supbuddy 3.3.2 → 3.3.4

package/dist/bin.js

@@ -19812,7 +19812,7 @@ function cliBuildKind(env3 = process.env) {
   return raw === "host" || raw === "npm" ? raw : "dev";
 }
 function cliVersion(env3 = process.env) {
-  return "3.3.2".trim() || "0.0.0-dev";
+  return "3.3.4".trim() || "0.0.0-dev";
 }
 function isDevBuild(env3) {
   return cliBuildKind(env3) === "dev";
@@ -40252,6 +40252,13 @@ var init_caddy_supervisor = __esm({
   }
 });
 
+// ../../packages/core/socket-io-global.ts
+var init_socket_io_global = __esm({
+  "../../packages/core/socket-io-global.ts"() {
+    "use strict";
+  }
+});
+
 // ../../packages/core/caddy-manager.ts
 import { spawn as spawn5, execFile as execFile4 } from "child_process";
 import { promisify as promisify7 } from "util";
@@ -40586,6 +40593,7 @@ var init_caddy_manager = __esm({
     init_caddy_l4_manager();
     init_caddy_supervisor();
     init_mapping_scope();
+    init_socket_io_global();
     caddyProcess = null;
     stdoutBuffer = "";
     stderrBuffer = "";
@@ -41591,7 +41599,7 @@ var DOCS_MARKDOWN;
 var init_docs_generated = __esm({
   "../../packages/core/project-context/docs.generated.ts"() {
     "use strict";
-    DOCS_MARKDOWN = "# Supbuddy docs\n\n> Run multiple Supabase projects at once on one Mac, each with its own custom local domain.\n\n## Getting started\n\nThere are two ways to run Supbuddy. Use the **macOS desktop app** (steps below), or the **command-line interface**, which runs on macOS and Linux. For the CLI, install it with `npx supbuddy@latest` and jump to [Command-line interface](#command-line-interface-cli). The app and the CLI share the same state, so you can use either or both.\n\n### 1. Install\n\nDownload the latest `.dmg` from the [download page](/api/download). Drag **Supbuddy.app** into `/Applications` and launch it. Supbuddy is signed and notarized; macOS will not show a Gatekeeper warning. Requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3/M4, arm64). The desktop app is macOS-only in v2, but the headless CLI runs on Linux too. See [Command-line interface](#command-line-interface-cli).\n\n### 2. Trust the local Certificate Authority\n\nCaddy mints its local CA the first time the proxy starts \u2014 **no mapping required**, so you can trust it before you add anything. With the proxy running, open the app and click **Install** (the first-launch prompt, or **Settings \u2192 Network** later). Supbuddy adds the CA (Caddy's internal PKI at `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/caddy-data/caddy/pki/authorities/local/root.crt`) to your **System keychain** via `sudo security add-trusted-cert`; macOS asks for your password once. (On macOS 15+ that system-wide step is no longer permitted to a background helper, so Install falls back to per-user trust \u2014 see below.) Caddy does **not** self-install trust (the generated Caddyfile sets `skip_install_trust`), so this button is what makes the padlock green \u2014 fully quit and reopen your browser afterward to pick it up. Every Supbuddy domain then gets HTTPS with no per-domain prompts or warnings. (On Windows the install is manual: Supbuddy shows the PowerShell `Import-Certificate \u2026 -CertStoreLocation Cert:\\LocalMachine\\Root` command to run as Administrator.)\n\n**On macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later, Install trusts the CA for your user account.** Apple now routes system-wide trust changes through an authorization dialog that macOS refuses to show to a background helper \u2014 being root is no longer enough, and the attempt comes back as `SecTrustSettingsSetTrustSettings: The authorization was denied since no user interaction was possible`. Supbuddy still tries the system-wide install first (it works on Sonoma and earlier, and covers every user on the machine); when macOS refuses it, Supbuddy adds the root to your **login keychain** instead and macOS shows *\"You are making changes to your Certificate Trust Settings\"* \u2014 confirm with your login password. Browsers honour user-domain trust exactly the same way, and **Uninstall** removes the root from both keychains. If you dismiss that dialog, Supbuddy pins the exact command on screen so you can run it yourself \u2014 **without `sudo`**, which would land back in the domain macOS just refused:\n\n```bash\nsecurity add-trusted-cert -r trustRoot -k ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db \\\n  ~/Library/Application\\ Support/Supbuddy/caddy-data/caddy/pki/authorities/local/root.crt\n```\n\nCaddy names its root by year, so each yearly rotation (or a data wipe) leaves a same-name root behind with a different key. On every Install, Supbuddy first removes any stale `Caddy Local Authority` roots whose fingerprint doesn't match the current one, then adds the current root \u2014 leftover mismatched roots otherwise make Firefox-family browsers fail with `SEC_ERROR_BAD_SIGNATURE`. This cleanup runs against whichever keychain the install targets, and trust detection reads **both** the System and login keychains, so a root trusted per-user still reports as installed.\n\n**Firefox, Zen, and Brave keep their own certificate store** that Supbuddy can't reach (they don't consult the System keychain). After a CA change, either delete any stale `Caddy Local Authority` entries from the browser's own certificate manager and re-import the new root, or \u2014 on Firefox/Zen \u2014 set `security.enterprise_roots.enabled` to `true` in `about:config` so the browser reads the System keychain.\n\nIf Supbuddy detects an AI tool that ships its own JavaScript runtime (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Continue, Codex CLI, OpenCode, etc.) it will also offer to enable **Bundled-runtime trust** in the same first-run prompt. Those tools don't read the system Keychain (they carry their own Mozilla CA bundle), so without this setup the first OAuth/MCP connection to a `*.test` URL fails with `unable to get local issuer certificate`. Enable it once and Supbuddy keeps it in sync (including across yearly Caddy CA rotation). See the **Bundled-runtime trust** section under Settings \u2192 General for details.\n\nIf you skip the prompt, you can re-trigger it any time from the **Settings \u2192 Network** tab.\n\n### 3. Add your first project\n\nClick **Add project** in the Configure tab and pick a project root folder (the one with `package.json` and/or `supabase/config.toml`). Supbuddy scans it and creates auto-mapped subdomains based on what it finds:\n\n- Supabase Kong \u2192 `api.<project>.test`\n- Supabase Studio \u2192 `studio.<project>.test`\n- Supabase Inbucket / Mailpit \u2192 `mail.<project>.test`\n- Each detected app (Next.js, Vite, etc.) \u2192 `<app-name>.<project>.test`\n\nThe default TLD is `.test`. You can change it project-wide in **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Default TLD**.\n\n> **`.local` is fine again, from 3.5.18.** Earlier versions made every managed domain resolve slowly \u2014 a name resolved in milliseconds *once* and then stalled **five seconds per concurrent lookup**, so `curl`, a single `fetch` and `dig` all looked healthy while any page issuing several requests at once failed with what looked like a connect timeout on the proxy. The advice used to be to move off `.local`, on the grounds that macOS reserves it for multicast DNS (RFC 6762). That was only half right, and the half that mattered was ours: Supbuddy's DNS server answered only `A` for managed domains and forwarded the IPv6 (`AAAA`) lookup to the upstream resolver, which never answers for a local name \u2014 so no reply was sent at all and the client waited out its own timeout. A name on a *non-reserved* suffix stalled identically (5003 ms against `.local`'s 5002 ms), which is what proved the suffix was not the cause. Supbuddy now answers `AAAA` itself with `::1`; because that is a positive answer it also satisfies macOS's multicast rule, so `.local` resolves in single-digit milliseconds like any other suffix. (A client that prefers IPv6 is refused on `[::1]:443` and falls back to IPv4 in about 3 ms \u2014 there is deliberately no IPv6 redirect, because one was tried and it silently broke the backend HTTPS port.) **There is no need to rename your domains.** `doctor` still ships `dns-local-tld-mdns-stall` as a canary \u2014 if it fires on 3.5.18 or newer, check `supbuddy version` first, since an updated app can still be attached to an older daemon. One thing the suffix *can* still cause is the opposite symptom \u2014 the name not resolving **at all** on Sonoma and later, because mDNS owns the namespace by a path `/etc/resolver` does not govern. That is rarer, it is not slowness, and the only fix is a different TLD; see [the PROXY ERROR banner](#project-shows-a-red-proxy-error-banner-domain-resolves-but-wont-load).\n\n### 4. Start the proxy\n\nToggle the project on. Supbuddy starts Caddy on port 8443 (HTTPS) and starts its built-in DNS server on port 5353. If you want real ports 80/443 instead of 8080/8443, enable **port forwarding** in **Settings \u2192 Network**. Supbuddy inserts a `pfctl` redirect rule into `/etc/pf.conf` (asks for sudo once) and reports whether the redirect is actually being enforced via a live 443 probe \u2014 not merely that the rule is on disk. If port forwarding is on but 443 won't connect, see [Port forwarding is on but 443 won't connect](#port-forwarding-is-on-but-443-wont-connect).\n\nEnforcement has a third state: **unknown**. The 443 probe only means something when something is listening behind the redirect, so if the HTTPS port has no listener \u2014 most often when no mapping is enabled yet, which generates a Caddyfile with no site blocks \u2014 Supbuddy reports enforcement as unknown rather than off. In that state it shows no \"not enforcing\" badge, no red banner, and never asks for your password: a redirect it cannot observe is not a redirect it can call broken.\n\n> If the one-time sudo prompt is cancelled or fails, Supbuddy no longer aborts the start: Caddy still comes up and HTTPS keeps working on the high port (8443), and the proxy shows a degraded **error** state with a **Retry** so you can re-run the privileged setup. The CA is still generated in this state. You have **three minutes** to answer an admin prompt (older builds gave up after 30 seconds and then discarded the result of a password typed later, reporting work that had actually succeeded as failed).\n\n## Core concepts\n\nFour things to understand:\n\n- **Project**: a folder you registered. Holds detected *apps* (Next.js, Vite, etc.), detected *services* (Supabase stack, Docker Compose services), and a list of *mappings*.\n- **Mapping**: a domain \u2192 port pair (e.g. `api.acme.test \u2192 54321`). Auto-generated mappings are tied to a detected service or app; you can also create manual ones.\n- **Isolation mode**: per-project. One of:\n  - `thin` (lightweight, **the default for newly registered projects**): still your host Docker (no nested containers, no DinD), but Supbuddy gives each project its own **port block** and a unique Compose `project_id`, written into that project's `supabase/config.toml`. That's what lets several Supabase projects run **at once on the shared daemon**, each reached by name (`api.<project>.test`, `studio.<project>.test`). Apps bind a **per-project loopback IP** (127.0.0.2, 127.0.0.3, \u2026) so every project's dev servers keep their canonical ports \u2014 each project gets its *own* `:3000`. Start dev servers with `supbuddy run -- <dev command>` so they bind that IP. Supbuddy owns those config.toml keys while the project is `thin` and restores them the moment you switch back to `host`.\n  - `host`: everything shares `127.0.0.1` and the stock ports. Dev-server ports collide across projects, and only one host-mode Supabase project can run at a time (the standard `supabase start` constraint). Use `host` **only when the project's Supabase stack is already running on the host independently of Supbuddy** (you run `supabase start` yourself and don't want Supbuddy re-porting `config.toml`). MCP registration (`register_project`) detects that case and keeps such projects on `host` automatically; in the app's Add-project dialog, pick **Host** in the Environment section yourself.\n- **Active vs inactive**: any project can be \"active\" (proxied + reachable) or inactive. Inactive projects keep their state, so flipping them on is a few seconds. Run as many active projects as you want.\n\n## Project cards (Configure tab)\n\nEach registered project appears as a card in the Configure tab. Cards have a single-row header that's always visible and a tab-based body that expands on click.\n\n### Header\n\nReading left to right:\n\n- **Expand chevron** + **project name**: click to expand/collapse the card.\n- **Status indicator**: a single colored dot next to the project name aggregating the realtime state of every subsystem (Supabase services, Compose, scripts, AI sync, port conflicts, next.config warnings). Red = error, amber = warning, green = at least one service running, muted gray = idle, animated cyan spinner = transitioning. Hover for a tooltip that lists each subsystem's state.\n- **Tech badges**: e.g. `TurboRepo`, `Supabase` (shown when detected).\n\n**Supabase connection warning.** When a project's app `.env` is missing the\nSupabase connection vars, or they've gone stale relative to the live target\n(e.g. after switching isolation, which republishes ports), the card shows a\n`supabase env: not connected` / `supabase env: out of date` pill. Click it to\nopen Connect and push fresh values, or choose **Ignore for this project**.\n- **Env mode chip**: read-only `Host` or `Thin` label (matching the project's isolation mode). To switch modes, open the **Supabase** tab and use the **Environment** section at the top.\n- **Issues counter**: red for errors, amber for warnings. Click to open the **issues popover** (see below). Hidden when there are no issues.\n- **Warnings chip**: all project-level warnings (isolation drift, missing env vars, config issues, etc.) are consolidated into a single amber chip next to the enable toggle. Click it to see each warning item-by-item; it shows a spinner while Supbuddy re-checks the project.\n- **Enable toggle** (right edge): turn the project's proxy on/off without deleting it.\n- **\u22EF actions menu** (right edge): every project-level action: **Edit project**, **Rescan**, **Re-check configs** (re-runs the connection/env drift check for this project), **Select folder**, **Export bundle**, and **Delete project**.\n\n### Readiness banner\n\nBetween the header and the tabs, a card shows one bordered row per **readiness** finding \u2014 dependencies not installed or out of date, Supabase connection vars missing or stale, keys the project's `.env.example` declares that nothing sets. Each row carries the finding's detail, its evidence (project-relative paths and key names, never values), and, where Supbuddy can fix it, a button whose words come from the finding itself: **Run pnpm install** in a pnpm repo, **Run yarn install** in a yarn one. While an install runs, the banner shows a live tail of its output and a **Cancel** button, and the fix buttons are disabled \u2014 including when that install was started from the CLI or by an agent. **If the install exits non-zero, the banner says so and keeps the output**: a red row naming the exit code, the last lines of the run still under it, and a **Dismiss** button \u2014 it stays until you dismiss it or start another install. A cancelled install is not reported as a failure. A ready project shows no banner. See [Project readiness](#project-readiness-can-it-run).\n\n### Issues popover\n\nClicking the issues counter opens a popover listing all current errors and warnings \u2014 including readiness findings. Each issue shows a severity icon, title, optional detail, and a **\u2192 open {tab}** link. Clicking the link jumps to the relevant tab and closes the popover.\n\n### Body tabs (when expanded)\n\nThe body renders a flat tab strip with 6 conditional tabs. Below ~480 px, the strip collapses to a dropdown selector. (Project-level actions, like edit, rescan, re-check configs, select folder, export, and delete, are in the header's **\u22EF menu**, not a tab.)\n\n#### Apps (default tab)\n\nPer-app rows are domain-first: `domain \u2192 :port` (with hover-revealed copy/open URL buttons), then app name + tech badge, then a flex spacer pushes hover-revealed **edit** / **delete** / **access** (LAN / Tailscale state) actions and the per-mapping **toggle** to the right edge. A **Map** CTA appears on hover for unmapped apps. Manual mappings scoped to this project (not auto-generated) are listed below under their own subheader.\n\n#### Supabase (shown when Supabase is detected)\n\n**Environment section (top):** host/thin switcher. A legacy project still on the old Isolated (VM) mode shows the migration wizard here instead (see [Migrating a legacy Isolated (VM) project to Thin](#migrating-a-legacy-isolated-vm-project-to-thin)).\n\n**Action bar:** Start, Stop, Restart buttons; a first-class **Connect** button (cyan, opens the connection panel for `.env` generation / merge); and a **More** menu with **Config editor** and **Details**.\n\n**The connection panel: which button actually connects your app.** The panel generates the project's Supabase/app-URL variables using the app's framework prefix and targets the file that framework loads (see [Framework env vars: prefix and file](#framework-env-vars-prefix-and-file)). The **Prefix** dropdown opens on the prefix that table gives the app being written to \u2014 `NUXT_PUBLIC_` for a Nuxt app, `PUBLIC_` for Astro and SvelteKit, none for Remix or an app whose framework was not detected \u2014 and it follows the **Write to** app when you change it. Override it if you keep a different spelling; the dropdown offers every prefix Supbuddy knows, `EXPO_PUBLIC_` included. Two buttons write, and they are not interchangeable:\n\n- **Set env vars** (then **Apply & next**, one file at a time, with a per-key diff) merges the values into the env file your app actually reads \u2014 `.env.local` for Next/Vite/SvelteKit, `.env` for Astro/Nuxt/Remix \u2014 backing the original up first and preserving your comments. This is the one that connects the app and clears the `supabase env:` warning.\n- **Write .env.supbuddy** writes a **reference** file, `<app>/.env.supbuddy`. No framework auto-loads it, so on its own it changes nothing your app can see and the drift warning stays. It is for copying values out of, or for `source`-ing by hand.\n\n**Config editor: secret extraction.** When you save a `supabase/config.toml` that contains a secret-bearing value inline (e.g. an SMTP password under `[auth.email.smtp]`, an OAuth `secret`, or any `*_key`/`auth_token`), Supbuddy prompts before writing: it lists the detected secrets and lets you pick which gitignored env file to move them to (defaulting to the project-root `.env.local`). The value is written there and replaced in `config.toml` with an `env(SUPABASE_\u2026)` reference, so secrets never land in git. Supbuddy injects those `SUPABASE_`-prefixed values back into the `supabase start` environment so the references resolve. (Saving a config with no inline secrets writes directly, with no prompt.)\n\n**Service rows** (read-only): status dot, service name, URL. No inline actions; lifecycle is driven by the action bar.\n\n#### Compose (shown when Compose services are detected)\n\n**Action bar:** Start, Stop, Restart. **Service rows** are read-only (status dot, name, URL). Add-on services declared in `supbuddy.addons.yml` (see **Add-on Compose services**) appear here alongside the base stack and in `get_compose_status` over MCP.\n\n#### Other (shown when non-Supabase, non-Compose services are detected)\n\nRead-only service rows: status dot, name, URL.