Start with a fresh x86_64 Debian 12/13 or Ubuntu 22.04/24.04 VPS. Lumic needs root for installation and host mutations; status commands can run without mutation approval.
Install and verify
The installer selects the stable channel by default:
ssh root@server 'curl -fsSL https://lumic.cc/install | sh'
ssh root@server 'lumic version && lumic status && lumic how-are-you'
The installer verifies published SHA-256 files, installs lumic and lumicd atomically, verifies that lumic mcp serve is present, creates private state, and starts lumicd when systemd is available. On first install it creates and prints the UI token once. Re-running the same artifact is a no-op. See Installation for channel, restricted MCP key and local-CI inputs.
Open the operator UI
The UI is already running on the VPS. Run this on your local computer and keep the terminal open:
ssh -N -L 8080:127.0.0.1:8080 root@server
Open http://127.0.0.1:8080 in your local browser and sign in with the one-time token displayed during installation. If you no longer have it, run sudo lumic ui token rotate on the VPS. The daemon binds the UI to loopback; do not expose that HTTP listener directly. See Operator UI for detailed sign-in and access instructions.
Establish the operating loop
ssh root@server 'lumic diagnose'
ssh root@server 'lumic personality set dry && lumic how-are-you'
ssh root@server 'lumic events --limit 20'
ssh root@server 'lumic audit --limit 20'
Use STATUS → SUGGEST → PLAN → APPLY. how-are-you is status only. Package, service, application and recipe changes retain their own validation, approval, events and recovery behavior.
Continue
- MCP documents installed stdio, restricted SSH and optional Streamable HTTP connections.
- Deployments walks through Git releases, health gates and rollback.
- Infrastructure contains the two-node environment workflow and acceptance script.
- Server intelligence covers the Laravel + Redis and controlled-incident demonstrations.
- Feature matrix distinguishes shipped mechanism from nightly breadth.