GitHub - jgbrwn/vibebin: vibebin: code and host inside Incus containers on your own VPS/server.

vibebin

An Incus/LXC-based platform for self-hosting persistent AI coding agent sandboxes with Caddy reverse proxy and direct SSH routing to containers (suitable for VS Code remote ssh).

Create and host your vibe-coded apps on a single VPS/server.

Screenshots

Vibebin TUI Manager - Container detail view with quick actions:

AI Tools Admin Web App - Toggle AI coding tools on/off:

AI Tools Admin Web App - One-click update for all tools:

UPFRONT DISCLOSURE

This project is 99.9% vibe-coded on the exe.dev platform using their Shelley Web AI Coding Agent and Claude Opus 4.5. Take that as you will.

With that said, I am a huge proponent of the exe.dev platform, and if you can, you should definitely try it out and use their service. The love and care for that project/service is extremely evident... AND it is incredibly awesome (and I think it's in its infancy stages, so should only get better).

WARNING

This is a very new project. Feel free to test and experiment but it's likely to have bugs and may not be ready for production. Use at your own risk.

What is this?

This project provides the infrastructure to self-host your own AI coding environment on virtually any Linux server -- a VPS, cloud VM (EC2, GCP, Azure), or dedicated hardware. Because it uses Incus/LXC (container-based virtualization rather than nested VMs), it runs efficiently on KVM, VMware, Xen, Hyper-V, and most other hypervisors.

Each container is a fully persistent Linux sandbox running Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble) or Debian 13 (Trixie), with:

opencode, nanocode, Claude Code, and Shelley - AI coding agents with terminal and web UI interfaces
AI coding web UI accessible via HTTPS at code.yourdomain.com (Basic Auth protected)
AI Tools Admin web app at admin.code.yourdomain.com for managing AI coding tools
Your app/site accessible via HTTPS at yourdomain.com
SSH access for direct terminal access to your sandbox (VS Code Remote SSH compatible)
Persistent filesystem that survives container restarts
Pre-installed development tools: Docker, Go, Node.js, Bun, Deno, uv

Use Cases

AI-assisted development: Use opencode/nanocode/claude-code/shelley as your AI pair programmer with full system access
Vibe coding: Spin up isolated sandboxes for experimental projects
App/site hosting: Deploy and iterate on web applications
Learning environments: Safe, isolated Linux environments for experimentation
CI/CD sandboxes: Temporary or persistent build environments

Stack Overview

Component	Purpose
Incus (LXC)	Container runtime - lightweight, persistent Linux containers
Caddy	Reverse proxy with automatic HTTPS (Let's Encrypt)
SSHPiper	SSH routing - access any container via `ssh -p 2222 container-name@host`
SQLite	Local database for container metadata (`/var/lib/vibebin/containers.db`)
Ubuntu/Debian	Native Incus images (user choice during creation)
opencode	Open source AI coding agent with terminal and web UI
nanocode	NanoGPT-powered AI coding agent (fork of opencode)
shelley	AI coding web agent from Bold Software
claude-code	Anthropic's CLI coding agent

AI Coding Agents

This project installs opencode, nanocode, claude-code, and shelley in each container:

opencode

OpenCode is a 100% open source AI coding agent that works with multiple LLM providers:

Anthropic (Claude)
OpenAI (GPT)
Google (Gemini)
OpenCode Zen
Local models via custom endpoints

nanocode

NanoCode is a fork of OpenCode configured to work with NanoGPT as the default provider. It includes:

Automatic model loading from NanoGPT API
Built-in NanoGPT MCP server
Interleaved thinking for reasoning models

NanoGPT subscription is $8/month for 60,000 requests across all open models - an excellent value that works great with NanoCode.

Note: The nanocode web UI requires LLM configuration before it will work. SSH into the container and run nanocode (CLI mode) first to configure your LLM provider/API keys.