\n\n#### Scripts (shown when scripts are detected)\n\nBookmarked scripts appear in a **Quick Access** group at the top; remaining scripts appear under **Other Scripts**. Per-script row: status dot, name, uptime, bookmark star, Start/Stop/Restart buttons. A search input appears when there are more than 5 scripts.\n\n**Stop kills the whole tree, not just the shell.** A script runs as `<manager> run <name>` under a shell, so the dev server you care about is that shell's child \u2014 Supbuddy now signals the **process group** (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL five seconds later), so `next dev`/`vite` and anything they started go down with it. Earlier builds signalled only the tracked shell: the row went back to *stopped* while the server kept running and kept holding its port, and the next Start failed with `EADDRINUSE` against your own leftover process, which you then had to find with `lsof -i :3000` and kill by hand. The same applies to Stop from `supbuddy` and over MCP \u2014 all three drive one supervisor.\n\n#### AI Tools\n\nWraps the project-context-sync panel: sync mode selector (Auto / Manual / Off), detected targets list with per-target **scope** (global / local), advanced options, and recent activity. See [Per-project AI context sync](#per-project-ai-context-sync) for what global vs. local means.\n\n> Project-level actions (**Edit**, **Rescan**, **Re-check configs**, **Select folder**, **Export bundle**, **Delete**) are no longer a tab. They live in the header's **\u22EF actions menu**.\n\n---\n\n## Multiple Supabase projects (the main use case)\n\nThe reason Supbuddy exists. Stock Supabase CLI binds to fixed ports (54321 Kong, 54322 Postgres, 54323 Studio, 54324 mail). Two projects on the same machine collide; you must `supabase stop` one before `supabase start`-ing the other.\n\nTwo ways to break that constraint, picked per project in the **Supabase** tab \u2192 **Environment** section:\n\n### Thin (lightweight, recommended)\n\nSwitch a project to **Thin**. Supbuddy assigns it a free port block (in the `55000+` range), writes those ports plus a unique Compose `project_id` into its `supabase/config.toml`, and runs `supabase start` on your **normal host Docker**, with no nested containers and nothing to pull. Several projects boot side by side this way; each is reached by name (`api.acme.test`, `studio.acme.test`, `mail.acme.test`). Switch back to **Host** and Supbuddy restores the original `config.toml` and stops just that project's stack. A Thin project keeps that block for as long as it is Thin: anything that **creates or replaces** its `supabase/config.toml` afterwards gets the block re-written into the new file, because the content that lands there declares the stock `54321\u201354324` ports that belong to whichever project is on Host. That covers **creating** one \u2014 `supabase init` from the app or `init_supabase` over MCP on a project that had no Supabase yet, or repointing it with `set_supabase_config_path` \u2014 and **replacing** one: saving the visual config editor, `supbuddy supabase config apply` / `write_supabase_config`, restoring a config backup (`supbuddy supabase restore`, `restore_supabase_backup`) and restoring the `config.hosted.toml` snapshot. A backup or snapshot usually predates the switch to Thin, so restoring one verbatim would put the project back on the stock ports; the ports and `project_id` are re-imposed on top, and everything else in the file you restored is kept.\n\nThis is the lightest, fastest option and the right default for most setups \u2014 which is why **newly registered projects default to Thin**. One caveat: if your `config.toml` omits a port key (e.g. the mail catcher's `smtp_port`), Supbuddy can't relocate a port that isn't declared, so that one service falls back to its stock port. That is fine for a single project, but spell those keys out if two Thin projects need the same service. Where a whole section is missing and the rest of your ports sit outside the stock `54320\u201354329` block, Supbuddy reports that service's port as **unknown** rather than substituting the stock one \u2014 on a multi-project machine the stock port is another project's service, and a mapping built from it would open the wrong stack.\n\n#### Supported `config.toml` layout\n\nSupbuddy reads `[api]`, `[db]` (`port` + `shadow_port`), `[db.pooler]`, `[studio]`, `[analytics]`, and the mail catcher. **Supabase CLI 2.x renamed the mail section `[inbucket]` to `[local_smtp]`**; Supbuddy reads whichever one your file declares (`[local_smtp]` wins if both are somehow present) and falls back to the stock 54324/54325/54326 only when it declares neither. Thin's port rewrite targets the section you already have \u2014 it never adds the other spelling, because the CLI would ignore it while the diff made the port look moved.\n\n### Dev servers on Thin: every project keeps its own `:3000`\n\nA Thin project also gets its own **loopback IP** (127.0.0.2, 127.0.0.3, \u2026, persisted per project). That loopback covers **app dev servers only** \u2014 Supabase is separated by the port block above, not by the IP, so every project still needs its own Supabase port range in `config.toml`. Its app dev servers bind that IP instead of `127.0.0.1`, so canonical ports never collide across projects \u2014 five Next.js apps in five projects can all run on `:3000` at once, and Supbuddy's proxy routes each `web.<project>.test` to its project's IP.\n\nStart dev servers through the launcher:\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy run -- next dev          # binds -H <project loopback IP>, stays on :3000\nsupbuddy run -- vite              # injects --host <ip> --strictPort\nsupbuddy run --print -- next dev  # show what would run, without running it\n```\n\n`supbuddy run` reads the project's IP from the nearest `.supbuddy/meta.json` (`loopbackIp`, written when Thin is enabled), ensures the loopback alias exists, injects the right bind flag for the detected framework, and execs your command. It prints one concise line with the project's Caddy-proxied URL (e.g. `[supbuddy] \u2192 https://web.<project>.test`) \u2014 the address you should actually open. For **Next and Vite** it also hides the dev server's own `- Local:/- Network:` banner (which only echoes the raw loopback IP `127.0.0.N:<port>`, bypassing Supbuddy's HTTPS proxy): those two lines are filtered out of the piped output, every other line passes through untouched, and colours are preserved via `FORCE_COLOR` (stdin stays interactive). Other frameworks pass through with no filtering. When a project has several app mappings, it matches the one whose port equals the dev server's port (from `--port`/`-p` or the framework default), else lists them all. Make it the project's `dev` script (`\"dev\": \"supbuddy run -- next dev\"`) so nobody \u2014 humans or agents \u2014 has to remember it. **Never move an app to a nonstandard port because `127.0.0.1:3000` is busy**; that port belongs to another project's IP space.\n\n### When to stay on Host\n\nKeep a project on **Host** only when its Supabase stack runs on the host *independently of Supbuddy* \u2014 you run `supabase start` yourself on the stock ports and don't want Supbuddy rewriting `config.toml`. MCP registration (`register_project`) detects a stack like that (running containers for the project's `config.toml` `project_id`) and keeps the project on Host automatically; in the app's Add-project dialog, pick **Host** in the Environment section for such projects. Stop the stack (`supabase stop`) and switch to Thin whenever you're ready.\n\n### Running them all at once\n\nRegister as many projects as you want, and all of them can be \"active\" (proxied) at the same time. There's no limit. A Thin project's stack restarts in seconds; a Host project needs the standard `supabase start` cycle.\n\n### Migrating a legacy Isolated (VM) project to Thin\n\nIf you created a project in an older version of Supbuddy that used the now-retired **Isolated (VM)** mode, Supbuddy detects it on launch and offers a one-way, guided migration to **Thin**. The migration wizard appears in the **Supabase** tab's Environment section for any project still flagged as VM.\n\nThe migration is data-safe: Supbuddy dumps your Postgres data, starts a fresh Thin stack, restores the dump into it, and row-count-verifies the restore before tearing down the old VM container. No data loss. After migrating, the VM is gone and there's no way to switch back (but your data is intact in the Thin stack).\n\nOver MCP, three tools handle the migration bridge:\n\n- `list_pending_vm_migrations` (read): lists all projects still on the legacy VM mode awaiting migration.\n- `migrate_vm_to_thin` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): starts the guided data-safe migration (dump, restore, verify).\n- `finish_vm_migration` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): tears down the old VM container after migration is verified. Returns an error if called before verification passes.\n\n## Custom domains & TLDs\n\nEvery mapping resolves through Supbuddy's built-in DNS server on port 5353. By default the TLD is `.test` (an IETF-reserved TLD safe for local use). You can change the default in **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Default TLD** to `local`, `dev`, or anything else; existing mappings are migrated to the new TLD on save.\n\nFor host resolution, Supbuddy *does not* use `/etc/hosts` for wildcards; it runs a DNS resolver. macOS's default resolver only queries port 53; Supbuddy installs a per-project resolver file under `/etc/resolver/<project-domain>` (e.g. `/etc/resolver/myapp.local`) pointing at `127.0.0.1:5353`. macOS picks the longest-suffix-matching file, so per-project entries route reliably without colliding with reserved namespaces like `.local` (which Bonjour/mDNS owns). You'll be prompted for sudo the first time this changes.\n\nResolver files exist only for domains the proxy actually serves \u2014 the same set that gets a Caddy site block: enabled mappings that are either standalone or under an **enabled** project. Disable or delete a project and its resolver file is removed with its routes (one sudo prompt, and only when something really changed), so its domains go back to failing as \"server not found\" instead of resolving into a TLS handshake error from a proxy that has nothing to serve. Enabling it again writes the file back; so does restarting the proxy.\n\n### When macOS won't load `/etc/resolver`: the `/etc/hosts` fallback\n\nOn a small number of Macs the `/etc/resolver` mechanism is simply **inert**. The files are present and correct, Supbuddy's DNS server answers every managed name on `127.0.0.1:5353`, and `scutil --dns` still lists only the system's own resolvers \u2014 zero of Supbuddy's. Measured on macOS 26 with a responder that answers *every* query: a custom TLD failed, a custom TLD with a `domain` directive failed, and the real IANA TLD `.dev` failed too. `/etc/hosts` worked. **This is not a TLD problem and renaming your domains will not fix it.**\n\nSupbuddy detects that state and works around it by maintaining a managed block in `/etc/hosts`.\n\n- **How it engages.** After the proxy starts and the resolver files have been written and reloaded, Supbuddy resolves a name that *only* the resolver path can answer. If the files are in sync and that name still doesn't resolve \u2014 confirmed, not on a single miss \u2014 it writes the block. Nothing branches on your macOS version; it is the observed condition, so it is also correct for a machine locked down by a configuration profile or MDM.\n- **What it costs.** The condition can only be seen *after* the privileged setup has run, so the very first time it is detected you get **one extra password prompt**. Supbuddy then remembers the machine fact, and every later proxy start folds the hosts write into the **same** prompt as the resolver write. Steady state: one prompt, exactly as before. A declined prompt is not retried for 10 minutes, so it can never become a password loop.\n- **What it covers \u2014 and what it doesn't.** `/etc/hosts` has no wildcards. The block carries the exact names Supbuddy knows about: every enabled mapping, plus every enabled project's base domain, each pointing at `127.0.0.1` and `::1` (the same answers the DNS server gives). A brand-new subdomain that has no mapping will **not** resolve until you add one \u2014 the one behaviour difference you will notice. Everything else, including HTTPS and per-project TLDs, is unchanged.\n- **How to see it.** The block is delimited by `# Supbuddy DNS fallback - Start` / `# Supbuddy DNS fallback - End` \u2014 run `grep -A20 'Supbuddy DNS fallback' /etc/hosts`. `get_health` reports it as `dns.resolver.hosts_fallback: true`, and the \"domain doesn't resolve\" banner says so in words. Your original file is copied once to `/etc/hosts.supbuddy-backup` before the first edit.\n- **How to get out of it.** It retires itself: as soon as a proxy start finds the resolver path answering again, Supbuddy removes the block and forgets the machine fact. Stopping the proxy also removes it (the same teardown that removes the resolver files), and `supbuddy reset --deep` removes it for good. You can also delete the block by hand \u2014 Supbuddy rewrites it on the next start only if the fault is still there.\n\nNote that this block is **not** the old `# Supbuddy - Start` block from the pre-DNS-server era. That one is legacy, is deleted on every launch, and has nothing to do with this.\n\n### Per-project TLD\n\nBy default every project's domain uses the global TLD (Settings \u2192 Default TLD, e.g. `.test`). A single project can opt into its **own** TLD \u2014 set the suffix in the project dialog, pass `tld` to the `register_project` / `update_project` MCP tools, or use the CLI: `supbuddy project add <path> --tld=portal` when registering, or `supbuddy project set <project> --tld=portal` on an existing one (`--tld=` with an empty value clears the override). That project's base domain and all its subdomains then live on the override TLD (e.g. `cueplusplus.portal`, `web.cueplusplus.portal`) while every other project stays on the global default. The override is durable across restarts and is unaffected when you change the global TLD. Prefer `.test` or a vanity label like `.portal`; avoid `.local` (it collides with macOS mDNS/Bonjour).\n\n### LAN sharing\n\nWhen LAN sharing is enabled (Settings \u2192 Network), Supbuddy binds Caddy to `0.0.0.0` instead of `127.0.0.1` and runs an mDNS responder so other machines on your local network can reach your dev servers via `<hostname>.local`. Useful for testing on your phone or another laptop without setting up Tailscale.\n\n**`.local` TLD + LAN sharing:** macOS reserves the `.local` namespace for Bonjour/mDNS (RFC 6762), and macOS's TCP stack short-circuits self-connections to your own LAN IP via the loopback path *without consulting `pf`*, so the obvious \"redirect lo0 \u2192 my LAN IP\" trick can't fix it. Supbuddy's mDNS responder works around this by **ignoring queries that originate from this machine**, letting the OS resolver fall through to `/etc/resolver/<project-domain>` (which routes to `127.0.0.1` where Caddy listens). Other LAN devices still get answered with the LAN IP and reach you normally. The net result: `.local` works correctly both on this machine and on other LAN devices, with no manual configuration. If you previously worked around this by switching to `.test`, you can switch back.\n\nIf `studio.<project>.local` (or similar) doesn't load: open the Configure tab. A red banner will tell you whether it's a DNS, port-forwarding, or mDNS-race issue, with the specific recovery action.\n\n### Tailscale\n\nIf you have Tailscale installed and a Tailscale API key configured in Settings, Supbuddy can push split-DNS routes to your tailnet so any device on your tailnet resolves your Supbuddy domains. Optional, off by default.\n\n## Monorepo support\n\nSupbuddy auto-detects these monorepo layouts when scanning a project root:\n\n- Turborepo (presence of `turbo.json`)\n- pnpm workspaces (`pnpm-workspace.yaml`)\n- npm/yarn workspaces (`workspaces` field in root `package.json`)\n- Common folder layouts: `apps/*`, `packages/*`, `services/*`, `sites/*`\n\nEach detected app gets its own subdomain. Supabase is searched for in the project root and these subdirectories: `apps/*`, `packages/*`, `services/*`, `sites/*`, `db/`, `db/*`, `database/`, `database/*`, `packages/backend`, `packages/db`, `packages/database`.\n\n### Detected app frameworks\n\nSupbuddy picks an app's framework from **evidence, not table position**. It collects every known framework dependency in the package's `package.json` and takes the one whose `dev`/`start` script actually runs it \u2014 a package that merely depends on `next` for types is not a Next app, and a package whose scripts run none of them is not listed as an app at all. When two candidates both match, a fixed order breaks the tie, and that order puts **meta-frameworks before the bundlers they sit on**: SvelteKit and Remix-on-Vite both list `vite` as a direct devDependency, so a `\"dev\": \"vite dev\"` script resolves to SvelteKit rather than handing the app `VITE_` variables it never reads.\n\nPort detection then takes the first of: an explicit `-p`/`--port` in the dev/start script, a `PORT=` prefix in that script, a per-framework config file (`vite.config.*` / `svelte.config.*` for Vite and SvelteKit, `astro.config.*`, `nuxt.config.*`), then \u2014 for a meta-framework whose dev server *is* Vite \u2014 `vite.config.*`, and finally the framework default below.\n\n| Framework dependency | Detected as | Default port |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| `next` | `next` | 3000 |\n| `vite` | `vite` | 5173 |\n| `@sveltejs/kit` | `sveltekit` | 5173 |\n| `astro` | `astro` | 4321 |\n| `nuxt`, `nuxt3` | `nuxt` | 3000 |\n| `@remix-run/dev`, `@remix-run/serve` | `remix` | **5173** when `vite` is a direct dependency (a `remix vite:dev` app binds Vite's port), otherwise 3000 |\n| `@angular/core` | `node` | 4200 |\n| `@nestjs/core` | `node` | 3000 |\n| `express`, `fastify`, `koa`, `hono`, `@hono/node-server`, `elysia`, `polka`, `tinyhttp` | `node` | none (must be explicit in dev script) |\n\nSvelteKit, Astro, Nuxt and Remix are detected **as themselves**. Earlier versions reported SvelteKit and Remix as `vite` and let Astro and Nuxt fall through to `node`; the label is what decides the env-var prefix and the env file in the next section, so those apps were being handed variables they could not read. SvelteKit and Remix-on-Vite still get Vite's port and Vite's `server.allowedHosts` audit, because those follow the dev server rather than the label.\n\n### Framework env vars: prefix and file\n\nAn app only sees an environment variable if it is spelled with that framework's public prefix **and** written into the file that framework loads. Supbuddy keeps one table for both, and it drives the Connect panel, the connection-drift warning, and `apply_env`:\n\n| Detected as | Public prefix | Env file |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| `next` | `NEXT_PUBLIC_` | `.env.local` |\n| `vite` | `VITE_` | `.env.local` |\n| `sveltekit` | `PUBLIC_` | `.env.local` |\n| `astro` | `PUBLIC_` | `.env` |\n| `nuxt` | `NUXT_PUBLIC_` | `.env` |\n| `remix` | none | `.env` |\n| `react`, `node`, `unknown`, or undetected | none | `.env.local` |\n\nRemix having no prefix is the right answer rather than a gap: Remix hands values to the client through its loaders (the `window.ENV` pattern), not through a build-time prefix.\n\nThis table is also what the Connect panel's **Prefix** dropdown starts from, so the panel and the drift warning cannot disagree about your app: picking a prefix by hand is an override, not the default.