# Setup: USB → Mother MCP Connection 23.jun.2026 | Step-by-step | Tested on OSA + 0.11 USB Connects a booted Clawdie USB to the mother node (OSA) via MCP over SSH. After setup, `clawdie-hw-probe` runs on the USB, the hardware profile is sent to mother, and stored in PostgreSQL `mother_hive.hive_nodes`. ## Hosts used in this guide | Host | IP (Tailscale) | User for MCP | Role | | ------------------- | ----------------------- | ------------ | ----------------------------------------------- | | `mother` (OSA) | `` | `colibri` | Mother — runs PostgreSQL, external MCP servers | | `clawdie-usb` (USB) | `` | `clawdie` | Operator workstation — sends hw-probe to mother | ## How it works ``` ┌─ USB ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ │ colibri-daemon │ │ │ │ │ │ external-mcp.json (baked): │ │ │ "mother": { │ │ │ "command": "ssh", │ │ │ "args": ["-i", "/var/db/colibri/.ssh/mother-mcp", │ │ │ "mother"] │ │ │ } │ │ │ │ │ │ spawns persistent SSH child (no remote command) │ │ │ JSON-RPC flows over stdin/stdout ──────────────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ clawdie-hw-probe → JSON → │ │ │ │ colibri_external_mcp_call_tool( │ │ │ │ server="mother", tool="node_register", ...) ──────┤ │ │ │ │ │ └────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ │ │ │ Tailscale (WireGuard encrypted) │ │ │ ┌────┼─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ │ ▼ Mother (OSA) │ │ │ │ │ │ /var/db/colibri/.ssh/authorized_keys: │ │ │ command="/usr/local/bin/colibri-mcp-ssh",restrict,... ◄────┘ │ │ │ │ colibri-mcp-ssh → starts colibri-mcp in stdio MCP mode │ │ │ │ PostgreSQL mother_hive.hive_nodes ← hw-probe JSON stored │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ ``` ## Step 1: SSH key + config (on USB) Copy the `mother-mcp` private key to the USB. The public key is already authorized on mother. For production: the seed partition places this automatically. For testing: scp from OSA or copy manually. ```bash # === ON USB, as clawdie === mkdir -p ~/.ssh chmod 700 ~/.ssh # Create the private key — replace with real key content # This key is authorized on mother as: # command="/usr/local/bin/colibri-mcp-ssh",restrict,no-pty,... cat > ~/.ssh/mother-mcp << 'KEY' -----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY----- -----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY----- KEY chmod 600 ~/.ssh/mother-mcp # SSH config — use Tailscale IP so it works without DNS. # The Host alias "mother" must match the external-mcp.json entry # baked into the ISO. The real IP lives only on the seed, never in the repo. cat > ~/.ssh/config << 'SSH' Host mother HostName User colibri IdentityFile ~/.ssh/mother-mcp IdentitiesOnly yes StrictHostKeyChecking accept-new SSH chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config # Test the connection: ssh mother 'tools' 2>&1 | head -5 # Expected output: # colibri_status Get Colibri daemon status... # colibri_snapshot Get Glasspane snapshot... # ... ``` ## Step 2: External MCP calls + registry (baked into ISO) `COLIBRI_MCP_EXTERNAL_CALL=1` and the mother `external-mcp.json` entry are pre-configured in the ISO image by `scripts/stage-colibri-iso.sh`. No manual steps are needed — the daemon picks up both on first boot. ## Step 3: Install clawdie-hw-probe (on USB) ```bash # === ON USB, as clawdie === # From the 0.12 feature branch (already committed): # Option A — from local repo (if unshallowed): cd /home/clawdie/ai/clawdie-iso git fetch origin feature/0.12.0 git show origin/feature/0.12.0:live/operator-session/clawdie-hw-probe \ | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/clawdie-hw-probe > /dev/null sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/clawdie-hw-probe # Option B — scp from mother: # scp colibri@mother:/home/clawdie/ai/clawdie-iso/live/operator-session/clawdie-hw-probe \ # /tmp/ && sudo install -m 755 /tmp/clawdie-hw-probe /usr/local/bin/ # Test: sudo clawdie-hw-probe 2>/dev/null | python3.11 -m json.tool | head -10 # Expected: JSON with hostname, ram_gb, cpu_model, disks, network_interfaces... ``` ## Step 4: Restart daemon + verify (on USB) ```bash # === ON USB, as clawdie === # Restart the daemon so it picks up external-mcp.json and the env var sudo service colibri_daemon restart # Expected: Starting colibri_daemon. # colibri-daemon socket ready after 1s # Verify external MCP tools are visible colibri-mcp tools 2>&1 | grep external # Expected: # colibri_external_mcp_servers List configured external MCP servers... # colibri_external_mcp_list_tools List tools exposed by... # colibri_external_mcp_call_tool Call a tool on an external MCP server... # List mother's registered tools colibri-mcp --external-config /usr/local/etc/colibri/external-mcp.json \ --external-call tools 2>&1 | head -10 # Expected: tools registered on mother (colibri_status, geodesic_dome, etc.) ``` ## End-to-end test ```bash # === ON USB === # 1. Run hw-probe, capture JSON HW_JSON=$(sudo clawdie-hw-probe 2>/dev/null) # 2. View what would be sent to mother echo "$HW_JSON" | python3.11 -m json.tool | head -15 # 3. Send to mother via MCP (node_register tool lives in the colibri repo: packaging/mother/node-register-mcp) # The 0.12 daemon collects hw-probe at autospawn time and passes it to agents # via CLAWDIE_HW_PROFILE env var. For manual testing, pipe JSON-RPC directly: printf '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/call","id":1,"params":{"name":"node_register","arguments":{"hostname":"%s","hw_profile":%s}}}\n' \ "$(hostname)" "$HW_JSON" | ssh mother 'cat - | /usr/local/bin/node-register-mcp' # 4. Verify on mother ssh mother 'sudo -u postgres psql -d mother_hive \ -c "SELECT hostname, status, capabilities FROM hive_nodes;"' # Expected: both osa.smilepowered.org and clawdie-usb listed ``` ## What happens after (future — 0.12+) Once the daemon is restarted with `COLIBRI_AUTOSPAWN=YES` and `COLIBRI_AUTOSPAWN_BINARY=zot`: 1. **zot autospawns** — DeepSeek API key from seed partition 2. **Daemon collects hw-probe** — runs `clawdie-hw-probe` at spawn time, passes result to zot as `CLAWDIE_HW_PROFILE` env var (zot doesn't run hw-probe itself in 0.12) 3. **zot reads env var and calls mother**: `colibri_external_mcp_call_tool(server="mother", tool="node_register", arguments={hostname:..., hw_profile:...})` 4. **Mother stores** the hardware profile in PostgreSQL 5. **Capability trigger fires** — derives `has_gpu`, `ram_gb`, `cpu_cores`, `geodesic_dome_mcp` etc. 6. **Mother returns capabilities** — zot now knows what this node can do 7. **zot logs**: "node registered — 12GB RAM, 6 cores, no GPU, geodesic_dome_mcp=true" ## Troubleshooting | Symptom | Likely cause | Fix | | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | `ssh mother` hangs | Tailscale not up | `sudo tailscale up` on USB | | `Permission denied (publickey)` | Key not in authorized_keys on mother | Verify: `cat /var/db/colibri/.ssh/authorized_keys` on mother | | `Permission denied (publickey)` | Key permissions wrong on USB | `chmod 600 /var/db/colibri/.ssh/mother-mcp` (daemon user) or `~/.ssh/mother-mcp` (clawdie user) | | `daemon: open: Permission denied` | Log file ownership wrong | `chown clawdie: /var/log/colibri/daemon.log` | | Daemon starts but no external tools | `COLIBRI_MCP_EXTERNAL_CALL` not set | Check provider.env, restart daemon | | Daemon starts, external tools visible, but calls fail | SSH key path wrong in external-mcp.json | Baked path: `/var/db/colibri/.ssh/mother-mcp` | | `error: unrecognized subcommand` | SSH wrapper getting non-allowlisted command | Wrapper only allows `""` (stdio) and `"tools"`; `ssh mother tools` is correct |