systemd

Running Snippbot under systemd ensures it starts automatically on boot and restarts on failure.

Create the service file

Create the unit file

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/snippbot.service

Paste the configuration

[Unit]
Description=Snippbot AI Agent Daemon
After=network.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=snippbot
Group=snippbot
WorkingDirectory=/opt/snippbot
ExecStart=/opt/snippbot/.venv/bin/snippbot start --host 127.0.0.1 --port 18781
ExecStop=/opt/snippbot/.venv/bin/snippbot stop
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
SyslogIdentifier=snippbot

# Environment
Environment="ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key"
Environment="SNIPPBOT_LOG_LEVEL=info"
# Or load from an environment file:
# EnvironmentFile=/etc/snippbot/env

# Security hardening
NoNewPrivileges=true
PrivateTmp=true
ProtectSystem=strict
ReadWritePaths=/home/snippbot/.snippbot /opt/snippbot

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload systemd and enable

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable snippbot
sudo systemctl start snippbot

Verify it’s running

sudo systemctl status snippbot
curl http://localhost:18781/health

Using an environment file

Instead of embedding secrets in the unit file, use an environment file:

ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-your-key
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key
SNIPPBOT_PORT=18781
SNIPPBOT_LOG_LEVEL=info

Set permissions and reference it:

sudo chmod 600 /etc/snippbot/env
sudo chown root:root /etc/snippbot/env

In the unit file:

EnvironmentFile=/etc/snippbot/env

Commands

sudo systemctl start snippbot      # Start
sudo systemctl stop snippbot       # Stop
sudo systemctl restart snippbot    # Restart
sudo systemctl status snippbot     # Status
sudo systemctl enable snippbot     # Enable at boot
sudo systemctl disable snippbot    # Disable at boot

View logs

journalctl -u snippbot -f          # Follow live logs
journalctl -u snippbot --since today
journalctl -u snippbot -n 100      # Last 100 lines

Create a dedicated user

For security, run Snippbot as a dedicated non-root user:

sudo useradd -r -s /bin/false -d /home/snippbot snippbot
sudo mkdir -p /home/snippbot/.snippbot
sudo chown -R snippbot:snippbot /home/snippbot/.snippbot