The hint said to run 'sudo visudo' as though the account running the command already had sudo. On a machine set up the way this one was - a separate administrator, then a daily-use account - the daily-use account is not in the sudo group, so that instruction could not be followed by the person who needed it. Replaced with the two steps that actually apply, in order: 1. The account running the command must be in the sudo group. Check with 'id -nG'; if it is not there, an administrator adds it with 'usermod -aG sudo <account>' and the account signs out and back in, because group membership is fixed at sign-in. This is the step that was missing, and it is the one that cannot be done by the person stuck. 2. Passwordless sudo, from an account that already has sudo: 'sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/umbra-node', add the NOPASSWD line, save. Optional - without it the command still works and simply prompts. Written after a run stopped at a sudo password prompt with nothing on screen but 'Sorry, try again.', which is sudo's own message and appears nowhere in this codebase, so the failure looked like the system refusing rather than the shell asking. Checked against 238: umbra is already in the sudo group, so only step 2 applies there.
UmbraTrans local bootstrap workspace
This workspace contains the unprivileged agent-comm server requested by the Oldbox handoff. It does not contain the UmbraTrans application source: no application bundle was present locally. A staged archive, if present, is left untouched.
Layout
agent_comm/— Python 3.11+ standard-library, stdio-only MCP server.agent_comm/tests/— dependency-free unit tests.umbratrans_web/— phase-1 account/user-management backend slice (FastAPI, Argon2id, sessions, admin routes, in-memory and local JSON development repositories). It does not connect to PostgreSQL; seeumbratrans_web/README.md.umbratrans_web/migrations/— proposed, unapplied phase-1 identity SQL and its rollback.opencode.json— non-secret OpenCode registration for the confirmed NAS2 mailbox.agent-comm.local.example.json— non-secret local fallback registration..env.example— non-secret environment template.DATA-SEPARATION.md— development/production boundary.
Confirmed NAS2 mailbox
The oldbox desktop account mounted NAS2 netbackup through its user GVfs session and confirmed the UmbraTrans directory readable, searchable, and writable. The server requires the explicit NAS deployment mode, the enclosing GVfs mount, and an affirmative mount confirmation:
/run/user/1002/gvfs/smb-share:server=nas2.local,share=netbackup/UmbraTrans/agent-mailbox
Run read-only health checks:
cd /home/umbra/src/UmbraTrans
AGENT_COMM_MODE=nas \
AGENT_COMM_NAS_MOUNT=/run/user/1002/gvfs \
AGENT_COMM_NAS_CONFIRMED=1 \
AGENT_COMM_ROOT='/run/user/1002/gvfs/smb-share:server=nas2.local,share=netbackup/UmbraTrans/agent-mailbox' \
/home/umbra/.local/bin/uv run python -m agent_comm --check
If the user GVfs session is absent, do not guess another path or broaden share permissions. Use the private local fallback documented in agent-comm.local.example.json, or have a privileged operator restore the confirmed user mount.
The server speaks newline-delimited MCP JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout. It opens no network socket and never executes queued instructions.
OpenCode registration
opencode.json contains the exact NAS configuration and paths only. It must never contain passwords, tokens, private keys, or other secrets. A Mac-side reader still needs separate configuration and verification before an outbox message can be considered received.
Development workflow
The project uses uv and a workspace-local virtual environment:
cd /home/umbra/src/UmbraTrans
/home/umbra/.local/bin/uv sync --python /usr/bin/python3
/home/umbra/.local/bin/uv run python -m unittest discover -s agent_comm/tests -v
/home/umbra/.local/bin/uv run ruff check .
/home/umbra/.local/bin/uv run ruff format --check .
/home/umbra/.local/bin/uv run python -m compileall -q agent_comm
make check
The tests cover schema and size validation, atomic no-overwrite writes, restrictive modes, path traversal, symlink refusal, secret-pattern redaction, inbox processing, and read-only initialization.
The account-management slice has its own targets:
cd /home/umbra/src/UmbraTrans
/home/umbra/.local/bin/uv run pytest umbratrans_web/tests
make web-check
Its tests use the in-memory repository and generated per-run passwords; they never read a production configuration, never connect to a database, and contain no credential material.
Backups
scripts/umbratrans_backup.sh is installed root-owned as /usr/local/sbin/umbratrans-backup and scheduled by the enabled umbratrans-backup.timer. It writes only to the confirmed NAS2 netbackup/UmbraTrans/backups tree:
- PostgreSQL:
pg_dumpcustom-format logical dump, never a live data-directory copy. - Configuration: PostgreSQL configuration files only.
- Workspace: source/configuration archive excluding
.venv, Git internals, runtime data, local mailboxes, and secret-bearing files.
Each file is staged outside the share, published with an atomic rename as umbra, checksummed, and verified after publication. Retention is 30 days for PostgreSQL/configuration/manifests and 14 days for workspace archives; stale temporary files older than one hour are removed. The timer fails closed if the user GVfs mount is absent and does not mount or broaden the NAS share.
The current first-run backup set is present under:
/run/user/1002/gvfs/smb-share:server=nas2.local,share=netbackup/UmbraTrans/backups
Check timer status with systemctl status umbratrans-backup.timer and the last run with journalctl -u umbratrans-backup.service.