\n\nThe **Env file** column is what Supbuddy creates when the app has no env file yet. When one already exists it is preferred over creating another: the framework's own file wins if present, otherwise any env target already in that folder \u2014 and an existing `.env.local` counts as a target for every framework, so an Astro or Nuxt app that already keeps one is not moved to `.env`. Files that look like backups (`.bak`, dated snapshots) or non-local overrides (`.env.production`, `.env.local.live`) are never write targets.\n\nTwo values are deliberately **never** prefixed, whatever the framework: `DATABASE_URL` and the Supabase service-role key. Both are server-only and must not reach a client bundle.\n\nSupbuddy also mirrors what your file already spells. If `SUPABASE_URL`, `SUPABASE_ANON_KEY` or `SUPABASE_STUDIO_URL` is present both bare and prefixed (including `EXPO_PUBLIC_`, which the scanner never emits on its own), both spellings are updated, so neither goes stale.\n\n### Server Actions allowedOrigins audit\n\nFor Next.js apps, Supbuddy reads your `next.config.{ts,mts,js,mjs,cjs}` and extracts the hosts in `experimental.serverActions.allowedOrigins`. If a mapped subdomain is missing from that list, the project's **warnings chip** flags `next.config: N origins missing`; Server Action POSTs through Supbuddy mappings would 403 otherwise. Open the **Apps** tab (the chip's \"open apps\" jump) where the affected app shows the warning with a **Fix** button.\n\nThe Fix button opens a dialog with a paste-ready snippet and an **Apply\u2026** button: click it to see a unified diff of the change Supbuddy will make to your `next.config`, then **Confirm & write** to apply it. Supbuddy handles the four common config shapes (existing `allowedOrigins` array, existing `serverActions` block without it, existing `experimental` block without `serverActions`, or no `experimental` at all). The edit is strictly additive: existing array entries are kept verbatim, including spreads (`...devHosts`), identifiers and comments, and only the missing origins are appended.\n\nIf `allowedOrigins` (or `serverActions`, or `experimental`) is set to something other than a plain array/object literal \u2014 an identifier, a function call, a ternary, `[...] as string[]` \u2014 Supbuddy **refuses to patch** rather than guess, and the dialog says so along with the exact origins to add. This is deliberate: a wrong rewrite would produce a duplicate key (TypeScript `TS1117`) that breaks your build long after the fact, so the fallback is the copyable snippet. Use it and edit by hand.\n\nAfter write, Supbuddy rescans the project so the warning disappears immediately. Restart your dev server for the change to take effect; Next.js does not hot-reload `next.config`. Over MCP the same audit is exposed as `preview_next_origins` / `apply_next_origins`; both return `ok: false` with an explanation in the refusal case, and `apply_next_origins` never writes a file it cannot verify.\n\n### Next.js cross-origin dev requests (allowedDevOrigins)\n\nSupbuddy proxies your dev server but **passes the browser's real `Origin` header through** (it no longer rewrites `Origin` to the upstream address). That's required so Server Actions and other origin checks see the actual page origin \u2014 but it means **Next.js 15.3+ and 16** dev servers, which validate cross-origin dev requests against `allowedDevOrigins` (defaulting to `localhost`), now treat a request arriving on a Supbuddy domain (or a Thin project's `127.0.0.N` loopback IP) as cross-origin and can reject it. Add your Supbuddy domain to `allowedDevOrigins` in `next.config`:\n\n```js\n// next.config.js\nmodule.exports = {\n  allowedDevOrigins: ['web.myproject.test'],\n}\n```\n\nRestart the dev server afterward; Next.js does not hot-reload `next.config`. This is separate from `experimental.serverActions.allowedOrigins` (the Server Actions CSRF list above) \u2014 15.3+/16 may need both.\n\n### Vite allowedHosts audit\n\nFor Vite apps, Supbuddy reads your `vite.config.{ts,mts,cts,js,mjs,cjs}` and extracts `server.allowedHosts`. If a mapped host isn't covered, the **warnings chip** flags `vite: N hosts blocked`; Vite's dev server otherwise rejects proxied requests for unknown hosts with `Blocked request. This host (\"\u2026\") is not allowed.` (403). A `.your-project.local` entry counts as covering every subdomain, so an existing wildcard suffix doesn't trigger a false warning.\n\nLike the Next.js audit, the affected app's **Fix** button on the **Apps** tab opens a dialog with a paste-ready snippet and an **Apply\u2026** button that previews a unified diff and writes `server.allowedHosts` into your `vite.config` (handling an existing `allowedHosts` array, an existing `server` block without it, or no `server` block at all; `allowedHosts: true` is left untouched). The edit is strictly additive \u2014 existing entries, spreads and comments are kept verbatim and only missing hosts are appended \u2014 and, exactly as with the Next.js audit, Supbuddy **refuses to patch** when `allowedHosts` or `server` is set to anything other than a plain array/object literal, pointing you at the snippet instead of risking a duplicate-key build break. After write, Supbuddy rescans so the warning clears. Restart your dev server for the change to take effect; Vite does not hot-reload `vite.config`.\n\n## Project readiness (can it run?)\n\nRegistering a project gets it a domain, a certificate and a scripts list. None of that makes it *run*. Two things stop it, and **readiness** is the one check that covers both:\n\n- **Dependencies aren't installed**, or the lockfile has moved on since the last install. Before this check the way you found out was clicking Start on a dev script and reading its `exit 127` several steps downstream of the cause.\n- **Environment variables are missing or stale** \u2014 Supbuddy's own Supabase/app-URL values aren't in the file that app's framework actually loads, or keys the project's own `.env.example` declares aren't set anywhere.\n\nEvery finding carries a severity (`error` / `warning` / `info`), a category (`deps` / `env` / `toolchain`), evidence, and \u2014 when Supbuddy can genuinely fix it \u2014 a **fix descriptor**: the name of a real tool plus the arguments to call it with. The project card's button, `supbuddy ready --fix` and an agent's MCP call all render that same descriptor, so the three cannot drift and all three run the right package manager *for this project*. A finding with **no** fix is advisory on purpose: either Supbuddy has no value to supply (a third-party secret \u2014 it will name `STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`, it will never invent one), or it refuses to guess (nothing identifies a package manager, or that manager isn't installed, in which case an install would only exit 127).\n\n**Evidence carries names and verdicts, never values.** A readiness report reaches the MCP audit log, CLI stdout and the UI at once, so a finding names the key and the file \u2014 project-relative \u2014 and stops there. No secret, no home directory, no `KEY=value`.\n\nSupbuddy **never installs anything on its own**. Readiness reports; a person or an agent decides.\n\n### Variables your code reads that nothing sets\n\nReadiness also **reads your source** \u2014 `process.env.KEY`, `process.env['KEY']`, `import.meta.env.KEY`, `Deno.env.get('KEY')` \u2014 and names the keys that no env file sets and no example file declares. It looks project-wide, so a monorepo that keeps one `.env` at the root and loads it with `dotenv-cli` isn't reported wholesale.\n\nThis is the one check that **infers** rather than compares, so it is fenced in on every side:\n\n- Severity is **always `info`**. It can never make a project \"not ready\", and it is kept out of the card's issues counter \u2014 it appears in the readiness banner, toned down, and nowhere that counts problems.\n- There is **no fix**. Supbuddy has no value for `RESEND_API_KEY` and will not invent one.\n- Every key carries the **first `file:line` that reads it**, so a false positive is dismissible on sight instead of being a claim about your repo you'd have to go audit. The matched line itself is never quoted: one line of source can carry a credential (`process.env.DATABASE_URL ?? 'postgres://user:pw@host/db'`).\n- The finding says in its own words that it is inferred and can be wrong. A key behind a flag you never enable, one your CI supplies, one inside a code sample \u2014 from the outside all three look exactly like a variable you forgot.\n\nWhere it doesn't look: anything your `.gitignore` excludes, plus `node_modules`, `dist`, `build`, `.next`, `.nuxt`, `.svelte-kit`, `coverage` and `.git` \u2014 and your **tests and build configs** (`*.test.*`, `*.spec.*`, `__tests__/`, `test/`, `tests/`, `*.config.*`), because a variable only a test or a bundler reads isn't something you have to set to run the app. **Comments are not code**: a key that only appears in a comment is not reported, so prose explaining `process.env.SOMETHING` doesn't become a finding about a variable that doesn't exist.\n\nWhat it never reports: `NODE_ENV`, `PORT`, `CI`, `HOME`, `PATH`, `TZ`, `npm_*`, `VERCEL_*`, `XDG_*`, `NEXT_RUNTIME`, Vite's own `MODE` / `DEV` / `PROD` / `SSR` / `BASE_URL`, and the names your OS or terminal supplies \u2014 `APPDATA`, `LOCALAPPDATA`, `FORCE_COLOR`, `NO_COLOR`, `COLORTERM`, `TERM`, `SHELL`, `EDITOR`, `SUDO_ASKPASS`. The platform's variables, not yours. (`GH_TOKEN` is *not* on that list: a project that reads it may genuinely need you to provide it.)\n\n**A scan that hits its limits reports nothing at all.** The walk is capped at 2000 files for the whole project and 1 MiB per file; exceeding either yields **no** referenced-variable findings rather than the subset it managed to read. A truncated list under that heading reads exactly like a complete one \u2014 you'd set the three keys it named and trust the silence about the rest.\n\n### Install roots: one per lockfile, not one per app\n\nThe unit of install is the directory that owns a lockfile. In a pnpm/yarn/npm workspace that is one directory \u2014 the repo root \u2014 and a single install covers every app and every shared package in it, so a monorepo with five apps has **one** install root (`\"\"`, the project root). An app becomes its own install root only when it owns its own lockfile; then it gets a second root and its own install.\n\nSupbuddy picks the package manager by strict precedence, first match wins:\n\n| # | Signal | Result |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| 1 | `packageManager` field in that directory's `package.json` | its name (and version) |\n| 2 | `pnpm-lock.yaml` | pnpm |\n| 3 | `bun.lockb` or `bun.lock` | bun |\n| 4 | `yarn.lock` | yarn |\n| 5 | `package-lock.json` or `npm-shrinkwrap.json` | npm |\n| 6 | none of the above | **undetermined** \u2014 never a silent `npm` |\n\nCase 6 is a real answer, not a gap: running `npm install` in what is actually a pnpm repo drops a stray `package-lock.json` into your working tree, which then gets committed and mis-trains every detector that reads it afterwards. So a root with no signal gets no install command and no install button \u2014 the finding says so in words instead.\n\nWhether an install has *happened* is read from the manager's own receipt, never from the presence of `node_modules`:\n\n| Manager | Receipt |\n| --- | --- |\n| pnpm | `node_modules/.modules.yaml` |\n| npm | `node_modules/.package-lock.json` |\n| yarn (node-modules linker) | `node_modules/.yarn-state.yml` (Yarn 1 falls back to `node_modules/.yarn-integrity`) |\n| yarn (PnP) | `.yarn/install-state.gz` |\n| bun | `node_modules/.bun-tag`, else `node_modules` itself |\n\nA receipt older than the lockfile is **stale** (a warning: the project runs, it just no longer matches the repo). No receipt is **not installed**. A receipt Supbuddy cannot read is **unknown**, which produces *no finding at all* \u2014 receipt filenames drift between manager versions, and a reinstall button in front of a user whose project is fine is worse than saying nothing. **Yarn PnP projects have no `node_modules` and are correctly installed**; they are read from `.yarn/install-state.gz`, so they are never reported as broken.\n\n### What `packageManager` on a project now means\n\n`Project.packageManager` \u2014 the value `supbuddy project ls` prints and `get_project` / `list_projects` return \u2014 comes from that one detector now, which changes two things:\n\n- It can read **`bun`**.\n- It is **absent** for a project where nothing identifies a manager. Older builds always printed `npm` there, because the old detector's fallback was a guess rather than an observation. A project with no lockfile and no `packageManager` field therefore now shows no package-manager chip at all instead of a confident wrong one.\n\n**Running a script uses that same answer.** Starting or restarting a script \u2014 from the Scripts tab, from `supbuddy`, or over MCP \u2014 resolves the manager from the project's recorded value, falling back to what the project root shows. If nothing identifies one, **all three refuse and spawn nothing**, naming the cause ( no `packageManager` field, no lockfile ) and the two ways out: add the field, or install once so a lockfile exists, then rescan the project. Earlier builds quietly ran `npm run <script>` in that case, so one repo could be described as npm by the Scripts tab and as undetermined by `supbuddy ready` at the same time.\n\n**Pushing to the cloud uses it too.** The dev command Supbuddy hands each app in a cloud box comes from that same answer \u2014 the app's own manager when it owns a lockfile, otherwise the workspace root's, which is what installs every member of a pnpm or yarn monorepo. An app for which nothing identifies a manager is reported as **not running in the cloud, with the reason**, rather than started under a guessed `npm run dev`: the wrong manager resolves a different dependency tree, and npm would drop a stray `package-lock.json` into a workspace that syncs straight back to your machine. The box's own dependency install reads the same lockfile names in the same order, so a repo locked by `bun.lock` (the only lockfile bun 1.2 and later writes) or by `npm-shrinkwrap.json` is installed like any other instead of being skipped and left to fail on its first app start.\n\n### Installing is a job, not a call\n\nA cold install on a monorepo outlives every timeout on the path between you and the worker, so starting one **returns immediately** with a job (`{ id, state: \"running\", argv, rootPath }`) and the output arrives as a stream. Completion is a state transition you can watch or poll; cancellation is a first-class operation.\n\n- **At most one install per install root.** A second request for a root that is already installing hands back the *same* job rather than starting a duplicate \u2014 two package managers writing one `node_modules` is a corrupted store, not a slow install. Different roots of one project are independent directories and run at the same time.\n- A **cancelled** install is reported as `cancelled`, never `success`, even if the child happened to exit 0: it may have been halfway through writing the store. Treat the dependencies as not installed and run it again.\n- Deleting a project **stops** the installs still running for it, so nothing keeps writing into a folder you just told Supbuddy to forget.\n- **And its dev servers.** Deleting a project \u2014 from the app, from `supbuddy`, or via `delete_project` over MCP \u2014 stops every script it had running, for the same reason plus one more: once the project is gone there is no row left to press Stop on, so a survivor holds its port against whatever you register next with nothing in the UI able to reach it. Deleting with **keep data** still stops them; that option preserves the project's data, not a process writing into it.\n\n### On the project card\n\nAn unready project shows a **readiness banner** above the card's tabs: one bordered row per finding, toned by severity, with the finding's detail and its evidence underneath. Where the finding has a fix, the row carries a button whose words come from the descriptor \u2014 a yarn project reads **Run yarn install**, a bun project **Run bun install** \u2014 and hovering an install button shows the literal command it will run. An env finding's button runs the same `apply_env` merge described under *MCP tool surface*: it writes into the file the framework loads, backing the original up first.\n\nWhile an install runs, the banner shows a live tail of its output (the same ANSI rendering as the Scripts tab) and a **Cancel** button, and every fix button on that project is disabled \u2014 including when the install was started from the CLI or by an agent, since all three surfaces drive the same job. Readiness findings also feed the header's **issues counter** and its popover, with the same `\u2192 open {tab}` jump as every other issue.\n\n**A failed install is stated, not swallowed.** An install that exits non-zero does not throw anywhere \u2014 the job simply reaches `failed` \u2014 so the banner would otherwise just re-render the same \"dependencies are not installed\" row with the output gone, which reads as a button that did nothing. Instead the banner shows **Install failed (exit code N)** and keeps the tail of that run underneath it, so the lines that explain the failure are still on screen when you need them. It persists until you **Dismiss** it or start another install, and it says only what happened and how it ended \u2014 Supbuddy does not guess at a cause. A run killed by a signal or one that never started has no exit code to name and carries the runner's own error text instead. An install you **cancelled** is never shown as a failure.\n\nA ready project shows no banner. The card's status dot already carries the positive case.\n\n### One line in `doctor`\n\n`supbuddy doctor` (and the app's **System health** panel) carries a single aggregate warning \u2014 `projects-not-ready` \u2014 when registered projects wouldn't run: *\"3 project(s) are not ready to run\"*, with the project **names** as evidence and nothing else. That is deliberate. Per-project detail belongs on the card and in `supbuddy ready`, which can name the install root, the key and the file; a machine with twenty projects must still get a report about the *machine*. The line is **advisory**: doctor stages no install and offers no repair for it \u2014 it exists to send you to the surface that can explain it. A project whose folder has been deleted is skipped rather than reported forever on the strength of a leftover record, and a project Supbuddy could not read is listed as `(could not be scanned)` rather than quietly counted as healthy.\n\n## MCP setup (AI agents)\n\nSupbuddy ships a built-in MCP server on `http://127.0.0.1:9877/mcp` with static Bearer-token auth. Five clients have one-click install; any other MCP-compatible tool can be configured manually with the same URL + token.\n\nOpen **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Add client**, pick the client kind, and Supbuddy generates a token, edits the client's config file, and backs up the original (`<file>.supbuddy-backup` next to it). If the install can't complete it surfaces an error toast rather than stalling. The same client-management surface (**Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Clients**: install, edit scopes, set-primary, rotate token, revoke) drives each client from the app.\n\n### Auto-install paths\n\n| Client | Config file | Transport |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Claude Code | `~/.claude.json` (user) or `<project>/.mcp.json` (project) | HTTP |\n| Claude Desktop | `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` | stdio shim via `npx -y @supbuddy/mcp@latest` |\n| Cursor | `~/.cursor/mcp.json` (user) or `<project>/.cursor/mcp.json` (project) | HTTP |\n| Codex CLI | `~/.codex/config.toml` (adds an `[mcp_servers.supbuddy]` block) | HTTP |\n| Windsurf | `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json` | HTTP |\n\n### MCP tool surface\n\nThe MCP server has full read and write access:\n\n- Read tools (`list_mappings`, `list_projects`, `get_health`, `get_compose_status`, `list_pending_vm_migrations`, etc.), with env values and request bodies included.