Disclosure: The NanoGPT link is an affiliate link.

claude-code

Claude Code is Anthropic's official CLI coding agent:

CLI only (no web UI)
Requires Anthropic API key (ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable)
Supports Claude models with agentic coding capabilities
Run with claude command in terminal

Note: Claude Code is CLI-only and is not managed via the admin.code web UI. Use it directly in the terminal.

shelley

Shelley is a powerful AI web agent from Bold Software:

Web-based UI only (no CLI mode)
Support for multiple LLM providers via environment variables (Anthropic, OpenAI, Gemini, Fireworks)
Custom model configuration available within the web UI
Ctrl/Cmd-K to start a new conversation or add custom models
Runs on port 9999 like the other AI tools

Note: Before starting Shelley, add your API keys to ~/.shelley_env. Custom models can be configured in Shelley's web UI, but doing so switches to "custom model mode" and the env var models will no longer be shown.

All AI Coding tools support terminal/web UI modes with the exception of Shelley (web UI only) and Claude Code (CLI only). OpenCode, NanoCode, and Shelley support configuring LLM providers from within their web UIs.

Through the webUIs on OpenCode/NanoCode, adding NanoGPT as the provider is seamless! With Shelley, you just need to add a custom model and set it up with the same concept as shown here. See the NanoGPT integrations page for setting up NanoGPT with various coding agents.

Components

vibebin - Interactive TUI for container management
vibebin_sync_daemon - Background service for config synchronization
containers.db - SQLite database storing container metadata (at /var/lib/vibebin/containers.db)

Prerequisites

Fresh/minimal Linux installation: Ubuntu 22.04+ or Debian 12+ (amd64 or arm64)
VPS or VM: Works on most virtualization platforms (KVM, VMware, Xen, EC2, GCP, Azure, etc.)
Memory: Minimum 4GB RAM; 8GB+ recommended for best performance
Disk: Minimum 70GB; 100GB+ recommended for multiple containers and project data
Go 1.21+: Required to build the tools (see Quick Start for installation)
A domain name with DNS you control
A regular user with sudo access (avoid running as root)

Recommended VPS Providers

Any KVM-based VPS will work well with vibebin. Here are some recommended options:

HostBRR - Budget-friendly with excellent performance:

HostBRR Epyc Turin VPS - AMD Epyc Turin processors, great price/performance
HostBRR Threadripper Performance VPS - High-performance Threadripper line

Netcup - German provider with reliable infrastructure:

Netcup VPS - Recommend RS1000 (8GB RAM) or RS2000 (16GB RAM) for vibebin workloads

OVHcloud - Large European provider with competitive pricing:

OVHcloud VPS - Recommend 8GB or 12GB VPS; larger options (24GB, 48GB) available at excellent prices if needed

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) - Free tier available:

OCI Always Free Resources - Includes free ARM-based VMs (up to 4 OCPUs, 24GB RAM) that work well with vibebin

Disclosure: The HostBRR and Netcup links above are affiliate links.

Security Setup (Before Installation)

Complete these security steps before installing vibebin.

SSH Hardening

Ensure your host SSH is properly secured in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

PermitRootLogin no
PasswordAuthentication no

Restart SSH after changes: sudo systemctl restart sshd

UFW Firewall (Optional)

If you want to use UFW firewall, install and configure it with the required rules:

# Install UFW
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y ufw

# Allow required ports (SSH must be allowed before enabling!)
sudo ufw allow 22/tcp      # Host SSH
sudo ufw allow 80/tcp      # HTTP (Caddy)
sudo ufw allow 443/tcp     # HTTPS (Caddy)
sudo ufw allow 2222/tcp    # SSHPiper (container SSH)

# Enable UFW
sudo ufw enable

After the first vibebin run (which installs Incus), add the bridge rules for container networking:

# Allow Incus bridge traffic (run after vibebin installs Incus)
sudo ufw allow in on incusbr0
sudo ufw route allow in on incusbr0
sudo ufw route allow out on incusbr0

Note: UFW is enabled at boot automatically after ufw enable. Verify status with sudo ufw status verbose.

Fail2ban (Optional)

For additional protection against brute-force attacks, you can install fail2ban. By default, fail2ban protects the host SSH daemon (sshd). The docs/fail2ban.md guide extends this with Caddy and SSHPiper protection.

