Ops Tmux Remote Deploy

Remote deploy via tmux (single VPS baseline)

Use this skill when the user wants: "deploy on that server", "run frps and project in tmux", "keep processes alive after disconnect".

Always run commands on VPS via SSH wrapper:

ssh -F /data/.ssh/config vps 'REMOTE_COMMAND_HERE'

Never run host-level commands locally when the task is explicitly remote.

Goal

Create and maintain two tmux sessions on the VPS:

• frps — FRP server process.
• project_app — project runtime process (docker compose or native command).

Both sessions must be idempotent and verifiable.

Standard sequence

1. Preflight

• Verify SSH connectivity.
• Check core tools: tmux, curl, ss (or netstat fallback).
• Install tmux if missing (non-interactive apt for Debian/Ubuntu).

1. Prepare frps

• Ensure frps binary + config path are known (ask only if impossible to infer).
• Restart frps session safely:
• tmux has-session -t frps -> kill if exists.
• start detached with explicit command and logs.

1. Prepare app runtime

• If repo has compose files and user asked containerized deploy: use docker compose up in project_app.
• Otherwise start provided app command in project_app.
• Same idempotent session restart pattern as frps.

1. Health checks (mandatory)

• tmux ls contains both sessions.
• Process check (pgrep -af frps, app process or docker compose ps).
• Port check with ss -ltnp for expected bind ports.
• HTTP check with curl -fsS (or status code check) for app endpoint.

1. Operational output

• Report only operational facts: session names, process status, listening ports, endpoint status.
• Provide follow-up commands for logs:
• tmux capture-pane -pt frps -S -120
• tmux capture-pane -pt project_app -S -120

Canonical command snippets

SSH preflight:

ssh -F /data/.ssh/config vps 'set -e; uname -a; command -v tmux >/dev/null || echo "__NO_TMUX__"'

Install tmux if required:

ssh -F /data/.ssh/config vps 'set -e; if ! command -v tmux >/dev/null; then DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get update && apt-get install -y tmux; fi'

Restart frps session:

ssh -F /data/.ssh/config vps 'set -e; tmux has-session -t frps 2>/dev/null && tmux kill-session -t frps || true; tmux new-session -d -s frps "cd /opt/frp && ./frps -c /opt/frp/frps.toml"'

Restart app session (compose variant):

ssh -F /data/.ssh/config vps 'set -e; tmux has-session -t project_app 2>/dev/null && tmux kill-session -t project_app || true; tmux new-session -d -s project_app "cd /srv/myapp && docker compose up --build"'

Health checks:

ssh -F /data/.ssh/config vps 'set -e; tmux ls; pgrep -af frps || true; ss -ltnp | sed -n "1,120p"; curl -sS -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}\n" http://127.0.0.1:8080/'

Rules

• Do not claim success until all mandatory checks pass.
• If checks fail, inspect tmux panes and fix one issue per iteration.
• Do not dump .env, private keys, or full secret-bearing configs in chat.
• Avoid destructive global actions; only touch sessions/processes related to this deploy.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: frontier-ai-next
• Source: frontier-ai-next/mgarlbot
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.