\n- `get_client_capabilities` and `request_scope_elevation` (scope discovery + user-approved grant).\n- `read_env_file`, `tail_request_logs`, `watch_audit_log`.\n- Write tools: `create_mapping`, `delete_mapping` (soft-delete), `register_project`, `update_project`, `set_supabase_config_path`, `start_proxy`, `start_supabase`, `stop_supabase`, `restart_supabase`, `switch_isolation`, `migrate_vm_to_thin`, `finish_vm_migration`, `start_compose`, `stop_compose`, `restart_compose`, `scaffold_addons`, `seed_addons`, `write_env_file`, `copy_env_var`, `write_supabase_config`.\n- Scripts tools (`list_scripts`, `start_script`, `stop_script`, `restart_script`, `bookmark_script`, `tail_script_logs`); see *Scripts MCP tools* below.\n- Project readiness (see *Project readiness* above): `get_project_readiness` ( `{ project }` , scope `read`) reports whether each install root's dependencies are installed and whether the app's env vars are present and current. It spawns nothing and writes nothing, so it is safe to poll. Every actionable finding carries a `fix` \u2014 `{ tool, args, label, command }` naming a real tool call \u2014 which you pass straight to that tool: `install_dependencies` for a missing or stale install, `apply_env` for connection-env drift. Do **not** compose your own remedy and do not run a package-manager command directly; the descriptor already carries the right manager for that project. `install_dependencies` ( `{ project, root? }` , scope `projects`) is **destructive**, so under the default client it returns a plan naming the exact argv and cwd; applying it **starts a job and returns immediately** with an `InstallJob`, never a finished install. Follow it with `tail_install_log` ( `{ job_id }` , scope `read`), which replays what the job already printed and then streams to completion, or stop it with `cancel_install` ( `{ job_id }` , scope `projects`). A second `install_dependencies` for a root that is already installing returns the **same** job rather than starting a duplicate. It refuses, having spawned nothing, when no lockfile or `packageManager` field identifies a manager and when that manager's binary isn't on Supbuddy's PATH.\n- Extended Supabase tools: `init_supabase`, `validate_supabase_config`, `list_supabase_backups`, `restore_supabase_backup`, `cancel_supabase_start`, `force_recreate_supabase`, `restart_supabase_container`, `get_supabase_analytics`, `set_supabase_analytics`.\n- Bundle (export/import a project's full config): `export_bundle`, `import_bundle`, `validate_bundle`.\n- Supbuddy Cloud (opt-in, per-project): `cloud_sign_in`, `push_to_cloud`, `get_cloud_status`, `preview_cloud_env`, `cloud_teardown`, plus live sync (`cloud_sync_start`, `cloud_sync_status`, `cloud_sync_stop`) \u2014 push a project (with its Supabase schema + data) to a hosted cloud stack and control it. The `cloud` link (`{ projectId, stackId, pushedAt, url }`) also appears on `get_project` / `list_projects`, so any client sees which projects are in the cloud. `get_cloud_status` also returns a `box` summary \u2014 what the stack's box last reported doing, as a phase plus a per-unit state list, with `report_at` so the caller can age it. It is deliberately structural: the box's free-text detail is NOT included, because that text is written by whatever runs inside the box and this value reaches an agent's context. Absent (`null`) when the stack has never reported or runs an image with no reporter.\n\n  `preview_cloud_env` answers what a project's env would MEAN in a cloud box, before anything is pushed. Values are classified, never uniformly substituted \u2014 a blanket rewrite silently repoints a project at a different backend, and a blanket copy points a cloud box at a database on somebody's laptop. Each variable comes back as **local** (`127.0.0.1`, a `.local` host, a LAN address \u2014 meaningless inside a box), **remote** (correct as-is in both places), **secret**, or **plain**, each with a reason in plain words, plus `needs_attention` \u2014 the count of local ones, the only number that implies an action. It is read-only and changes nothing. **Secret values are never returned** \u2014 not masked, not truncated, omitted: a masked secret is still a decision to send it somewhere, and a preview has no use for the value.\n- Connection / env-target workflow: `preview_connection`, `get_env_targets`, `diff_env`, `apply_env`, `write_connection`, `test_connection`, `dismiss_connection_drift`. **`apply_env` is the one that connects an app**: it merges into the file the framework loads (`.env.local` for Next/Vite/SvelteKit, `.env` for Astro/Nuxt/Remix \u2014 see *Framework env vars*), backs it up first, and clears the connection-drift warning. `write_connection` writes a **reference** `<app>/.env.supbuddy` that no framework auto-loads; it never satisfies the app and never clears that warning. Both compute the same values with the app's framework prefix.\n- Host & network tools: bundled-runtime trust (`get_trust_status`, `install_trust`, `remove_trust`, `detect_trust_tools`, `test_trust`), Tailscale (`get_tailscale_status`, `set_tailscale_key`, `remove_tailscale_key`, `test_tailscale`), DNS (`get_dns_status`), CA (`uninstall_ca`), and port-forwarding (`get_port_forwarding_status`, `set_port_forwarding`, `reload_port_forwarding`). Two port-forwarding fields mean different things and are reported separately: `enabled` is what you asked for, `enforced` is whether the `443 \u2192 8443` redirect is actually live \u2014 probed, not remembered. `enforced` is `null` whenever the probe would be meaningless \u2014 the proxy is stopped, or nothing is listening on the HTTPS port \u2014 and `null` means *unknown*, never a fault: it raises no finding, no degraded flag and no password prompt. `get_proxy_status` and `get_health` both carry the same distinction as `portForwardingEnabled` and `portForwardingEnforced`, and report `networkingDegraded: true` when the two disagree, because a redirect that is switched on and not working is an outage rather than a setting. The live probe is decisive in both directions: it overrides a stored flag that claims health, and it also clears one left behind by an abandoned repair once the redirect is confirmed working. `reload_port_forwarding` re-applies the rules with a sudo prompt and returns `ok` only once a fresh probe confirms 443 answers \u2014 a successful `pfctl` and a working redirect are not the same claim. `set_port_forwarding` deliberately returns **no `ok` field at all**: the elevation runs on the host and resolves after the tool has already replied, so it reports `requested` plus `confirmed: false` and points you at `get_port_forwarding_status`. It can still fail afterwards \u2014 a declined prompt, a timeout, or a ruleset that fails validation \u2014 and a success token there would be a guess, not an observation.\n- `tail_service_logs`: streams a Compose/add-on service's container logs over SSE (like `tail_request_logs` but for container stdout/stderr).\n- `watch_supabase`: streams a project's live Supabase start/stop/restart progress over SSE: operation status, image-pull/service snapshots, and (for VM projects) raw log lines. Backs `supbuddy supabase start --follow`.\n- System doctor: `doctor` (scope `read`) runs the read-only health & drift scan and returns a report of findings (each with a `checkId`, severity, evidence, and whether it's `fixable`) \u2014 it mutates nothing. `doctor_fix` ( `{ check_ids: [...] }` ) applies the opt-in repairs for those checks; it's **system-scoped and confirm-gated** (a modal, exactly like `uninstall_ca`), so a read-scoped client can't trigger a fix and an agent can't silently run a destructive repair. Backs `supbuddy doctor` / `doctor --fix` (see *System doctor*).\n- System reset: `system_wipe` ( `{ tier: \"soft\" | \"deep\" }` , scope `system`) runs the tiered reset described under *System reset*. It is gated **twice**: it always returns a plan first \u2014 even for `auto_apply` clients \u2014 whose `side_effects` are the literal manifest the wipe will execute, and the subsequent `apply` still blocks on a user confirmation modal. `tier: \"full\"` is **rejected**: it deletes the credentials the caller is authenticating with, and its final steps (uninstalling the service, removing the app-data directory) can't run inside the daemon \u2014 run `supbuddy reset --tier=full` in a terminal instead.\n- Multiple MCP clients can connect simultaneously. The same MCP-HTTP surface backs the headless **CLI** (see *Command-line interface* below).\n\n### Scopes: discovery & self-service elevation\n\nEach MCP client holds a set of **scopes** (`read`, `log_tail`, `mappings`, `projects`, `services`, `config`, `system`, `apply`) chosen when it's added. A tool call that needs a scope the client lacks fails with `scope_denied`, whose payload now carries a `user_message` and `details.remediation` pointing at the fix.\n\n- `get_client_capabilities` ( `{ tool? }` ) returns the calling client's `granted_scopes` and `available_scopes`. Pass a `tool` name to get `{ required_scope, required_feature, can_call, reason? }` so an agent can pre-flight a call instead of probing by hitting `scope_denied`.\n- `request_scope_elevation` ( `{ scopes: [...] }` ) asks the **user** to grant the named scopes. Supbuddy shows a blocking approval dialog; on approval the scopes are added to the client. Already-granted scopes short-circuit without a prompt.\n\nYou can also review and edit any client's scopes from the GUI: **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Clients** lists each client's granted scopes inline and exposes a **Scopes** button that opens the same scope editor used when adding a client.\n\n### Registering a project via MCP\n\n`register_project` takes a `root_path` (required), an optional `label`, `auto_scan` (default `true`), and an optional `isolation` (`'thin'` or `'host'`). It registers the project the same way the GUI's \"Add project\" flow does:\n\n- Derives a base domain as `<slug>.<defaultTld>` from the label (or the folder name), e.g. `staffhub.test`.\n- Records both the project `path` and `rootPath` so the project is visible to the proxy, scans, and file tools alike.\n- Scans the folder (unless `auto_scan: false`) for apps, services, scripts, and package manager.\n- Creates per-app subdomain mappings from the discovered apps (e.g. `site.staffhub.test \u2192 :3400`), derives the host service subdomains (`api.`, `studio.`, \u2026), and reloads Caddy.\n- **Defaults to `thin` isolation**: the project gets its own loopback IP so its dev servers keep canonical ports (`:3000`) with no cross-project collisions \u2014 run them with `supbuddy run -- <dev command>`.\n\nA project lands on `host` in exactly three cases:\n\n1. You passed `isolation: 'host'`, or **Settings \u2192 Default isolation** is host. (`isolation: 'thin'` forces thin and skips the detection below.)\n2. The project's Supabase stack is **already running on the host outside Supbuddy** \u2014 switching would rewrite its `config.toml` ports and orphan that stack, so registration keeps it on host.\n3. Thin was **attempted and failed** \u2014 most often because creating the project's `127.0.0.N` loopback alias needs sudo and the prompt was dismissed. The project is left on host with `isolationError` set.\n\nCase 3 is a **fallback, not a deliberate outcome**: retry it with `switch_isolation { target_mode: 'thin' }` and then `apply` the plan that stages (see *Plan / apply for destructive tools*).\n\nThe response includes an `isolation_note` explaining which mode was chosen and why \u2014 agents should read it instead of assuming.\n\n### Switching isolation over MCP\n\n`switch_isolation` ( `{ project_id, target_mode: 'host' | 'thin', auto_start? }` ) moves an existing project between **host** and **thin** mode. It is a destructive tool, so unless the client has auto-apply it **stages a plan** rather than switching \u2014 call `apply` with the `plan_id` to execute it (see *Plan / apply for destructive tools*). Execution then runs in the background and returns `{ started: true }`; poll `get_project` (`isolation`, and `loopbackIp` for thin) for the current mode. To-thin writes the per-project port block and `project_id` into `supabase/config.toml` and (unless `auto_start: false`) starts Supabase; to-host restores the original `config.toml` and stops that project's stack.\n\nA project can also be patched with `update_project`: its `patch` accepts `name`, `enabled`, `domain`, and `isolation` (it intentionally does **not** accept `path`/`rootPath`). Note that patching `isolation` only flips the flag; use `switch_isolation` to actually provision/tear down the port assignment.\n\n### Legacy VM migration over MCP\n\nFor projects still on the retired Isolated (VM) mode, three tools handle the one-way migration to Thin:\n\n- `list_pending_vm_migrations` (read): lists all projects still on the legacy VM mode, with their current `vmState` and migration readiness.\n- `migrate_vm_to_thin` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): starts the guided data-safe migration. It dumps Postgres data from the VM, starts a fresh Thin stack, restores the dump, and row-count-verifies before signalling completion. Returns `{ started: true }`; poll `get_project` (`migrationState`) for progress.\n- `finish_vm_migration` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): tears down the old VM container after verification passes. Errors if called before the verify step completes.\n\n### Repointing a project's Supabase config\n\n`set_supabase_config_path` ( `{ project_id, supabase_path }` ) switches which `supabase/config.toml` a project uses, for monorepos that carry more than one (e.g. a repo-root config and an app-level one). `supabase_path` is the project-relative directory **containing** the `supabase/` folder (`\".\"` for the repo root, e.g. `\"apps/getnightowls\"`). It persists the path, re-derives `supabaseProjectId` from the new config, and re-scans services. For a **Thin** project it also re-writes that project's port block into the newly pointed config (reported under `thin_supabase_block`), since the file it points at declares the stock ports. The previous stack's Docker volume is **left intact** (not deleted), so the switch is reversible; the response reports it under `orphaned_previous_stack`.\n\n### Moving a secret between env files\n\n`copy_env_var` ( `{ source_path, source_key, target_path, target_key? }` ) relocates a single variable from one env file to another (e.g. a value put in an app's `.env.local` that the stack actually injects from the repo-root `.env.local`). The value is read and written entirely inside the worker (it **never crosses the MCP boundary** and never appears in the audit log), so an agent can move a secret without it being printed. `target_key` defaults to `source_key`.\n\n### Plan / apply for destructive tools\n\nTools that delete or mutate state (`delete_mapping`, `delete_project`, `switch_isolation`, `write_env_file`, etc.) return a *plan* with a preview instead of a result. The MCP client (or you, in the Activity panel) explicitly calls `apply` with the `plan_id` to execute; `cancel_plan` discards it. Plans expire after 5 minutes if not applied. Soft-deletes go to the Trash and are recoverable for 7 days. A client with **auto-apply** skips staging and executes directly \u2014 except `system_wipe`, which always stages.\n\nA staged plan carries two fields an agent should act on:\n\n- **`can_apply: true`** \u2014 the plan is applyable. It is on every pending plan, because a plan only exists once scope, argument validation and rate limiting have all passed. In particular it outranks `required_feature`, which is **declarative metadata that nothing enforces** \u2014 never read that field as a denial.\n- **`__apply_via`** \u2014 the literal next call: `{ tool: 'apply', args: { plan_id } }`. The mirror of `__reversible_via` on completed operations.\n\nThe MCP server states the same contract in its `initialize` instructions, so any client sees it at connect time.\n\n## Add-on Compose services\n\nA project can declare **extra** Docker Compose services that Supbuddy discovers, merges, runs, health-checks, and tails alongside the managed stack: a Redis cache, a worker queue, a search engine, etc. Add-on services run on the host's shared Docker daemon in both `host` and `thin` isolation, with no extra setup needed.\n\n### Declaration files & merge precedence\n\nSupbuddy looks for up to three Compose fragments in the project and merges them, later wins:\n\n1. `docker-compose.yml`: your base Compose file.\n2. `docker-compose.override.yml`: your own override, honored if present (standard Compose convention).\n3. `supbuddy.addons.yml`: Supbuddy-owned add-on fragment.\n\nAll present fragments are passed explicitly, e.g. `docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml -f supbuddy.addons.yml --project-name <pinned> \u2026`. The project name is pinned so the same set of containers is addressed every time. Add-on services join the Compose project's default network automatically; no extra network setup is needed for them to reach (or be reached by) the rest of the stack.\n\n### `supbuddy.addons.yml` format\n\nA valid Compose fragment (a standard `services:` map) plus an optional Supbuddy-only `x-supbuddy:` extension block. A plain `docker compose up` ignores `x-supbuddy:`, so the file stays usable without Supbuddy. Today `x-supbuddy` supports a one-shot **seed** step:\n\n```yaml\nservices:\n  redis:\n    image: redis:7-alpine\n    ports: [\"6379:6379\"]\nx-supbuddy:\n  seed:\n    service: redis\n    command: [\"redis-cli\", \"ping\"]   # explicit argv, runs once after services are healthy\n    runOnce: true\n```\n\nThe seed step runs **once** after the add-on services are up and healthy. It's idempotent, keyed by a signature of the seed spec, so it only re-runs if the spec changes (or you force it). It fires automatically on project start, and on demand via the `seed_addons` MCP tool.\n\n### MCP tools\n\n- `scaffold_addons` ( `{ project_id }` ): scope `config`. Creates a starter `supbuddy.addons.yml` if the project doesn't have one. Never clobbers an existing file.\n- `seed_addons` ( `{ project_id, force? }` ): scope `services`. Runs the declared `x-supbuddy.seed` step. Idempotent unless `force: true`.\n- `tail_service_logs` ( `{ project_id, service }` ): scope `log_tail`. Streams a Compose/add-on service's container logs over SSE (like `tail_request_logs`, but for container stdout/stderr).\n- `watch_supabase` ( `{ project_id }` ): scope `log_tail`. Streams a project's live Supabase start/stop/restart progress over SSE: `operation` (status + message), `progress` (image-pull/service snapshots), and `log` (raw lines, VM projects). The stream ends on a terminal status. Backs `supbuddy supabase start --follow`.\n\n### Scripts MCP tools\n\nScripts detected in a project (e.g. `dev`, `build`, `test`) are controllable over MCP:\n\n- `list_scripts` ( `{ project_id }` ): scope `read`. Returns all detected scripts with their current status and bookmark state.\n- `start_script` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `services`. Starts the named script process. Refuses, having spawned nothing, when no `packageManager` field and no lockfile identify a manager for the project \u2014 the same verdict readiness gives that repo.\n- `stop_script` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `services`. Stops the named script process \u2014 the whole process group, so the dev server under the shell goes with it.\n- `restart_script` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `services`. Stops then starts the named script process. Refuses on the same terms as `start_script`.