Command Line¶

Everything the admin panel does, the bambuddy-appliance command does too — the panel is a thin layer over this CLI, so there is exactly one code path that touches the appliance's state.

SSH is enabled by default:

ssh pi@bambuddy.local

Most subcommands need root. Prefix them with sudo.

Status and restart¶

bambuddy-appliance status      # docker compose ps
bambuddy-appliance restart     # restart the Bambuddy stack

Upgrades¶

# Health-checked, with automatic rollback if it doesn't come up
sudo bambuddy-appliance upgrade-bambuddy v0.2.5

# The appliance layer: wizard, panel, CLI, units. Also health-checked.
sudo bambuddy-appliance upgrade-check-appliance   # is there one? (JSON)
sudo bambuddy-appliance upgrade-appliance

# Debian packages. No rollback.
sudo bambuddy-appliance upgrade-os

# The current job's phase, as JSON
bambuddy-appliance upgrade-status

Only one upgrade may run at a time; a second one exits rather than racing the first. Jobs run detached, so an SSH disconnect mid-upgrade doesn't kill them — reconnect and poll upgrade-status.

See Updates & Backups for what each lane can and cannot undo.

Network aliases¶

Extra addresses on the LAN interface, one per virtual printer that needs its own.

bambuddy-appliance net-aliases                        # list, as JSON
sudo bambuddy-appliance net-alias-add 192.168.1.50/24
sudo bambuddy-appliance net-alias-remove 192.168.1.50/24

Aliases are additive and persist across reboots. The primary DHCP address, the gateway, and the interface's own configuration are never modified — by design, so this command cannot strand the appliance off its network.

Addresses in reserved ranges are rejected before anything is applied.

Tailscale¶

sudo bambuddy-appliance tailscale up       # prints a sign-in URL
bambuddy-appliance tailscale status        # tailnet IP, as JSON
sudo bambuddy-appliance tailscale down     # disconnect, stay logged in
sudo bambuddy-appliance tailscale logout   # forget the tailnet entirely

tailscale up prints a URL to open in a browser. Tailscale's own page handles first-time sign-up, so no console access or API key is needed. Once connected, status reports the 100.x address to paste into a slicer.

The admin password¶

sudo bambuddy-appliance set-admin-password

Reads the new password from standard input rather than an argument, so it never lands in ps, your shell history, or a process listing. On a terminal it prompts; in a script, pipe it:

printf '%s\n' "$NEW_PASSWORD" | sudo bambuddy-appliance set-admin-password

Only the hash is stored, in /etc/bambuddy/admin-auth. This is the same password the setup wizard sets, and it secures the admin panel, the console, and SSH.

Licence and registration¶

bambuddy-appliance license                           # key set? entitled until when? refused why?
sudo bambuddy-appliance license XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Setting a key stores it and asks the registrar straight away, so a mistyped key is answered now rather than on a timer. The key itself is never printed back — this output ends up in support bundles.

sudo bambuddy-appliance register

Claims the unit with the fleet registrar, or sends a heartbeat if it is already claimed. An hourly timer does this in the background; you should not normally need to call it by hand.

On a self-built image the command does nothing at all: with no batch identifier and no licence key there is nothing to present, so it exits without contacting anything.

Files it owns¶