℹ The Portal Server runs on port 8097 and is reverse-proxied to tethermelanie.ai-civ.com. Claude Code and Playwright MCP auto-start with each tmux session.

✎

5. Quick Reference

Every important detail at a glance

Fleet Host	37.27.237.109
SSH user	aiciv
SSH port	2211
Container	aiciv-11
Project root	/home/aiciv
CIV root	/home/aiciv/user-civs/tether-melanie
Restart script	~/civ/tools/restart-self.sh
Session name pattern	tether-primary-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS
Portal URL	tethermelanie.ai-civ.com
Telegram bot	@tether73_bot
Detach from tmux	Ctrl+B then D

🔑

6. SSH Key Setup

One-time setup so you never need a password

This is a one-time setup. After this, connecting to Tether is always password-free.

1
Generate your guardian SSH key
Run in your Terminal
```
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/tether_guardian -C "Melanie_guardian_key"
```
Press Enter twice when asked for a passphrase (leave it empty).
2
Copy your public key
Run in your Terminal
```
cat ~/.ssh/tether_guardian.pub
```
Copy the entire output (starts with ssh-ed25519). Paste it to Tether in the portal chat — Tether will install it automatically.
3
Test your connection
Run in your Terminal
```
ssh -i ~/.ssh/tether_guardian -p 2211 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no  "tmux list-sessions"
```
If you see a tmux session list, you're connected. Tether is alive.
4
Optional: add a Terminal shortcut
Add to ~/.zshrc (Mac) or ~/.bashrc (Linux)
```
alias tether='ssh -i ~/.ssh/tether_guardian -p 2211 '
```
Then run source ~/.zshrc. After that, just type tether in Terminal to connect instantly.

⚡

7. One-Word Terminal Setup

Type one word to connect — no commands to remember

Set up your SSH config so connecting is just ssh tether — no IP, port, or key flags needed.

1
Open your SSH config
Mac / Linux
```
nano ~/.ssh/config
```

2

Add this block at the bottom

SSH Config Entry

Host tether
    HostName 37.27.237.109
    User aiciv
    Port 2211
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/tether_guardian
    StrictHostKeyChecking no

Save with Ctrl+X then Y then Enter.

3
That's it. Now just type:
Connect
```
ssh tether
```

4

Bonus: one-liner commands without logging in

Check if alive

ssh tether "tmux list-sessions"

Restart Tether

ssh tether "bash ~/civ/tools/restart-self.sh"

Quick peek at activity

ssh tether "SESSION=\$(cat /home/aiciv/.current_session 2>/dev/null || echo tether-primary); tmux capture-pane -t \$SESSION -p | tail -30"

ℹ With SSH config set up, every command on this page that uses ssh -p 2211 aiciv@37.27.237.109 can be replaced with just ssh tether.

⚙

8. Claude Code Guardian Skill

Let your local Claude check on Tether for you

If you have Claude Code installed locally, you can teach it how to check on and restart Tether. Then you just open Terminal, type claude, and say "Check on Tether".

1
Install Claude Code (if you haven't already)
Mac
```
brew install claude-code
```

2

Create the guardian skill folder

mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/tether-guardian

3

Save the skill file

Copy the text below and save it as ~/.claude/skills/tether-guardian/SKILL.md

SKILL.md content

# Tether Guardian — Your AiCIV Lifeline

When asked to "check on Tether" or "restart Tether":

## Connection Details
- Fleet Host: 37.27.237.109
- SSH Port: 2211
- User: aiciv
- SSH Key: ~/.ssh/tether_guardian
- Tmux Session Prefix: tether-primary

## Check if Tether is alive
```bash
ssh -i ~/.ssh/tether_guardian -p 2211 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no aiciv@37.27.237.109 "tmux list-sessions 2>/dev/null | grep tether-primary || echo DEAD"
```
If output shows tether-primary — Tether is alive.
If DEAD — restart needed.

## Restart Tether
```bash
ssh -i ~/.ssh/tether_guardian -p 2211 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no aiciv@37.27.237.109 "bash ~/civ/tools/restart-self.sh"
```
Wait 90 seconds, then verify:
```bash
ssh -i ~/.ssh/tether_guardian -p 2211 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no aiciv@37.27.237.109 "SESSION=\$(cat /home/aiciv/.current_session 2>/dev/null || echo tether-primary); tmux capture-pane -t \$SESSION -p -S -20 2>/dev/null | tail -20"
```

## Fallback restart
```bash
ssh -i ~/.ssh/tether_guardian -p 2211 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no aiciv@37.27.237.109 \
  "tmux new-session -d -s tether-primary -c /home/aiciv && \
   tmux send-keys -t tether-primary 'claude --dangerously-skip-permissions' Enter"
```

## Portal: https://tethermelanie.ai-civ.com

4

Test it

Open a new terminal, type claude, then say: "Check on Tether"

ℹ This skill teaches your local Claude exactly how to reach Tether. You don't need to remember any commands — just ask Claude to check on Tether and it handles everything.