\n- `bookmark_script` ( `{ project_id, script, bookmarked }` ): scope `services`. Pins (`bookmarked: true`) or unpins a script in the Quick Access group.\n- `tail_script_logs` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `log_tail`. Streams the named script's stdout/stderr over SSE.\n\n### `get_compose_status` shape\n\n`get_compose_status` ( `{ project_id }` ) returns per-service status, not just whether Compose is installed:\n\n```json\n{\n  \"project_id\": \"\u2026\",\n  \"compose_installed\": true,\n  \"running\": true,\n  \"services\": [\n    { \"name\": \"redis\", \"status\": \"running\", \"health\": \"healthy\", \"ports\": [\"6379:6379\"], \"image\": \"redis:7-alpine\", \"container_id\": \"\u2026\", \"source\": \"addons\" }\n  ],\n  \"services_source\": \"store-snapshot (updated by docker events, not probed by this call)\"\n}\n```\n\nEach service's `source` is one of `base` | `override` | `addons`, telling you which fragment declared it.\n\nThe service statuses are a **snapshot**, kept current by Supbuddy's docker-events watcher rather than probed when you call \u2014 which is why `services_source` says so. Only `compose_installed` is checked on the call itself. `get_supabase_status` reports the same way, and answers the question its name asks: `running` plus the project's Supabase services, alongside the machine-level `cli_installed` and `docker_running`.\n\n## Per-project AI context sync\n\nEach project has a **Context sync: AI tools** panel, accessible via the **AI Tools** tab in the project card, that writes a project-scoped briefing to disk so AI agents working in that repo see your live mappings, services, and isolation state without having to ask. Files written:\n\n- `.supbuddy/`: `README.md`, `mappings.md`, `services.md`, `project.md`, `mcp.md`, `do-not.md`, `docs.md`. The full live snapshot, regenerated on each sync.\n- `AGENTS.md` and `CLAUDE.md`: a small managed block prepended (or updated in place) telling the agent which project this is and pointing it at `.supbuddy/`.\n- Editor skill files when detected: `.cursor/rules/supbuddy.mdc`, `.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`, `.codeium/windsurf/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.continue/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, `.idea/supbuddy.md`.\n- `.gitignore` managed block, ignoring: `.supbuddy/meta.json` (volatile sync state), `*.supbuddy-backup-*` (rollback snapshots), and the per-editor skill files that are written **locally** (see scope below). The rest of `.supbuddy/` is intended to be committed; `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, and `.github/copilot-instructions.md` are also kept committable since you may have hand-written content there alongside Supbuddy's managed block.\n\n### Global vs. local scope\n\nThe per-editor skill files are generic Supbuddy-owned pointers (\"this is a Supbuddy project: read `.supbuddy/`, prefer the MCP tools\"). For editors that expose a **Supbuddy-owned global location**, Supbuddy writes that pointer **once, machine-wide** instead of copying it into every project, so it isn't duplicated across all your repos. Project-specific data always stays local in `.supbuddy/`.\n\n- **Claude Code** \u2192 one global skill at `~/.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`. **Cursor** \u2192 `~/.cursor/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`. The global skill self-scopes: it only acts when the working directory has a `.supbuddy/` folder, and resolves the active project from that folder's `meta.json`.\n- All other targets (`windsurf`, `continue`, the `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md`/Copilot managed blocks, JetBrains) stay **local**: their \"global\" files are shared user files, so Supbuddy won't overwrite them.\n- Each target has a **scope** setting: `auto` (default: global for the Claude/Cursor skills, local for everything else), `global`, `local` (force per-project, useful if you commit the file for teammates), or `off`. A machine-global file is reference-counted across projects and removed automatically once no project uses it (on disabling sync, deleting a project, or switching that target back to local). Note: uninstalling Supbuddy (e.g. dragging it to the Trash on macOS) does **not** auto-remove these global files; delete them manually from `~/.claude/skills/supbuddy/` and `~/.cursor/skills/supbuddy/` if needed.\n- The always-loaded `CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md` managed block stays local as a safety net so agents stay aware even if the on-demand global skill doesn't auto-activate.\n\nSync modes per project:\n\n- **Auto**: Supbuddy regenerates the files whenever mappings, services, or project state change.\n- **Manual only**: files are only written when you click **Sync now** (or use the tray's *Sync AI context for all projects*).\n- **Off**: nothing is written.\n\nThe collapsed header shows an at-a-glance status pill: mode (`auto` / `manual` / `off`), a colored dot for the last sync result, and a relative timestamp. Disabled targets (e.g. an editor whose folder isn't present) appear greyed out in the **Detected targets** list inside the panel.\n\n## Supbuddy Cloud\n\nPush a project \u2014 its Supabase schema **and data** \u2014 to a hosted cloud dev-stack (its own full self-hosted Supabase \u2014 Postgres, Auth, REST, Storage, Realtime, Studio behind a gateway \u2014 as an isolated graph of machines on a per-tenant private network) and control it from the app, the CLI, or MCP. **Opt-in and per-project:** nothing cloud-related appears in a project until you've signed in.\n\n- **Invite-only, for now** \u2014 Supbuddy Cloud is not open signup. You need an invite from the Supbuddy\n  operator; redeeming it creates **your own organisation**, with you as its owner. Until you redeem\n  one, cloud actions answer *\"Supbuddy Cloud is invite-only. Redeem your invite code to create your\n  organisation.\"* Org members cannot issue invites \u2014 only the operator can.\n- **Get started** \u2014 the top bar shows a **Get started with Supbuddy Cloud** strip; sign in (email/password) there. Once signed in it becomes **Open cloud** (opens [cloud.supbuddy.app](https://cloud.supbuddy.app) in your browser). Sign-in state + the Claude connection also live under **Settings \u2192 Cloud**.\n- **Push a project** \u2014 after signing in, each project's \u22EF menu gains **Push to cloud\u2026**. The dialog previews what the project's **env** would mean in the box before you commit: values are classified, never rewritten, and it leads with how many point at *this machine* \u2014 those are meaningless inside a box and are the only ones needing a decision. It never blocks the push (a local-looking value may be exactly what you meant) and changes nothing for you. Secrets are listed by name only; their values are never read out of the file. The push ships the project's stack descriptor + a `pg_dump` of its Supabase data (fail-closed: uploaded to a private bucket via a single-use key, sha-verified, restored *inside* the stack's private network, then deleted). Your **local project stays intact** \u2014 a **\u2601** badge appears on its row; click it (or \u22EF \u2192 **Open in cloud**) to open the stack in the web app.\n- **CLI / MCP** \u2014 the same flow headless: `supbuddy cloud login|push|status|teardown` (password via arg or `SUPBUDDY_CLOUD_PASSWORD`), or the `push_to_cloud` / `get_cloud_status` / `cloud_teardown` / `cloud_sign_in` MCP tools. `project ls` marks pushed projects with \u2601, and `get_project` / `list_projects` carry the `cloud` link. `cloud_teardown` (and the \u22EF teardown) destroy the remote stack and unlink it locally \u2014 routed through the same plan/apply gate as other destructive tools.\n- **Service breadth** \u2014 a self-hosted push provisions the **full** Supabase stack by default. Pass `push_to_cloud`'s `supabase_services: \"minimal\"` (MCP) to opt down to a lean db/auth/REST stack instead.\n- **Idle auto-stop** \u2014 a running cloud stack that reports no activity for ~30 minutes is automatically **stopped** to save cost (its data + config persist; start it again from the web app). A background reaper also reconciles any stack whose machines went missing.\n- **Web console** \u2014 [cloud.supbuddy.app](https://cloud.supbuddy.app) lists your org's stacks; open one for its per-service health, live status, and **start / stop / restart / tear down** controls, plus a **Recent activity** feed of control-plane events. **Push to cloud** in the console provisions a stack from a GitHub `owner/repo` (self-hosted or bring-your-own Supabase; full or minimal service set) \u2014 the code-only path; pushing a local project *with its data* still goes through the desktop app / CLI.\n\n### Public addresses, and renaming them\n\nEach app in a cloud box gets a public address of the form\n`<app>.<project>.<org>.supbuddy.cloud` \u2014 for example `web.site.acme.supbuddy.cloud`. The `<app>` label\ncomes from the runner serving that port, `<project>` and `<org>` from the slugs you choose. One wildcard\ncertificate is issued per project (`*.<project>.<org>.supbuddy.cloud`) and covers every app under it.\n\n- **Renaming is allowed while boxes are running.** It used to be refused, and for a real reason: a box was\n  told its hostnames once, when its machine was created, and that value cannot be changed afterwards \u2014 so a\n  rename left it serving the old names while the new address showed the editor instead of your app. Boxes\n  now *ask* for their hostnames on each heartbeat, so a running box moves itself, usually within a minute.\n- **The old address stops working immediately.** Its DNS records are removed as part of the rename. This is\n  deliberate: leaving them would make the old URL resolve and quietly serve the editor, which is more\n  confusing than a name that has plainly gone away. Links you have already shared will break.\n- **A rename can succeed while an address is still moving.** Certificates are issued by Let's Encrypt, which\n  limits how often the same set of names can be re-issued (5 per week), so renaming back and forth can hit\n  that ceiling. The rename itself still applies \u2014 you will see *\"The name is changed, but 1 box is still\n  moving to it\u2026\"* with the reason, rather than a silent half-rename.\n- **Hostnames need the deployment to be configured for them** (`VERCEL_TOKEN`, `VERCEL_TEAM_ID`,\n  `SUPBUDDY_CLOUD_BASE_DOMAIN`). Without those, boxes are still reachable through the editor and the stack\n  page says *\"public hostnames are not configured on this deployment\"* rather than showing nothing.\n\n### The Supbuddy panel, inside the box's editor\n\nEvery cloud box's editor carries a **Supbuddy** view in the activity bar \u2014 one place to see what the box is\ndoing without leaving it. It reads the status report the box's own supervisor writes, so it adds no\ncredential and no network listener of its own.\n\n- **Box** (the main view) \u2014 the box's phase and uptime, then four sections:\n  - **Apps** \u2014 the runners this project declared. Each shows its state and port, with **Open** (in the\n    editor's browser), **Tab** (a real browser tab), **Start** / **Stop**, **Restart** and **Logs**. A\n    runner that has *not* started is still listed, because that is usually the one you came to start \u2014 and\n    a runner that failed shows why (for example *approved for `aaaaaaaa`, HEAD is `bbbbbbbb`* when\n    autostart's approved commit no longer matches what the box checked out).\n  - **Services** \u2014 the stack's own Supabase and sidecar services, with where each one lives. These run on\n    separate machines on your private network, so they are *probed* rather than supervised; one whose first\n    probe has not landed reads **checking**, not *down*.\n  - **Configuration** \u2014 read-only: the repository, the commit, the workspace path, the tailnet name and any\n    public hostnames. Nothing here is editable, because all of it is decided by the plan that built the box.\n  - **System** \u2014 the box's own plumbing (clone, sshd, tailnet, credential and module installs). It expands\n    itself when something in it is wrong.\n- **Logs** open inline, under the app that produced them, and press again to close. A runner with no output\n  says so rather than showing an empty box, and when the supervisor cannot be reached the panel shows *its*\n  reason instead of failing quietly.\n- **If the supervisor stops writing, the panel says so** \u2014 *\"The supervisor stopped updating 45s ago. What\n  is shown below may no longer be true.\"* A stale report is never rendered as healthy.\n- **Apps & Services** \u2014 the original compact tree, still available below the panel and collapsed by default.\n\n### Live sync (local \u2194 cloud)\n\nKeep a project's local directory and its cloud box in step, so you can edit locally and run in the\ncloud. Sync runs over a private Tailscale network; nothing is exposed publicly.\n\n- **Start it** \u2014 in the app, a cloud project's \u22EF menu has **Start live sync\u2026** and **Stop live sync**.\n  Starting opens a chooser: nothing is preselected and the confirm button stays disabled until you\n  pick a side, because the first pass overwrites one of them.\n- **Headless** \u2014 `supbuddy cloud sync start <project> --authority=cloud|local`, plus `status` and\n  `stop`. Same three as MCP tools (`cloud_sync_start` / `cloud_sync_status` / `cloud_sync_stop`).\n- **Supbuddy refuses a cloud-authority sync that would destroy local-only work.** The box clones your\n  repository from its **remote**, so it has never seen uncommitted changes or commits you have not\n  pushed \u2014 and the first pass deletes anything the other side lacks. Rather than let that happen,\n  starting sync with the cloud as authority is refused, naming what is at risk and the remedy:\n  *\"\u2026has 2 uncommitted changes (commit or stash them), and 1 unpushed commit (push them first).\"* A\n  directory that is not a git repository is refused too, since nothing there could be recovered.\n  Choosing **this machine's copy** is never blocked \u2014 that direction overwrites the box.\n- **Sync survives restarting Supbuddy.** The file synchroniser runs in its own process, so quitting and\n  reopening the app (or an update) does not interrupt a running sync; Supbuddy re-adopts the session on\n  start and the status badge picks up where it left off.\n- **`authority` decides which side wins the FIRST pass, and that pass is one-way.** Choose `\"cloud\"`\n  when the box has the truth (the usual case \u2014 the repo was cloned there) and `\"local\"` when your\n  machine does. It has no default anywhere, deliberately: the named side overwrites the other, so a\n  guess can delete work. After the first sync completes, the session switches to two-way automatically.\n- **What is not synced** \u2014 `.git`, `node_modules`, `.next`, `dist` and `.turbo` are ignored by default.\n  `.git` in particular: the box has its own clone with its own remote, and syncing two managed copies\n  of an index produces conflicts that look like repository corruption.\n- **Requirements** \u2014 sync needs the `tailscaled` and `mutagen` platform packages, which install\n  automatically with the CLI on **macOS and Linux** (Intel and Apple Silicon / x86-64 and arm64).\n  **Windows is not supported yet**, and Supbuddy says so rather than reporting a missing package.\n  Without the packages Supbuddy reports sync as *unavailable* and everything else keeps working.\n- **Your own Tailscale is untouched.** Supbuddy runs its own tailnet daemon with a separate state file\n  and socket, so joining does not log you out of a personal or work tailnet.\n- **Teardown stops sync first**, and the box's tailnet node is removed with the stack \u2014 nothing outlives\n  a destroyed stack.\n- **Seeing it** \u2014 a syncing project shows its state beside the \u2601 badge: *First sync\u2026*, *In sync*,\n  *n conflicts*, or *Paused \u2014 stack stopped* when the box has been idle-stopped. Nothing is shown\n  for a project that is not syncing.\n- **If sync is unavailable**, everything else keeps working. Provisioning, the IDE, runners and\n  teardown do not depend on the sync network; a stack simply comes up without sync and says so.\n\n## Command-line interface (CLI)\n\nEverything the desktop app can do is also driveable headlessly from a terminal, with no GUI window. The CLI runs a **daemon** (the same worker process the GUI uses: Caddy proxy, DNS, Supabase/Compose lifecycle, MCP-HTTP) and a set of commands that attach to it over the local MCP-HTTP port. This is for SSH sessions, CI, `tmux`/server boxes, and scripting.\n\nThe binary is `supbuddy`, with a short alias `sup`. Run `supbuddy help` for the full usage list.\n\nYou can install the CLI on its own, without the desktop app:\n\n```bash\nnpx supbuddy@latest        # asks to install the CLI globally (supbuddy + sup)\n```\n\nThat command does nothing on its own except offer to put `supbuddy` and `sup` on your PATH. The CLI runs independently of the desktop app, so you can add the app later (or never). On a Mac the app installs the same two commands for you.\n\n### The daemon\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy daemon --detach        # start the worker in the background\nsupbuddy status                 # daemon + proxy health, plus which worker the daemon is running\nsupbuddy version                # which CLI build this is, and which daemon it is talking to\nsupbuddy stop                   # graceful shutdown\n```\n\n`supbuddy version` answers a question that used to have no answer: **which copy of the CLI is this?** Three builds exist and they look identical \u2014 the one inside the desktop app (`host`), the one from npm (`npm`), and one built from a checkout (`dev`). The build kind is stamped in at compile time, because nothing at runtime can tell them apart: the version numbers match, and a working-tree build even carries the same `daemon/worker.cjs` layout as an npm install. It prints the CLI's version, build kind and path, plus the daemon's, and warns when the two disagree \u2014 a `dev` CLI driving a shipped daemon means unreleased code is running privileged repairs against your real machine.\n\nThe names `supbuddy` and `sup` are reserved for shipped builds. A `dev` build invoked under either name **refuses to run** and explains how to find the shadowing symlink, because `pnpm link` or a hand-made symlink in a directory that precedes `/usr/local/bin` on `PATH` otherwise silently replaces the installed CLI. To run a checkout, use `./scripts/supbuddy-dev <command>` \u2014 it runs from source and needs no build. It deliberately shares the production state dir: a daemon's machine-level resources (the worker port, the Caddyfile, `/etc/hosts`, `/etc/resolver`, the pf anchor, the launchd label) are **not** state-dir scoped, so pointing a dev daemon at a private state dir does not isolate it \u2014 it only hides the running daemon from the single-daemon check, after which the dev worker takes port 48760 by killing the process holding it. Sharing the state dir keeps that check working, so `supbuddy-dev daemon` declines while the app's daemon is running. A dev CLI driving a shipped daemon prints a warning on every command.\n\n`--detach` backgrounds the daemon and prints its pid + ports. Foreground `supbuddy daemon` runs it attached (Ctrl-C shuts it down cleanly). On start the daemon writes a discovery file, `daemon.json` (mode `0600`), into the shared state dir holding its pid, the Socket.IO port, the MCP-HTTP port, and a control token; every other command reads it to find and authenticate to the daemon, so you never pass ports or tokens by hand. Only one daemon may run per state dir; a second `daemon` start is refused.