Note: Install fail2ban after the initial vibebin run so that Caddy and SSHPiper are already in place.

General Security

All administrative tasks should be performed as a regular user with sudo privileges, not as root directly.

Quick Start

1. Install Go (if not already installed)

# Install essential tools
sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y wget curl git jq htop tmux

# Ubuntu/Debian - install from official Go downloads
wget https://go.dev/dl/go1.23.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/go && sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzf go1.23.5.linux-amd64.tar.gz
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/go/bin' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Verify installation
go version

Note: For ARM64 systems, use go1.23.5.linux-arm64.tar.gz instead. Check https://go.dev/dl/ for the latest version.

2. Install vibebin (Recommended)

Use the install script for a one-liner install or upgrade:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jgbrwn/vibebin/main/install-upgrade.sh | bash

The script automatically:

Clones and builds the project
Installs binaries to /usr/local/bin/
Detects fresh install vs upgrade
Handles the vibebin-sync service accordingly

Alternative: Build from Source

If you prefer to build manually:

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/jgbrwn/vibebin.git
cd vibebin
go build -o vibebin vibebin.go
go build -o vibebin_sync_daemon vibebin_sync_daemon.go

# Install binaries
sudo cp vibebin vibebin_sync_daemon /usr/local/bin/

3. Run First-Time Setup

# This auto-installs Incus, Caddy, and SSHPiper
sudo vibebin

4. Configure SSH (Required)

See the SSHPiper Manual Setup section below.

5. Create Your First Container

The creation wizard will guide you through:

Enter domain name
Select base image (Ubuntu or Debian)
Configure DNS (optional auto-creation via Cloudflare/deSEC)
Set app port
Provide SSH public key
Set basic auth credentials for web UI protection

Auto-installed Dependencies

The first run automatically installs:

Incus 6.20+ from Zabbly stable repository
Caddy web server with automatic HTTPS
SSHPiper SSH routing proxy

What Gets Installed in Each Container

During container creation, the following is automatically installed:

Development Tools:

Docker (via official get.docker.com script)
Go (latest version, architecture auto-detected)
Node.js (latest LTS via NodeSource)
Bun (JavaScript runtime and package manager)
Deno (JavaScript/TypeScript runtime)
uv (Python package manager from Astral)
GitHub CLI (gh) for GitHub operations
Build tools (build-essential, make, etc.)

AI Coding Agents:

opencode (open source AI coding agent)
nanocode (NanoGPT-powered AI coding agent)
claude-code (Anthropic's CLI coding agent)
shelley (AI web agent from Bold Software)

System Utilities:

Editors: neovim, mc (Midnight Commander)
Terminal multiplexers: screen, tmux, byobu
Monitoring: htop, atop, btop, iotop, ncdu
Networking: dnsutils, net-tools, socat, lftp, ncftp
Search: ripgrep, sqlite3
Media: imagemagick, ffmpeg
Fonts: emoji support (fonts-noto-color-emoji, fonts-symbola)
And many more development and debugging utilities

Configuration:

Project directory (~/projects for AI coding tool workspaces)
Custom MOTD (shows container info, URLs, and tool versions on SSH login)
Passwordless sudo for the container user
Ping without sudo (CAP_NET_RAW capability)

⚠️ Required: SSHPiper Manual Setup (After First Run)

Before creating containers, verify SSHPiper is running:

# Check SSHPiper status (should be active)
sudo systemctl status sshpiperd

# If not running, start it
sudo systemctl enable --now sshpiperd

SSHPiper listens on port 2222 for container SSH access. Host SSH remains on port 22.

