hermes 2d57173e31 fix: CodeGit looked like an empty black box - hardcoded panel height + cache
Reported as "why can't i see anything from codegit its just a black box".

NOT a codegit bug. Verified first, exhaustively, through the authenticated API:
  overview  200    940 bytes
  log       200  79596 bytes   (full commit history)
  transfer  200   1460 bytes
  config    200   1174 bytes
no JS errors in the console; every DOM helper codegit calls exists.

ROOT CAUSE 1 - a generic CSS rule hardcodes a height
  theme/modules/common/_panel.scss -> theme/main.min.css:
    panel { ... height: 500px; ... }
  That forces EVERY modal panel to a fixed 500px box. Measured live:
    #dialog            404px  (clamped by max-height:70vh + overflow-y:auto)
    #codegit panel     500px, while its content is only 119px
    toolbar ("Branch") top 620 vs dialog bottom 490 -> OUTSIDE the modal
  So ~380px of the dialog was empty dead space and the Branch line rendered below the
  modal, invisible. Fixed to height:auto with max-height:58vh (long content still scrolls):
    before: panel 500 -> toolbar top 620, dialog bottom 490 (outside)
    after:  panel 136 -> toolbar top 256, dialog bottom 279 (inside)
  _panel.scss updated too so the source does not contradict the shipped CSS.

ROOT CAUSE 2 - the fix was invisible because of the browser cache
  Atheos serves theme/main.min.css and the generated bundles from stable URLs with no cache
  headers, so browsers legitimately reuse their cached copy - which is why the first attempt
  appeared to do nothing. nginx now sends Cache-Control: no-cache, must-revalidate for
  *.css/*.js: caching still works (cheap 304s) but changes are always picked up.

Adds
  scripts/fix-panel-layout.sh   idempotent re-apply for both fixes (lost on update-atheos)
  docs/known-issues.md §4, §5   both findings, with the measurements

Tests (44 passed, 1 failed - the failure is branch protection, a genuine open item)
  + panel must not be fixed at 500px
  + theme CSS must send Cache-Control: no-cache
2026-09-29 16:38:48 +10:00

atheos-blog-lxc

Provisioning for a browser-based code editor (Atheos) in an Alpine LXC, wired to Gitea, with the armistace/blog repository cloned and ready to edit.

Built with the AI-DLC workflow — the full process trail (requirements, design, units, decisions, audit log) lives in aidlc-docs/.


What this is

A small, single-purpose Proxmox container that puts an editor in your browser so you can write blog posts and commit them to Gitea — without VS Code, without a cloud IDE, and without a build toolchain.

Guest Proxmox LXC 136 on node scotty
OS Alpine 3.23.2 (unprivileged, OpenRC)
URL http://192.168.178.57/ — LAN only
Stack nginx → php-fpm 8.3 (unix socket) → Atheos IDE
Sizes 2 vCPU · 1 GB RAM · 20 GB rootfs · onboot=1
Editor Atheos — PHP, no database, real vim keybindings
Project armistace/blog cloned to /var/www/atheos/workspace/blog
Git auth per-repository deploy key (write-enabled)

What it deliberately is NOT

  • Not VS Code / code-server / Coder. Atheos is an independent, lightweight PHP editor.
  • Not a build environment. The blog is a Pelican site, but building/publishing happens in your existing pipeline. There is intentionally no Python, no pelican, no make here — the presence of Python would be a defect (verified by acceptance criterion AC-8).
  • Not internet-facing. No reverse proxy host, no DNS record, no port-forward is created.

Quick start

If you just want to use it:

  1. Open http://192.168.178.57/ and complete the Atheos first-run installer.
  2. ssh root@192.168.178.57, then set your git identity — see RUNBOOK.md STEP 1. Git will not let you commit until you do, and that is deliberate: the agent does not create your identity.
  3. Add the deploy key to armistace/blog and switch the remote to SSH — RUNBOOK.md STEP 2 & 3.

👉 The full operational guide is RUNBOOK.md. Start at STEP 1.


Repo layout

.
├── README.md                     this file
├── RUNBOOK.md                    ← operational guide; START AT STEP 1
├── docs/
│   ├── security-notes.md         credential model + hardening TODOs if ever exposed
│   ├── resiliency-notes.md       what a non-PoC deployment would need
│   └── writer-branch-workflow.md how writing/publishing works from the editor
├── files/
│   ├── atheos.conf               nginx vhost (install to /etc/nginx/http.d/atheos.conf)
│   ├── ssh-config                ~atheos/.ssh/config (the gitea-blog alias)
│   └── macros.db.php             installed copy of the Atheos writer macros
├── scripts/
│   ├── provision.sh              rebuild the whole guest from scratch
│   └── update-atheos.sh          update Atheos to latest upstream + re-pin
└── aidlc-docs/                   AI-DLC process trail (requirements → design → units → audit)

Rebuilding from scratch

The guest holds nothing unique — the blog's source of truth is Gitea — so a rebuild is cheap:

# on scotty (192.168.178.69), as root
pct destroy 136
sh scripts/provision.sh

scripts/provision.sh is written to be re-runnable and reproduces the documented build exactly, including the pinned Atheos commit and its verified tarball checksum.


Design decisions worth knowing

# Decision Why
D1 No git identity is configured by the agent. You set it (RUNBOOK STEP 1). You own the armistace identity; setting it programmatically would impersonate you and blur attribution (requirement FR-11).
D2 Atheos is pinned to a commit SHA, with update-atheos.sh to deliberately move it. Atheos has no releases; a moving branch is not reproducible.
D3 nginx :80, web root /var/www/atheos, php-fpm over a unix socket. Smallest network surface — nothing extra listens on the LAN.
D6 Per-repository deploy key, not a personal access token. A Gitea PAT's scopes are route groups matched against your whole account, so a stolen token reaches every repo you can write. A deploy key reaches exactly one.

Full rationale, including the alternatives that were rejected and the verification behind them, is in aidlc-docs/design-artifacts/application-design.md and docs/security-notes.md.


Security at a glance

  • Writing happens on a branch, never on master. The editor commits to a long-lived atheos-writer branch and you merge via PR in Gitea — see docs/writer-branch-workflow.md. ⚠️ This only holds if branch protection is enabled on armistace/blog's master — without it the deploy key could force-push master directly. Confirm with the branch_protections API call in that document.
  • Git auth: deploy key scoped to armistace/blog, private key mode 600, owned by the php-fpm user.
  • The SSH alias uses IdentitiesOnly yes, so no other key is ever offered.
  • The web app runs as a dedicated unprivileged user (atheos), which also owns the workspace.
  • ⚠️ Accepted risk: Atheos runs as a web app with shell-exec reach, so a compromise can use the deploy key to write blog. That is the intended floor (one repo, one branch) rather than the ceiling. Keep branch protection on blog's master.
  • If this is ever exposed to the wider web, work through docs/security-notes.md §2 first.

Provenance

Built 2026-09-29
AI-DLC stages executed Workspace Detection, Requirements, Workflow Planning, Application Design, Units Generation, Infrastructure Design, Code Generation, Build & Test
Stages skipped (with rationale) Reverse Engineering, User Stories, Functional Design, NFR Requirements, NFR Design — see aidlc-docs/plans/execution-plan.md
Atheos pin f90cd1806dbe0e25673a77e27390e8b1a240c3f6 (build 611), tarball sha256 03ebcb1479b59f1898b5fa50808b181750b42211698f7f7b4042cf2514d78b20
S
Description
Alpine LXC running Atheos (browser editor) wired to Gitea + armistace/blog. LAN-only. Built with AI-DLC.
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