\n\nThe CLI and the desktop app **share one state dir** (`~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/`), so they manage the same projects, mappings, and settings. They must not run two workers against it at once: if you launch the desktop app while a CLI daemon is running, the app detects it and offers to **stop the daemon and continue** or **quit**. It never forks a competing worker (which would corrupt `state.json`).\n\n**After the app updates itself, it replaces an outdated daemon.** The daemon is detached, so it survives the app relaunching \u2014 without this the app would look updated while still running the previous version's worker, and any fix shipped in that worker would silently not take effect. On launch the app compares the running daemon's version (stamped into `daemon.json`) against its own: an **older** daemon is stopped and replaced, and a **newer** one is left alone and attached to, since an out-of-date app must not downgrade a running worker. If the daemon ignores the graceful stop, the app **forces it** rather than carrying on as though the stop had worked \u2014 attaching to the daemon it just judged stale is exactly how an updated app ends up running old code, and the replacement spawn would be refused anyway (\"already running\"). Shutdown is bounded from the other side too: every stop step has a timeout and the worker exits even when a service refuses to stop, because a daemon that cannot be stopped cannot be updated. A forced shutdown may leave Caddy briefly running; the health monitor reaps it and the replacement daemon takes over.\n\n### Run on login (service)\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy service install        # start-on-login (launchd on macOS, systemd-user on Linux)\nsupbuddy service status\nsupbuddy service uninstall\n```\n\n### Commands\n\nAll app surfaces have a command. Names follow `supbuddy <module> <action> [args] [--flags]`. The main groups:\n\n| Group | Examples |\n| --- | --- |\n| Dev launcher | `run [--print] -- <dev command>` \u2014 on a Thin project, binds the dev server to the project's loopback IP (from `.supbuddy/meta.json`) so it keeps its canonical port (e.g. `supbuddy run -- next dev` stays on `:3000`) |\n| Health / proxy | `status`, `doctor [--fix]` (health & drift scan \u2014 see *System doctor*), `ready [<proj>] [--fix] [--only=<category>]` (can a project run? \u2014 see *Project readiness (`supbuddy ready`)*), `reset [--tier=soft\\|deep\\|full]` (tiered system reset \u2014 see *System reset*), `proxy status\\|start\\|stop\\|restart` |\n| Mappings | `map ls\\|add\\|get\\|set\\|enable\\|disable\\|rm\\|restore` |\n| Projects | `project ls\\|add\\|get\\|scan\\|set\\|enable\\|disable\\|rm\\|restore\\|env\\|refresh-context` |\n| Supabase | `supabase start\\|stop\\|restart\\|status <proj>` (add `--follow` to stream live progress), `supabase config apply <proj> <file>` |\n| Cloud | `cloud login <email> [<pw>]` (or `SUPBUDDY_CLOUD_PASSWORD`), `cloud push <proj> [--repo=owner/repo] [--force]`, `cloud status [<proj>]`, `cloud teardown <proj>` \u2014 push a project (with its Supabase data) to a hosted cloud stack; `project ls` marks pushed projects with \u2601 |\n| Compose | `compose up\\|down\\|restart\\|status\\|logs <proj> [svcs]` |\n| Scripts | `scripts ls\\|start\\|stop\\|restart\\|logs\\|bookmark <proj> [script]` |\n| Isolation | `isolation switch <proj> <host\\|thin>`, `isolation pending-migrations`, `migrate start\\|finish <uuid>` |\n| Certificates | `ca status\\|install\\|uninstall` |\n| Env files | `env copy <src> <key> <target>`, `env write <path> <K=V>\u2026` |\n| Settings | `settings get`, `settings set --json <patch>` |\n| MCP | `mcp add [<agent>]` (register Supbuddy into a coding agent: interactive, or `--write`/`--print`/`--prompt`), `mcp ls`, `mcp revoke <id>`, `mcp approvals apply\\|cancel <id>` |\n| Host / network | `connect`, `trust`, `tailscale`, `dns`, `pf` (port-forwarding) |\n| Logs | `logs requests [-f]`, `logs audit [-f]`, `logs get <id>` |\n| Account | `account`, `caps`, `addons scaffold\\|seed <proj>` |\n| Dashboard | `tui` (alias `dash`) |\n\nGlobal flags: `--json` (machine-readable output), `--yes` (skip confirmations), `--quiet`, `--url`/`--token` (attach to a specific/remote daemon instead of auto-discovery), `--state-dir` (override the shared dir), `--timeout`, and `-f`/`--follow` for streaming log commands and live `supabase start|stop|restart` progress.\n\nDestructive operations go through the same **plan \u2192 apply** gate as MCP (see *Plan / apply for destructive tools*); the CLI's control token is granted auto-apply, so they execute directly.\n\n### Live dashboard (TUI)\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy tui                    # or: sup dash\n```\n\n`supbuddy tui` opens a full-screen terminal dashboard that attaches to the running daemon and shows live connection/proxy status, the project list (with each project's isolation, Supabase, and Compose state), the mapping count, and a tail of recent requests. Press `r` to refresh, `q` to quit. It needs a running daemon (`supbuddy daemon --detach`); if none is found it tells you so.\n\n### System doctor\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy doctor                              # read-only scan; prints findings by severity\nsupbuddy doctor --fix                        # scan, show the repair manifest, confirm (y/N), then apply\nsupbuddy doctor --fix --only=ca-not-trusted  # restrict repairs to specific check ids (comma-separated)\nsupbuddy doctor --fix --yes                  # skip the interactive confirm (scripting / CI)\n```\n\n`supbuddy doctor` runs a **read-only** health and drift scan and prints its findings grouped by severity \u2014 **critical**, **warning**, **info** \u2014 each with a title, a one-line detail, and concrete evidence (paths, container names, certificate fingerprints). The scan mutates nothing, so you can gate a script or CI on it.\n\n**Exit codes.** A check that can't run is an *unknown*, not a clean bill of health \u2014 so the scan reports \"I couldn't look\" separately from \"I looked and it's fine\":\n\n| Code | Meaning |\n|---|---|\n| `0` | The scan completed and found nothing critical |\n| `1` | **Critical** findings \u2014 something is definitely broken |\n| `2` | The scan **could not complete** \u2014 one or more checks never ran (see **SCAN ERRORS** in the output), so the result is an unknown |\n\nExit `2` covers cases that used to (wrongly) exit `0`: with Docker stopped, for example, every Docker-backed check fails to run, and a `0` there would tell CI the machine was healthy while part of the scan was blind. A critical finding outranks an incomplete scan \u2014 if both apply you get `1`, because that's the actionable one. Gating on \"non-zero\" catches both; check for `2` specifically if you want to start Docker and retry rather than fail the build. These codes apply to `--fix` too: a run where every repair applied but part of the scan never ran also exits `2`.\n\n`--fix` re-scans, prints a **manifest** \u2014 one line per fixable finding, taken from the scan you just saw \u2014 and, unless you pass `--yes`, asks `Apply these fixes? [y/N]` (default **No**) before touching anything. (The desktop app's doctor panel shows the finer-grained repair *actions* themselves; the CLI lists the findings those actions belong to.) `--only=<comma,ids>` restricts the repair to specific check ids; `--yes` skips the prompt for non-interactive use. This is the **confirm-before-harm** contract: the scan is read-only, and every repair is opt-in and gated. Fixes that need elevated access prompt for your password when they run.\n\nA repair that ends up doing nothing is reported as such, never as success: if a requested check's finding is already gone, is advisory, can't be re-checked, or names an unknown id, it's listed under **NOT APPLIED** and the command exits non-zero.\n\n**An aborted `--fix` also exits non-zero (`1`).** Declining the confirmation applies nothing, so every finding is still there \u2014 exiting `0` would tell a script the machine was fine when it had just been reported as critical. This matters most where nobody actually declined: with no TTY to prompt on, `--fix` refuses on principle (confirm-before-harm), so a scripted run prints `aborted \u2014 no fixes applied` and stops. Pass `--yes` to run it unattended. A daemon-side denial of the confirmation has always exited `1`; the same outcome now gets the same code regardless of which side refused.\n\nThe doctor ships **22 checks**. Rows marked **Advisory** have **no auto-fix at all**: `--fix` will never touch them, and the finding's detail tells you what to do by hand. Checks marked *macOS* return nothing on other platforms.\n\n| Check id | Severity | What it flags | Auto-fix |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| `state-corrupt` | critical | `state.json` can't be parsed (or isn't an object), so the daemon boots with **empty** state \u2014 no projects, mappings, settings or MCP clients | Copies the file aside as `state.json.corrupt-<timestamp>` so you can hand-recover it. Nothing is deleted or rewritten |\n| `dns-not-resolving` | critical | Supbuddy serves these domains but the OS will not resolve them, so every mapped URL fails before it reaches the proxy \u2014 a **missing** `/etc/resolver` file, the local DNS server **not answering**, or (the case a file audit calls healthy) the files being correct while the OS has never **loaded** them. Leftover files for suffixes nobody uses are not this \u2014 they break no resolution and belong to `stale-resolver-files`. Uses the same verdict `get_health` and `get_proxy_status` use, so the three cannot disagree about one machine | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** `supbuddy proxy restart` rewrites the resolver files and reloads the OS cache. The available privileged re-apply is audit-gated \u2014 it does nothing when the files are already correct, which is exactly the unloaded case \u2014 so offering it as a fix would elevate, change nothing and report success | **Fixable when resolver files are MISSING** (typically after a TLD change): `doctor --fix` writes them and re-audits to confirm. Stays **advisory** when the files exist but the OS never loaded them \u2014 the only repair available there provably does nothing, so offering it would elevate, change nothing and report success.\n| `dns-local-tld-mdns-stall` | warning | *macOS.* Managed **`.local`** domains resolve fast once and stall ~5s per concurrent lookup \u2014 macOS reserves `.local` for multicast DNS and a resolver file does not stop it. Only the IPv6 (AAAA) half stalls, so curl, a single fetch and `dig` all look healthy while a page issuing parallel requests fails with what looks like a proxy connect timeout. **Advisory.** The check measures rather than lints \u2014 8 parallel lookups against a real mapping \u2014 so it stays silent on a machine that is genuinely unaffected. Fix by moving off `.local`: `supbuddy project set <project> --tld=test` |\n| `proxy-not-serving` | critical | The proxy should be serving and **nothing is** \u2014 Caddy is not alive, so every enabled mapping is unreachable. It stays silent when Caddy is up but a privileged step failed (HTTPS still serves on the high port there, and `pf-not-enforcing` describes that state precisely) \u2014 two contradictory critical findings would teach you to ignore both. It reads the same derived status `get_proxy_status` does, so the two can never disagree about the same machine: a deliberate `proxy stop` and an in-flight auto-restart are **not** flagged | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** The finding carries the tracked cause and names both routes back: `supbuddy proxy restart` (or Start in the app), and `SUPBUDDY_ASKPASS` when the cause is a privileged step that needs a TTY. Starting the proxy is the step that failed, so `--fix` would re-run the failing path |\n| `caddy-stuck` | critical | Caddy is alive but its admin API is wedged, so config reloads can't land | Restarts Caddy (stop \u2192 start) |\n| `caddy-ipv4-unreachable` | critical | Caddy's loaded config declares an HTTPS listener but `127.0.0.1:<port>` **refuses** connections \u2014 every IPv4 client is cut off (browsers, curl, and the pf 443\u21928443 redirect) while the process is up and its admin API answers | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Run `supbuddy proxy restart` to rebind. Only a connection **refused** counts: a *timeout* on a pf redirect target is normal (the reply is reverse-NAT'd back to :443 and never matches your socket), so it is never reported as a fault |\n| `ca-not-trusted` | warning | The local CA exists but the **current** root isn't trusted (the padlock stays broken). Detection is by fingerprint and reads **both** the System and login keychains, so neither a stale same-name root from an earlier CA nor a per-user install is misread | Installs it (`security add-trusted-cert`; asks for your password \u2014 on macOS 15+ this becomes the per-user install with its own confirmation dialog). Where trust **cannot be read at all** (Windows, or an unreadable keychain) this drops to **advisory, info, no auto-fix** \u2014 it reports what to import by hand rather than offering a repair that can't run |\n| `pf-not-enforcing` | critical | Port forwarding is configured but 443 isn't redirecting, so every `https://` URL on the default port is unreachable. It first checks that the HTTPS port has a listener: with nothing serving behind the redirect a closed 443 says nothing about pf, so that machine gets no finding rather than a false one | **Fixable.** `doctor --fix` re-applies the pf ruleset (asks for your password) and then probes 443 to confirm \u2014 it reports success only if the redirect actually answers. By hand: `sudo pfctl -f /etc/pf.conf`. `supbuddy proxy restart` also re-applies it now, but only when a probe says it is genuinely broken, so an ordinary restart still prompts for nothing |\n| `duplicate-caddy-ca` | warning | *macOS.* Stale same-name `Caddy Local Authority` roots with a different key \u2014 the cause of Firefox-family `SEC_ERROR_BAD_SIGNATURE` | Deletes the stale roots **and installs the current one** in a single elevated batch (asks for your password). Delete-only could leave a machine with no trusted Caddy root at all when the current one wasn't in the keychain yet |\n| `orphan-caddy-container` | warning | A leftover pre-binary-era `supbuddy-caddy` Docker container | Removes the container, its `supbuddy-net` network and its data/config volumes (the `caddy:latest` image is kept) |\n| `orphan-lo0-aliases` | warning | *macOS.* `127.0.0.N` aliases on `lo0` owned by no Thin project \u2014 deleting a Thin project never tore its alias down | Removes only those aliases (asks for your password); `127.0.0.1` and any non-Supbuddy alias are left alone |\n| `orphan-dind` | warning | Docker-in-Docker containers from the retired Isolated (VM) mode belonging to no registered project \u2014 each one confirmed to actually be a DinD first | Force-removes those containers and their `<name>-docker` data volumes. **This is project data**: if you deleted a project and chose to keep its data, this is that data. The Caddy container and non-Supbuddy containers are never touched |\n| `orphan-supabase-volumes` | warning | Docker volumes of Supbuddy-managed (`sb-`-prefixed) Supabase stacks owned by no registered project | Removes those volumes. **This is database data.** Host-mode stacks, stacks you started yourself, and projects still in the MCP trash (restorable for 7 days) are never touched |\n| `orphan-launchagents` | warning | *macOS.* Legacy CA-trust LaunchAgents from older builds that re-export `SSL_CERT_FILE` / `REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE` / `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` at every login and break **public** TLS | Boots each agent out and removes it, leaving a `.supbuddy-backup` copy alongside. Root-owned agents under `/Library` may resist; the fix reports those as a failure instead of claiming success |\n| `orphan-electron-token-files` | warning | Leftover `~/.config/Supbuddy/mcp/<clientId>.bin` token files from the retired Electron app, for clients that no longer exist | Deletes those files (no elevation). They can't be decrypted any more anyway; clients that are merely revoked keep their record and are left alone |\n| `orphan-mcp-secrets` | warning | `secrets/mcp-<clientId>.secret` files whose token can no longer authenticate (client revoked, or no record at all) | Deletes those files (no elevation) \u2014 it can't log a working agent out. Secrets for current clients, and the non-MCP secrets stored alongside them (license, cloud session, Tailscale key), are left untouched |\n| `projects-not-ready` | warning | Registered projects that wouldn't actually run \u2014 dependencies never installed (or a lockfile newer than the last install), or Supbuddy's Supabase connection vars missing from the env file the app loads. **One aggregate line, never one finding per project**, with **project names only** as evidence. A project whose folder is gone is skipped; one Supbuddy couldn't read is listed as `(could not be scanned)` rather than passed as healthy | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** It points at `supbuddy ready` and the project card, which carry the specific finding, the file it names and the one-click fix. Doctor installs nothing |\n| `unmanaged-supabase` | info | A Supabase stack on the host daemon that maps to no registered project (e.g. a plain `supabase start`) | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Supbuddy never tears down a stack you started yourself; run `supabase stop` in its project if you don't need it |\n| `stale-resolver-files` | info | *macOS.* Supbuddy-marked `/etc/resolver/<suffix>` files for suffixes no **enabled** project or mapping claims any more (deleted projects, a disabled one, an older per-project TLD) | Removes only those files (asks for your password); suffixes still in use are left alone. Reversible \u2014 enabling the project or restarting the proxy writes the file back |\n| `pf-conf-backups` | info | *macOS.* `/etc/pf.conf.backup.<timestamp>` copies piled up in `/etc` by older versions (which wrote a new one on every port-forwarding disable) | Removes the redundant copies, **keeping the newest one** and the stable `/etc/pf.conf.supbuddy-backup` (asks for your password) |\n| `stale-mcp-config-tokens` | info | An agent config (`~/.claude.json`, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, or a registered project's `.mcp.json` / `.cursor/mcp.json`) holds a `mcpServers.supbuddy` token Supbuddy no longer accepts \u2014 the 401 \"Token not recognized\" state | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Supbuddy won't rewrite config files you own and edit. Delete the `mcpServers.supbuddy` entry from the file named in the finding, or run `supbuddy mcp add <agent>` to mint a fresh token. The finding names the file, never the token |\n| `stale-browser-nss-roots` | info | *macOS.* A Firefox / Zen / LibreWolf / Waterfox profile whose own NSS store (`cert9.db`) holds a `Caddy Local Authority` root Supbuddy can't reach | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Nothing is wrong unless that browser shows certificate errors. Fix it there: Settings \u2192 Privacy & Security \u2192 Certificates \u2192 View Certificates\u2026 \u2192 Authorities, delete every `Caddy Local Authority` entry, then re-import Supbuddy's CA |\n\nThe same scan and repairs are available over MCP as the `doctor` and `doctor_fix` tools (see *MCP tool surface*), and in the app under **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 System health \u2192 Scan** \u2014 the panel scans on open, groups the findings by severity, and gates every repair behind the same manifest + confirm step (see *Settings reference \u2192 General*). The panel has no reset button: a wipe stays a CLI operation.