Usage

Key Bindings

List View:

n - Create new container
Enter - View container details
d - Delete container
u - Show untracked containers (import existing)
D - Manage DNS API tokens (Cloudflare/deSEC)
i - View Incus logs
l - View sync daemon logs
q - Quit

Detail View:

s - Start/Stop container
r - Restart container
p - Change app port
a - Change auth credentials
S - Snapshot management
u - Update AI coding tools (opencode/nanocode/claude-code/shelley)
Esc - Back to list

Snapshot View:

n - Create new snapshot
Enter/r - Restore selected snapshot
d - Delete selected snapshot
↑/↓ or j/k - Navigate snapshots
Esc - Back to container details

Features

Container Management

Native Incus Images: Choose Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or Debian 13
Persistent Sandboxes: Full filesystem persistence across restarts
Boot Behavior: Containers respect their last state on host reboot
Resource Monitoring: Live CPU and memory usage in TUI
Untracked Import: Detect and adopt existing Incus containers
Snapshots: Create, restore, and delete container snapshots

Networking & Access

Automatic HTTPS: Caddy handles Let's Encrypt certificates
Reverse Proxy: Each container gets https://domain.com → Container's app (port 8000, configurable)
SSH Routing: SSHPiper on port 2222 enables ssh -p 2222 container-name@host access
Auto DNS: Cloudflare and deSEC API integration (tokens saved securely for reuse)

AI Coding Agents

opencode: Open source, supports multiple LLM providers
nanocode: NanoGPT-optimized fork with built-in features
claude-code: Anthropic's official CLI agent (CLI only)
shelley: AI web agent with full coding capabilities
Easy Configuration: All tools prompt for API keys on first run
Web UI Access: Start opencode, nanocode, or shelley in serve mode on port 9999

Using the AI Coding Tools

After creating a container, SSH in and run any of the tools. A project directory is pre-created at ~/projects for your coding workspaces.

Terminal Mode

# SSH to your container
ssh -p 2222 container-name@host.example.com

# cd to projects directory first
cd ~/projects

# Run opencode
opencode

# Or run nanocode
nanocode

# Or run claude-code
claude

All tools will prompt you to configure your LLM provider and API key on first run. Note that Shelley is web-only (no CLI mode) and Claude Code is CLI-only (no web UI).

Web UI Mode

To access the AI coding agent via web browser:

# SSH to your container
ssh -p 2222 container-name@host.example.com

opencode (cd to project directory first):

cd ~/projects
screen -S code
opencode serve --port 9999 --hostname 0.0.0.0

nanocode (cd to project directory first):

cd ~/projects
screen -S code
nanocode serve --port 9999 --hostname 0.0.0.0

Note: nanocode web UI requires LLM configuration first. Run nanocode (CLI) to configure your provider/API keys before starting the web UI.

shelley (web UI only - no CLI mode):

cd ~/projects
screen -S code
start-shelley.sh 2>&1 | tee -a ~/.shelley.log

Note: Before starting Shelley, add your API keys to ~/.shelley_env. Custom models can be configured in Shelley's web UI, but doing so switches to "custom model mode" and the env var models will no longer be shown.

Then access via https://code.yourdomain.com (protected by Basic Auth credentials you set during container creation).

Press Ctrl+A, D to detach from screen. Reattach with screen -x code.

Note: Only one web UI can run on port 9999 at a time. Stop the current one before starting another.

AI Tools Admin Web App

Each container includes an AI Tools Admin web app accessible at https://admin.code.yourdomain.com. This provides:

MANAGE View:

Toggle AI coding tools (OpenCode, NanoCode, Shelley) on/off
Only one tool can run at a time on port 9999
View real-time output logs
Links to App URL and Code UI
DNS health check indicators

UPDATE View:

One-click update for all three AI tools
Automatically stops running processes before updating
Shows live progress of updates

The admin app runs as a systemd service (admin-app) and is protected by the same Basic Auth credentials as the Code UI.

Note: For Shelley, ensure your API keys are configured in ~/.shelley_env before starting.

Updating AI Tools

From the container detail view in the TUI, press u to update opencode, nanocode, claude-code, and shelley to their latest versions.

SSH Access

To containers (via SSHPiper on port 2222):

ssh -p 2222 container-name@host.example.com
# You'll be logged in as 'ubuntu' (or 'debian') with sudo access

To host (standard SSH on port 22):

ssh user@host.example.com

DNS Configuration

For HTTPS to work, DNS must point to the host server:

domain.com → Host IP
code.domain.com → Host IP (for AI coding web UI)
admin.code.domain.com → Host IP (for AI tools admin app)

Caddy will automatically obtain Let's Encrypt certificates for both domains.

