Container Startup Checklist

Run after every container rebuild/restart to restore ephemeral configurations.

---

1. SSH Key Symlinks (CRITICAL)

SSH keys are stored in persistent volume /home/node/.openclaw/ssh/ but git expects them in ~/.ssh/.

Run:

/home/node/.openclaw/workspace/tools/setup-ssh-symlinks.sh

What it does:

• Creates symlinks: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 → /home/node/.openclaw/ssh/id_ed25519
• Creates symlinks: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub → /home/node/.openclaw/ssh/id_ed25519.pub
• Adds GitHub to known_hosts
• Sets proper permissions (600 on private key)

Why needed:
Container rebuilds wipe ~/.ssh/ (ephemeral), but keys in /home/node/.openclaw/ persist (mounted volume).

---

2. Verify Git Works

cd /home/node/.openclaw/workspace
git status
git push origin main

If push fails with "Permission denied (publickey)", SSH symlinks are broken. Run step 1 again.

---

3. Service Health Check

# Check if webhook server is running
ps aux | grep "python.*webhook"

# Check if triage worker is running
ps aux | grep "triage-worker"

# Check if tunnel is up (if configured)
ps aux | grep "cloudflared"

---

Automation (TODO)

Option A: Add to container entrypoint/init script
Option B: Add to .bashrc so it runs on first shell
Option C: Run via cron @reboot

For now: Manual execution required after rebuilds.

---

Last updated: Feb 14, 2026 (after rebuild SSH key symlink fix)