\n\n### Project readiness (`supbuddy ready`)\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy ready                               # every registered project\nsupbuddy ready acme                          # one project (id, or an unambiguous name)\nsupbuddy ready acme --fix                    # show a manifest, confirm (y/N), then apply each fix\nsupbuddy ready acme --fix --only=deps        # deps | env | toolchain\nsupbuddy ready acme --fix --yes              # skip the interactive confirm (scripting / CI)\nsupbuddy ready --json                        # machine-readable\n```\n\n`supbuddy ready` answers \"can this project actually run?\" \u2014 see [Project readiness](#project-readiness-can-it-run) for what it checks. It is presented like `supbuddy doctor`: findings grouped by severity (**ERROR**, **WARNING**, **INFO**), a `[fixable]` marker, evidence indented beneath each finding, and a **SCAN ERRORS** block for projects it could not scan. Without `--fix` it mutates nothing.\n\n`--fix` differs from `doctor --fix` in one way that matters: doctor sends a list of check ids back to one repair tool, while each readiness finding already names **its own** tool and arguments, so `ready --fix` calls that. A yarn project gets `yarn install`, a pnpm project `pnpm install`, an env finding gets `apply_env` \u2014 the CLI picks none of it. You see the manifest of what will run before anything does; `n` (and a non-interactive terminal without `--yes`) aborts having changed nothing.\n\nBecause an install is a job rather than a call, `--fix` then **follows the install log to completion** and takes that job's outcome as the fix's outcome, so the command blocks with live output instead of exiting `0` over an install that is still resolving.\n\n**Exit codes** mirror `doctor`:\n\n| Code | Meaning |\n|---|---|\n| `0` | Ready \u2014 no error-severity findings |\n| `1` | An error-severity finding, or a fix that failed |\n| `2` | The scan could not complete (see **SCAN ERRORS**), so the result is an unknown |\n\n`--only` narrows the verdict as well as the view: a run filtered to `deps` exits on the deps findings alone, because a command that printed three findings and exited on a fourth it never showed you would be lying.\n\nRelated: `supbuddy project ls` now shows a project's connection-env verdict (`env missing` / `env stale`) on its sub-line. It was previously hidden from that list entirely, so the CLI could not tell you the one fact that explains why an app 500s against a stack that is up. Only the verdict is printed \u2014 never the target path or a `KEY=value` \u2014 for the same reason readiness evidence never carries values.\n\n### System reset\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy reset                        # soft (the default): app state + caches\nsupbuddy reset --tier=deep            # + services, Caddy containers, system integrations, CA trust\nsupbuddy reset --tier=full            # + project data, repo artifacts, secrets, service, app data\nsupbuddy reset --tier=deep --yes      # skip the y/N confirm (scripting / CI)\nsupbuddy reset --tier=full --yes --i-understand   # the ONLY scripted path for a full reset\n```\n\n`supbuddy reset` removes Supbuddy's footprint from your machine in **tiers**, and each tier is a superset of the one before it:\n\n| Tier | What it removes |\n| --- | --- |\n| `soft` (default) | Stops the dev servers Supbuddy started (it is about to forget which project owns them), then resets app state \u2014 projects, mappings, settings, MCP clients, project-context sync and user-skill records \u2014 plus the Docker image cache (`<app-data>/image-cache`, images are re-pulled on demand) and the buffered request log. It touches **no** Docker container or volume, **nothing** under `/etc`, and **no** file in your repos, so it never asks for your password |\n| `deep` | \u2026plus: stops every service; removes the leftover Caddy container/network/volumes, **both** `/etc/hosts` blocks (the legacy `# Supbuddy - Start` one and the `# Supbuddy DNS fallback` one), the `/etc/resolver` files, the pf `:80`/`:443` redirect, the `127.0.0.N` loopback aliases, the bundled-runtime CA trust and the `Caddy Local Authority` roots in your keychain, and the token files of already-revoked MCP clients. **Your data is preserved**: no Supabase volume, no DinD container, no repo file and no *live* MCP token is touched \u2014 `deep` unwinds what Supbuddy installed on the machine, it is not a data wipe |\n| `full` | \u2026plus **your project data, backed up first**: every Supbuddy-**managed** (`sb-`-prefixed) Supabase stack's data volumes and every DinD container with its data volume, the `.supbuddy/` directories, managed blocks and `.env.supbuddy` files in your registered repos, and **every** credential (license, live MCP tokens, cloud session, Tailscale key) \u2014 then it uninstalls the start-on-login service and empties the app-data directory. A **host-mode** project's Supabase stack is only *stopped*: those containers and volumes are yours, and they are kept |\n\nMost steps enumerate what's actually on your machine first, so anything that isn't there drops out of the manifest instead of being advertised and skipped. `soft` needs no elevated access at all. `deep` batches the pf redirect, the resolver configuration (including the `/etc/hosts` fallback block, which is removed by the same command) and the loopback aliases into **one** password prompt; the legacy `/etc/hosts` block and the keychain CA removal ask separately, so expect up to three. `full` may prompt more than once as it tears projects down.\n\n**Running dev servers are stopped first \u2014 except on `--tier=full`.** Every tier forgets your projects, and a `pnpm dev` that outlives that row holds its port against whatever you register next, keeps writing into a directory Supbuddy no longer knows about, and can no longer be stopped from the app or with `supbuddy scripts stop` (both look the project up first). So `soft` and `deep` sweep them before resetting the registry, and the manifest names each one. `--tier=full` **cannot**: it stops the daemon before the wipe runs (it has to \u2014 a live daemon would rewrite `state.json` underneath it), and those dev servers are the daemon's own children, tracked only in its memory. Stop them yourself \u2014 in the app, or `supbuddy scripts stop <project> <script>` \u2014 before a full reset, or they outlive it as orphans you have to kill by pid.\n\n**Reset is a CLI operation, on purpose \u2014 there is no reset button in the app.** The gates that make a wipe safe don't survive the trip into a GUI: a typed `RESET`, a refusal on non-interactive input, and a daemon confirmation the app itself would be answering. On top of that, `--tier=full` refuses outright while the desktop app is running (its watchdog respawns the daemon ~20s after it stops), so a button for it would be a trap. The app's **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 System health** panel points here instead.\n\n**Backup before harm.** Anything you can't regenerate \u2014 `state.json`, every managed Supabase database that is running (`pg_dump`, custom format, with a `.sha256` alongside), every managed data volume (`tar.gz`, verified with `gzip -t`) \u2014 is written to `<app-data>/backups/reset-<timestamp>/` **before** a single destructive step runs, and if any backup fails the whole reset **aborts before destroying anything**. The directory is printed prominently before you confirm, and again when the reset finishes; `manifest.json` inside it records exactly what was planned and what ran. On top of that coarse guarantee, each volume is gated individually: **no archive, no removal** \u2014 a volume with no non-empty `.tar.gz` next to it is left alone and the run records why.\n\n**A backup that can't be written stops the reset \u2014 safely.** Archiving a volume is given ten minutes; a genuinely large one (tens of GB of Postgres data plus a DinD image cache) can exceed that, and when it does the reset **aborts with nothing destroyed**. Stop the stack and prune what you don't need (`docker system prune`, drop old branches/schemas), or archive that volume yourself, then run the reset again. The same applies to any other backup failure: a full disk, an unreadable volume, a Docker daemon that stops answering.\n\n**The backups survive a full reset.** They live inside the app-data directory, so the last step of `--tier=full` empties that directory *content-wise and skips `backups/`* rather than deleting it wholesale. Move that directory somewhere safe afterwards \u2014 it's the only copy.\n\n**Confirmation.** Every tier prints the **manifest** first \u2014 the literal list of actions that will run, derived from the same actions the engine executes. `soft` and `deep` then ask `Apply this \"<tier>\" reset? [y/N]` (default **No**); `--yes` skips that prompt. `--tier=full` requires you to **type the word `RESET`** \u2014 `--yes` alone does **not** bypass it. The one scripted path for a full reset is `--yes --i-understand`, both flags together. Every prompt refuses on a non-interactive (piped) stdin rather than proceeding.\n\n**The daemon confirms too.** `soft` and `deep` run inside the daemon, which asks for its own approval before it starts \u2014 the same gate as `doctor --fix` and `ca uninstall`. With the Supbuddy app open you get a native **Allow / Deny** dialog. A daemon with neither a dialog nor a terminal \u2014 the start-on-login service, or an app-spawned daemon while the app is closed \u2014 has nobody to ask and **denies**; run a foreground `supbuddy daemon` in one terminal and the reset from a second, and it will prompt there. Don't reach for `supbuddy daemon --yes` to get past it: that auto-approves *every* confirmation for that daemon's whole lifetime.\n\n**Quit the app before a full reset.** The desktop app supervises the daemon and restarts it about 20 seconds after it stops, which would put a live daemon back into the directory the last step clears. `--tier=full` refuses up front while the app is running \u2014 before it asks you to type `RESET`, and before it changes anything. Quit the app (menu bar icon \u2192 Quit) and run it again; the quit dialog's default **Leave running** is fine, since the reset stops the daemon itself. The check looks for the *app* process only, so nothing else has to change. `--tier=full` also runs with no daemon at all, so if you quit with **Stop service** you can go straight ahead.\n\n**The order of a full reset**, once you've confirmed: the start-on-login service is uninstalled, the daemon is stopped and waited for (the reset refuses to run against a live daemon, which would rewrite `state.json` underneath it), the backup and teardown steps above run, and only then is the app-data directory emptied \u2014 keeping `backups/`. If the reset aborted, or if a daemon came back while it was running, the app-data directory is left in place and the CLI tells you so rather than clearing it under a live process.\n\n`soft` and `deep` are also available over MCP as the plan-gated `system_wipe` tool (see *MCP tool surface*). `--tier=full` is **CLI-only**: it deletes the credentials any agent would be calling with, and a daemon cannot uninstall the service it runs under or delete the directory it runs from.\n\n**What a full reset does not remove.** It only ever touches paths of **registered** projects \u2014 there is no disk scan for stray `.supbuddy` directories \u2014 and it won't delete or rewrite files whose ownership is ambiguous. So after `--tier=full` these are still on disk, and you can remove them by hand:\n\n- Per-editor rule files Supbuddy wrote in your repos: `.cursor/rules/supbuddy.mdc`, `.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`, `.codeium/windsurf/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.continue/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.idea/supbuddy.md`. Shared files (`CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `.gitignore`, \u2026) keep their content and only lose Supbuddy's sentinel-delimited block.\n- Values `apply_env` merged into your **own** `.env*` files. The fully-owned `.env.supbuddy` files *are* deleted.\n- The bare `.env.supbuddy` line in `.gitignore` \u2014 it sits outside the managed block.\n- `vite.config.*` `allowedHosts` and `next.config.*` dev-origin patches.\n- `supabase/config.toml` port / `project_id` patches, when restoring the original file failed during the Thin teardown.\n- MCP client config entries written by `mcp add` / `install_mcp_config` (`~/.claude.json`, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, a project `.mcp.json` / `.cursor/mcp.json`). The token they hold is dead the moment the secrets are deleted; `supbuddy doctor`'s `stale-mcp-config-tokens` check will name each file.\n- The `caddy:latest` Docker image (shared and re-pullable) and anything a host-mode project owns.\n- The Supbuddy app itself \u2014 drag `Supbuddy.app` to the Trash \u2014 and the backups directory, which is the whole point of keeping it.\n\n## Settings reference\n\nOpen Settings via the gear icon top-right or by clicking the tray icon \u2192 Open Dashboard \u2192 gear. Five tabs.\n\n### General\n\n- **Theme**: dark or light.\n- **Auto-start at login**: registers Supbuddy as a macOS login item. Default: on.\n- **Default TLD**: applied to new auto-generated mappings. Existing mappings are renamed to the new TLD on save. Default: `test`.\n- **Default isolation**: `host` or `thin` for newly added projects. Default: `thin` (per-project loopback IP; apps keep canonical ports like `:3000`). MCP registration additionally keeps a project on `host` when its Supabase stack is already running on the host outside Supbuddy.\n- **Auto-subdomain mapping**: when on, services and apps detected during a project scan get mappings created automatically. Default: on.\n- **Bundled-runtime trust**: installs Supbuddy's local root CA into a place that apps with bundled JavaScript runtimes (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Continue, Codex CLI, OpenCode, \u2026) actually read. These apps don't consult the system Keychain (they ship their own Mozilla bundle), so without this they fail OAuth/MCP/HTTPS calls to `*.test` with `unable to get local issuer certificate`. Default: prompted on first launch when one of those tools is detected.\n  - **macOS**: writes `~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.cueplusplus.supbuddy.bundled-runtime-ca-trust.plist` and calls `launchctl setenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` so GUI-launched apps inherit it at process-start time.\n  - **Linux**: writes `~/.config/environment.d/supbuddy-ca.conf` (read by systemd-aware user sessions on GNOME/KDE/Sway/etc.).\n  - **Windows**: per-user `setx NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` to `HKCU\\Environment`.\n  - **Only `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` is set session-globally**, because it is *additive* \u2014 Node appends the file to its built-in public roots, so a stale or wrong value can never strip public trust. `SSL_CERT_FILE` / `REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE` are deliberately **not** set globally: they *replace* the entire trust store, and pointing them at a local-only bundle breaks every public TLS handshake in the login session. Older builds did set them; install and every boot reconcile now actively unset them. OpenSSL/Python tools that need local trust get it per-project, from the merged public+local bundle.\n  - It points at `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/ca-bundle/current.crt` (or the platform equivalent), a *cumulative* concatenated PEM Supbuddy maintains \u2014 **not** Caddy's own `caddy-data/\u2026/pki/authorities/local/root.crt`, which rotates independently. When Caddy rotates its root (yearly today, sometimes more), Supbuddy appends the new root automatically; long-running TLS contexts holding the old root keep working until the process restarts. Reading trust status also verifies Caddy's *active* root is actually in the bundle and re-appends it if not, so a rotation can't be missed just because the file watcher wasn't running.\n  - **Test trust**: runs an in-process HTTPS request against the first available `*.test` mapping with the same env vars set, to verify end-to-end without relaunching anything. It probes the **real access path** (port 443 when port forwarding is on, otherwise the high port), matching what real clients hit, so it doesn't false-negative against a port nothing is forwarding.\n  - **Effective-value detection**: status reports the value *in effect*, not just the one Supbuddy set. `launchctl setenv` cannot retro-patch an already-running process, so an app launched before an install keeps whatever it captured and hands that to every shell and dev server it spawns \u2014 a terminal can be using a completely different CA path from the one `launchctl getenv` prints. Supbuddy samples three places: what it set, what a fresh login shell resolves, and what live processes actually hold. Divergent values are listed with the app to relaunch (and flagged when the file no longer exists \u2014 Node ignores a missing `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` silently, which presents as `unable to get local issuer certificate` with nothing to explain it).\n  - **Conflict refusal**: if `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` is already set to a bundle Supbuddy doesn't own (corporate proxy, Zscaler, another vendor's CA), install refuses and surfaces the conflicting path. You can override with the explicit prompt that pops up on Install. A path Supbuddy *does* own but that isn't the current bundle \u2014 an older build's value, or Caddy's `root.crt` from a hand-rolled setup \u2014 is not a conflict: install corrects it.\n  - **Quit and relaunch your AI tools** after install: the env var only takes effect for *newly-launched* processes. Install names any app still holding an older path.\n- **System health** (**Scan**): opens the **System Doctor** panel \u2014 the same read-only, 17-check health & drift scan as `supbuddy doctor` (see *System doctor*), in the app. Opening the panel only scans; it changes nothing.\n  - Findings are grouped **critical \u2192 warning \u2192 info**, each with its title, one-line detail, concrete evidence (paths, container names, fingerprints), check id and category. **Rescan** re-runs the scan; the header shows the counts. A scan that times out says so and points at `supbuddy doctor` \u2014 the daemon is installed and updated separately from the app, and one older than this panel doesn't answer its channels.\n  - **Fix\u2026** on a fixable finding \u2014 or **Fix all (n)** in the header \u2014 never repairs anything by itself. It opens the **manifest**: the literal list of actions that would run, each marked *destructive* or *safe*, built from the same actions the engine executes. **Apply** stays disabled until that manifest has loaded and contains at least one action, so an empty or failed plan can't be rubber-stamped. Same confirm-before-harm contract as `doctor --fix`.\n  - Repairs that need elevated access ask for your password when they run. One that outlives the app's 15-second reply window (a password prompt sitting open) is reported as *may still be running \u2014 rescan in a moment*, not as a failure.\n  - Findings with no auto-fix show **advisory** instead of a Fix button; the detail says what to do by hand. Checks that couldn't run at all are listed at the bottom as *Checks that could not run*, rather than being silently dropped.\n  - **There is no reset button here, on purpose** \u2014 the footer points at `supbuddy reset` instead. See *System reset*.\n\n### Network\n\n- **HTTP port**: default 8080.\n- **HTTPS port**: default 8443.\n- **DNS port**: default 5353.\n- **Port forwarding**: when on, inserts a `pfctl` rule mapping 80\u2192HTTP port and 443\u2192HTTPS port into `/etc/pf.conf` (correct translation-section placement; self-heals a file corrupted by older versions). Asks for sudo once. Status reflects a live 443 enforcement probe, not just file presence.