Architecture

                              Internet
                                 │
                    ┌────────────┴────────────┐
                    │                         │
                    ▼                         ▼
              HTTPS (:443)         SSH (:2222 via SSHPiper)
                    │                         │
┌───────────────────▼─────────────────────▼─────────────────┐
│                         Host System                          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                               │
│  ┌─────────────┐           ┌─────────────┐                    │
│  │    Caddy    │           │  SSHPiper   │                    │
│  │  (reverse   │           │  (SSH       │                    │
│  │   proxy)    │           │   router)   │                    │
│  └──────┬──────┘           └──────┬──────┘                    │
│         │                         │                           │
│         │    Routes by domain     │    Routes by username     │
│         ▼                         ▼                           │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐     │
│  │                    Incus (LXC)                       │     │
│  │                                                      │     │
│  │  ┌─────────────────┐  ┌─────────────────┐              │     │
│  │  │ Container      │  │ Container      │    ...       │     │
│  │  │ (Ubuntu/Debian)│  │ (Ubuntu/Debian)│              │     │
│  │  │                │  │                │              │     │
│  │  │  ┌───────────┐ │  │  ┌───────────┐ │              │     │
│  │  │  │ AI Coding │ │  │  │ AI Coding │ │              │     │
│  │  │  │ Tool UI   │ │  │  │ Tool UI   │ │              │     │
│  │  │  │  (:9999)  │ │  │  │  (:9999)  │ │              │     │
│  │  │  └───────────┘ │  │  └───────────┘ │              │     │
│  │  │  ┌───────────┐ │  │  ┌───────────┐ │              │     │
│  │  │  │admin.code │ │  │  │admin.code │ │              │     │
│  │  │  │  (:8099)  │ │  │  │  (:8099)  │ │              │     │
│  │  │  └───────────┘ │  │  └───────────┘ │              │     │
│  │  │  ┌───────────┐ │  │  ┌───────────┐ │              │     │
│  │  │  │ Your App  │ │  │  │ Your App  │ │              │     │
│  │  │  │  (:8000)  │ │  │  │  (:8000)  │ │              │     │
│  │  │  └───────────┘ │  │  └───────────┘ │              │     │
│  │  └─────────────────┘  └─────────────────┘              │     │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘     │
│                                                               │
│  ┌───────────────────┐                                        │
│  │  vibebin        │  TUI for container management            │
│  │  (this tool)     │  - Create/delete containers              │
│  │                  │  - Configure domains & auth              │
│  └───────────────────┘                                         │
│                                                               │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

How Traffic Flows

HTTPS requests to myapp.example.com → Caddy → Container's app (port 8000)
HTTPS requests to code.myapp.example.com → Caddy (with Basic Auth) → AI coding web UI (port 9999)
SSH connections to port 2222 as myapp-example-com@host → SSHPiper → Container's SSH as ubuntu/debian

Caddy Configuration

Routes are managed via Caddy's Admin API (localhost:2019), not config files:

Routes use @id for identification (e.g., container-name-app, container-name-code)
Changes are atomic and immediate (no reload required)
Query current routes: curl http://localhost:2019/config/apps/http/servers/srv0/routes

Container Boot Behavior

Containers use Incus's default "last-state" behavior (by not setting boot.autostart):

Running containers will restart when the host reboots
Stopped containers will stay stopped

Incus automatically tracks each container's power state and restores it when the daemon starts.

Snapshots

Snapshots allow you to save and restore the complete state of a container.

Creating Snapshots

From the container detail view, press S to access snapshot management, then n to create.

Use Cases

Before risky changes: Snapshot before major updates or experiments
Known-good states: Save working configurations you can restore to
Quick rollback: Instantly revert if something breaks

Note: Snapshots are stored by Incus and consume disk space. Delete old snapshots to free space.

Troubleshooting

Container won't start:

journalctl -u incus -f
incus info container-name

Caddy certificate errors:

Ensure DNS is configured and pointing to host IP before creating container
Check Caddy logs: journalctl -u caddy -f
Check current routes: curl -s http://localhost:2019/config/apps/http/servers/srv0/routes | jq .

SSH to containers not working:

Verify SSHPiper is running: systemctl status sshpiperd
Ensure you're using port 2222: ssh -p 2222 container-name@host
Verify upstream config: cat /var/lib/sshpiper/container-name/sshpiper_upstream

AI coding tools not working:

SSH to the container and run opencode, nanocode, or claude interactively, or start-shelley.sh for Shelley web UI
All tools will prompt for API key configuration on first run
Check tool versions: opencode --version, nanocode --version, claude --version, shelley version

Sync daemon issues:

journalctl -u vibebin-sync -f

Subdomain Support

You can use subdomains for your containers:

app.example.com - works correctly
staging.app.example.com - works correctly
my-app.example.com - works correctly

Limitation: Two-Part TLDs

Domains with two-part TLDs (like .co.uk, .com.au) are not fully supported for automatic DNS creation. The zone detection assumes a single-part TLD.

For example:

✅ app.example.com → zone: example.com (correct)
❌ app.example.co.uk → zone: co.uk (incorrect, should be example.co.uk)

Workaround: For two-part TLDs, select "No" for auto DNS creation and configure DNS records manually.

Security & Isolation

Each container created by vibebin is fully isolated by default:

Filesystem Isolation

Each container has its own complete, persistent filesystem (Ubuntu 24.04 or Debian 13)
Containers cannot access each other's filesystems
Uses Incus/LXC which provides OS-level virtualization with separate root filesystems
Data persists across container restarts

Network Isolation

Each container gets its own private IP on an internal bridge network (typically 10.x.x.x)
Containers can communicate with each other by default as they are on the same bridge network on the host
All external access is routed through:
- Caddy (HTTPS reverse proxy) for web traffic
- SSHPiper (port 2222) for SSH access
Each container only exposes what's explicitly configured (by default this is: app port/8000 (configurable), code UI port/9999, admin.code/8099)

Process Isolation

Containers use Linux namespaces (PID, network, mount, user, etc.)
Processes in one container cannot see or interact with processes in another
Each container has its own init system and process tree

Security Note

security.nesting=true is enabled to allow Docker-in-container (useful for development). This is standard for development environments but worth noting for security-sensitive deployments.

In Practice

If you run 3 containers (app1.example.com, app2.example.com, app3.example.com):

Each has its own isolated Linux environment
Each has its own AI tools installation (opencode, nanocode, claude-code, shelley)
An agent in app1 cannot access files or processes in app2 or app3
They share the host's resources (CPU, RAM) but are otherwise independent

It's essentially like having separate lightweight VMs, but with much lower overhead than full virtualization.

Roadmap

Storage Driver Selection

Currently, this implementation uses the Incus DIR storage driver for proof of concept. The DIR driver uses basic filesystem-level storage and is:

Simple to set up (no additional dependencies)
Compatible with any filesystem
Slow for snapshots (full copy-on-write not available)

Planned: During the dependencies/installation phase, users will be able to choose between:

Driver	Pros	Cons
DIR	Simple, works everywhere	Slow snapshots, no CoW
Btrfs	Fast snapshots, CoW, compression	Requires Btrfs filesystem
ZFS	Fast snapshots, CoW, excellent features	Requires significant RAM (1GB+ per TB of storage)

Btrfs and ZFS provide instant snapshots via copy-on-write, making them much more suitable for production use.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for details.

Third-Party Components

opencode: anomalyco/opencode - MIT License
nanocode: nanogpt-community/nanocode - Fork of opencode
claude-code: anthropics/claude-code - Apache License 2.0
shelley: boldsoftware/shelley - Apache License 2.0
Incus: linuxcontainers/incus - Apache 2.0 License
Caddy: caddyserver/caddy - Apache 2.0 License
SSHPiper: tg123/sshpiper - MIT License