\n- **LAN sharing**: binds Caddy to `0.0.0.0` + starts mDNS responder.\n- **Tailscale**: paste a tailnet API key to enable split-DNS push.\n- **Install / Uninstall CA**: **Install** adds Caddy's root cert to your System keychain (removing any stale same-name roots first), falling back to your **login keychain** on macOS 15+ where system-wide trust needs a dialog macOS won't show a background helper; **Uninstall** removes every `Caddy Local Authority` root it added, from **both** keychains. macOS asks for your password each time. If Install can't complete, the exact command to run yourself stays pinned under the row rather than only in a toast.\n\n### Storage\n\nTrash retention (per-kind), volume sizes, image-cache controls.\n\n### MCP\n\n- **Clients**: list of connected clients. Each row has a **\u22EF** actions menu: install, edit scopes, set-primary, rotate token, revoke.\n- **Activity**: audit log with Apply/Cancel/Undo on plan rows.\n- **Trash**: soft-deleted mappings and projects, restorable for 7 days.\n- Settings: server `enabled`, `port` (default 9877), `audit_cap` (default 5000), `trash_ttl_days` (default 7).\n\n### AI Skills\n\nInstall Supbuddy's agent **skill at the user level** (machine-wide) so the agent sees Supbuddy in every repo without per-project setup. Each global-capable agent has a **master on/off** plus an **autosync** toggle (keeps the installed skill refreshed when Supbuddy updates it) and shows its install path + version.\n\n- **Who can install at user level**: only agents whose global file Supbuddy fully **owns** and that **self-scope** (act only when the working directory has a `.supbuddy/`): **Claude Code** (`~/.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`) and **Cursor** (`~/.cursor/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`). The install is reference-counted under a synthetic `__user__` ref so it persists independent of any project and is never pruned by the boot reconcile.\n- **Master \u2194 project**: the AI Skills tab is the **master** (user-level). To commit a skill into a specific repo, use that project's **AI Tools** tab and set the target to **Project** (the old `local` scope, which writes into the repo for teammates); **User** there means the master install covers it.\n- Agents whose global file holds *your own* content (Claude `CLAUDE.md`, Codex `AGENTS.md`, Copilot, Windsurf, Continue, JetBrains) are **project-level only**: a machine-wide write there could clobber your config, so they're injected per-project instead.\n\n## Tray menu\n\nThe macOS menu bar tray icon opens a menu with:\n\n- **Status: \u2026**: current proxy state (running / idle).\n- **DNS Active (:5353)**: shown when proxy is running.\n- **LAN Sharing (\\<ip\\>)**: shown when LAN sharing is on.\n- **Tailscale (\\<ip\\>)**: shown when Tailscale is connected.\n- **Start Proxy / Stop Proxy**: opens the dashboard.\n- **Projects**: each project opens a submenu with **Apps** (click to open the mapped URL), **Supabase** services (status dot + open), and **Scripts** (your bookmarked scripts as a one-click **Start <name>** / **Stop <name>** toggle), plus **Restart Supabase**/**Restart services** and **Show in Supbuddy**.\n- **Open Dashboard**.\n- **Sync AI context for all projects**: runs the project-context sync engine for every registered project (writes `.supbuddy/`, `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, etc.).\n- **Show Logs**: reveals `main.log` in Finder.\n- **Check for Updates...**: manual update check (only enabled in packaged builds). The panel names all three moving parts and their versions \u2014 the **app**, the **daemon** running inside it (`bundled` when it ships with the app, `npm` when it came from the CLI package), and the **CLI** itself \u2014 because they release on their own cadences and a single unlabelled version number cannot tell you which is behind. A **CLI-only release** is detected too: the check asks npm for the newest `supbuddy` and, when yours is older, says so and gives you the command (`npx supbuddy@latest`) even though the app itself is current. In that case the panel says *\"The app is up to date\"* rather than *\"You're up to date\"*, which would not be true. A CLI version it cannot determine is shown as **unknown** rather than left blank, and a failed registry check says it failed instead of implying you are current.\n- **Quit**.\n\n## File locations\n\nAll under `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/` on macOS:\n\n- `main.log` + `main.log.1`: app logs (rotates at 2 MB).\n- `state.json`: persistent state (projects, mappings, settings, MCP clients, license).\n- `caddy-data/`: Caddy's data dir (PKI, autosaves, certs).\n- `caddy-data/caddy/pki/authorities/local/root.crt`: the local CA cert installed in your Keychain.\n- `ca-bundle/current.crt`: cumulative PEM containing every Caddy root that has ever been emitted. Used by **Bundled-runtime trust** as the target for `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` / `SSL_CERT_FILE` / `REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE`. Real file (not a symlink) so Bun-bundled CLIs read it correctly.\n- `ca-bundle/versioned/<sha>.crt`: per-root snapshots for forensics.\n- `Caddyfile`: generated reverse-proxy config.\n- `daemon.json`: written while a headless CLI daemon is running (pid, Socket.IO + MCP-HTTP ports, control token); `0600`, removed on shutdown. Used by `supbuddy` CLI commands to discover and authenticate to the daemon, and by the desktop app to detect a running CLI daemon at launch.\n- `certs/`: legacy CA from the pre-Caddy era (unused in current builds).\n\nMCP-specific:\n\n- MCP client tokens (file-backed secret, mode `0600`): `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/secrets/mcp-<client-id>.secret`\n- MCP audit log: under `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/`, capped at `audit_cap` entries (default 5000).\n\n## Troubleshooting\n\n### Run a health & drift scan first (`supbuddy doctor`)\n\nWhen something's off, `supbuddy doctor` is the quickest triage. It runs a **read-only** scan of 18 checks and prints findings by severity, and many of the issues below have a matching check \u2014 an unreadable `state.json`, an untrusted CA, a wedged Caddy, port 443 not redirecting, stale duplicate CA roots, legacy CA-trust LaunchAgents poisoning public TLS, an agent config still holding a revoked MCP token, a Firefox profile pinning an old Caddy root, and leftovers from deleted projects (Docker containers/volumes, `127.0.0.N` loopback aliases, `/etc/resolver` files, MCP token files). Add `--fix` to apply the opt-in repairs after a confirmation prompt \u2014 some checks are advisory and have no auto-fix. See [System doctor](#system-doctor) for the full check list and flags.\n\n### Browser shows \"Not secure\" or certificate warning\n\nThe Caddy CA is not trusted. Open **Settings \u2192 Network \u2192 Install Certificate**. macOS will prompt for your password \u2014 on macOS 15+ this is the *\"You are making changes to your Certificate Trust Settings\"* dialog for the per-user install. After install, fully restart your browser (Cmd+Q, not just close window). Verify: *Keychain Access* \u2192 **System** keychain, then the **login** keychain \u2192 search for \"Caddy Local Authority\".\n\nIf the install fails with `SecTrustSettingsSetTrustSettings: The authorization was denied since no user interaction was possible`, that is macOS 15+ refusing system-wide trust to a background helper; Supbuddy retries per-user automatically, and if you dismiss that dialog it shows you the no-`sudo` command to run yourself.\n\n### \"unable to get local issuer certificate\" / \"self signed certificate in certificate chain\" from Claude Code, Cursor, MCP servers, or other AI tools\n\nThese tools ship their own bundled JavaScript runtime (Bun, Electron, pkg-bundled Node) and ignore the system Keychain. Open **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Bundled-runtime trust** and click **Install**. Then *fully quit and relaunch* the AI tool; the env var only takes effect for newly-launched processes. Verify with `launchctl getenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` (macOS); it should print `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/ca-bundle/current.crt`. If install is refused with a conflict warning, you already have `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` pointing at a bundle Supbuddy doesn't own (often a corporate proxy / Zscaler), so Supbuddy won't silently overwrite; use the override prompt or manually concatenate the two PEMs.\n\nIf it *still* fails after a relaunch, the process is probably not using the value `launchctl getenv` prints. Compare them:\n\n```bash\nlaunchctl getenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS                     # what Supbuddy set\nnode -e \"console.log(process.env.NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS)\"   # what your shell actually has\n```\n\nIf they differ, an app launched *before* the install captured the old value and is handing it to every shell and dev server it spawns \u2014 `launchctl setenv` cannot change an already-running process. The trust panel lists the divergent value and names the app to relaunch; quitting and reopening that app (not just the terminal tab) fixes it. A value pointing at Caddy's own `caddy-data/\u2026/pki/authorities/local/root.crt` is the classic case: that file rotates independently of Supbuddy's bundle, so the two agree until they suddenly don't.\n\n### \"Docker is not running. Please start Docker Desktop.\"\n\nCompose and Supabase features need Docker. Open Docker Desktop and wait until the whale icon stops animating.\n\n### \"Docker Compose is not installed\"\n\nCompose v2 ships inside Docker Desktop. If you removed Docker Desktop and are using a standalone Docker daemon (e.g. Colima, Rancher), install compose: `brew install docker-compose`.\n\n### \"Leftover host containers\" / \"isolation drift\" warning on a project\n\nSupbuddy flags **isolation drift** when a project's running containers don't match its configured isolation mode, for example a **Host** project with a stale `thin`-mode stack still running, or a **Thin** project with leftover host-mode containers. Switching isolation modes doesn't tear down the old layer, so those containers linger, waste resources, and can shadow the project's real stack. The warning appears in the **warnings chip** next to the enable toggle (click it to see each item; it shows a spinner while Supbuddy re-checks), as an entry in the issues counter, and as a notice on the **Supabase** tab listing the exact containers and any data volumes.\n\n**Guided cleanup.** Open the Supabase tab \u2192 **Clean up leftovers\u2026** to stop and remove the leftover containers. Data volumes are kept by default; deleting them is opt-in, and when the leftover copy looks newer than the active one, it requires an explicit choice and a backup (tarred to `\u2026/Supbuddy/backups/<project>-<timestamp>/`). If you recently migrated a VM project, any leftover VM container from before migration can also be cleaned up from this flow.\n\nIf the leftover copy's data looks **newer** than the active one, the warning turns red; don't delete its volumes without first deciding which copy to keep. The Configure tab also shows a dismissible note when Supabase stacks are running on your host that Supbuddy doesn't manage at all (e.g. a plain `supabase start`).\n\n### MCP client says \"Invalid OAuth error\" or \"JSON Parse error: Unexpected EOF\"\n\nThe MCP client is trying OAuth discovery and getting an empty 404. Either the token was lost (regenerate it in **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 the client's \u22EF menu \u2192 Rotate token**) or you're on a build older than the OAuth-probe fix. Update to the latest version; the server now answers OAuth discovery paths with a structured 404 instead of an empty body, and 401 responses include `WWW-Authenticate: Bearer` so the client doesn't fall back to OAuth.\n\n### MCP token disappeared after app restart\n\nFixed in recent builds. If you're on an older version, regenerate the token. Root cause was that `addMcpClient` didn't trigger state persistence; the client was held in memory only.\n\n### Server Actions return 403 in a Next.js app behind Supbuddy\n\nNext.js's CSRF guard rejects POSTs whose Origin isn't in `experimental.serverActions.allowedOrigins`. Supbuddy detects this and flags it in the warnings chip: open the **Apps** tab and hit **Fix** on the affected app for a paste-ready snippet, or **Apply\u2026** to preview a unified diff and write the change to `next.config` directly. After applying, restart your dev server.\n\nOn **Next.js 15.3+/16**, a proxied dev request can also be blocked (e.g. a \"Cross origin request detected\" warning) because Supbuddy now passes the real browser `Origin` through rather than rewriting it, and Next validates it against `allowedDevOrigins` (which defaults to `localhost`). Add your Supbuddy domain to `allowedDevOrigins` in `next.config` \u2014 see [Next.js cross-origin dev requests](#nextjs-cross-origin-dev-requests-alloweddevorigins). This is a separate key from the Server Actions list; 15.3+/16 may need both.\n\n### Vite dev server returns \"Blocked request. This host is not allowed.\" (403)\n\nVite (v5+) rejects requests whose `Host` header isn't in `server.allowedHosts`, so a Vite app reached through a Supbuddy domain 403s until the host is allowed. Supbuddy detects this and flags `vite: N hosts blocked` in the warnings chip: open the **Apps** tab and hit **Fix** on the affected app for a paste-ready snippet, or **Apply\u2026** to preview a diff and write `server.allowedHosts` into your `vite.config` directly. **Restart the Vite dev server afterward**; Vite does not hot-reload its config. A single `.your-project.local` entry covers every subdomain.\n\n### `mail.<project>` opens another project's inbox, or Supabase refuses to start over port 54324\n\nSupabase CLI 2.x renamed the mail-catcher section `[inbucket]` to `[local_smtp]`. Builds up to 3.6.14 only read `[inbucket]`, so a project whose `config.toml` says `[local_smtp] port = 54624` had its mail port silently read as the stock **54324** \u2014 which on a multi-project machine is a *different* project's inbox. Three symptoms came from that one cause: the generated `mail.<project>` mapping pointed at 54324, `supabase start` was refused with \"Inbucket needs port 54324 (in use by \u2026)\" for a project that never wanted 54324, and Thin's port rewrite skipped the mail keys entirely (`managed port key \"inbucket.port\" not found in config.toml`). Current builds read whichever section your file declares. If you are on an older build, either update or rename the section to `[inbucket]`; after updating, rescan the project so the mapping is regenerated on the right port.\n\n### Toggling Supabase analytics said it restarted, and the stack never came back\n\nFixed in current builds. `set_supabase_analytics` (and the Supabase tab's analytics toggle) writes the config change and then restarts the stack in the background. Up to 3.6.14 the stop ran first and the start was preflighted only afterwards \u2014 so a start that could not succeed left the stack **down**, while the project card and `get_supabase_status` went on reporting every service as running from the snapshot taken before the stop.\n\nTwo things changed. The restart is now preflighted **before** anything is stopped, excluding the ports this project's own containers are about to free: if the start could not succeed, the whole operation is refused with the port and the process holding it, and **the running stack is left running**. And any restart that does fail is recorded on the project \u2014 surfaced as `supabase_error` on `get_supabase_status`, with the stack's still-\"running\" services downgraded to `unknown`, because after a failed restart that is what their state actually is. A later successful restart clears it.\n\n### Supabase Realtime: channel reaches `SUBSCRIBED` but no `postgres_changes` events arrive\n\nIf a channel subscribes fine (and writes succeed) but change events never fire, this is almost always **realtime warmup timing right after the stack starts** \u2014 not the Supbuddy proxy. Local Realtime can accept a channel join and report `SUBSCRIBED` before its logical-replication binding for the tenant is ready, so `INSERT`/`UPDATE`s in that brief window are silently missed. Give the stack a few seconds after the Supabase tab goes green, then re-subscribe (or reconnect the channel). This is **unrelated to the `.local` domain**: Kong routes `/realtime/v1/*` by path and rewrites the upstream `Host` to its internal realtime tenant, so reaching realtime through `https://api.<project>.local` behaves identically to the raw `localhost:54321` port \u2014 forwarding the `.local` host upstream does not change tenant resolution. The new `sb_publishable_*` / `sb_secret_*` API keys also work for local realtime (Kong maps them to the legacy JWT), so you don't need to switch key formats.\n\n### Project shows a red \"PROXY ERROR\" banner: domain resolves but won't load\n\nAfter the proxy starts, Supbuddy runs an end-to-end reachability check: it resolves a project domain through the OS resolver and tries to connect to Caddy on the HTTPS port. If the name resolves but the connection fails, the project shows a red **PROXY ERROR** banner naming the likely cause (DNS, port-forwarding, or mDNS race) plus a recovery action.\n\n**The check waits for the OS to settle, and a single miss no longer raises the banner.** Starting the proxy runs the privileged setup, which kickstarts `mDNSResponder` and rewrites `/etc/resolver` \u2014 for a few seconds afterwards macOS legitimately fails to resolve names it is about to serve normally. Up to and including 3.6.14 the check was a single probe fired 1.5 s after that, so it often measured the settling window rather than the machine: the banner cleared on restart and came back \"a few seconds later\", then stayed up until the next start even though every URL worked. Current builds re-probe across roughly the first **13 seconds** and only report a failure that outlives the whole window; a lookup that fails once is also retried before it counts as \"doesn't resolve\". Proxy start is not slowed \u2014 the check runs in the background.\n\n**A banner that no longer applies clears itself.** While a reachability fault is showing, Supbuddy re-checks about every **45 seconds** and takes the banner down as soon as the name resolves and the port answers again \u2014 so a machine that recovers on its own (a resolver reload finishing, Wi-Fi coming back, another device releasing an mDNS name) no longer needs a proxy restart just to stop showing a stale error. It is observation only: no password prompt, no repair, and no elevation. It also only clears the fault it raised \u2014 if a port-forwarding failure has since claimed the banner, that one stays up, and clearing still requires Caddy to be serving and the 443 redirect (when you asked for one) to answer.\n\nThe most common case: the domain resolves to `127.0.0.1` but port 443 won't connect because the elevated `pfctl` 443\u21928443 redirect drifted away (typically after a restart, so Caddy is up on 8443 with nothing forwarding 443). Click **Retry**; as of v2.3.6 it re-applies the port-forwarding rule (approve the sudo prompt). On older builds, toggle the proxy off\u2192on instead. If LAN sharing is **off**, disregard any \"LAN sharing / Bonjour\" wording in the banner; the cause is the missing forward, not mDNS.\n\n**If the name doesn't resolve at all, the banner now names the cause it actually measured.** Before writing that message Supbuddy probes a name only `/etc/resolver` can answer, and says one of two different things:\n\n- **The resolver path works, and the project is on `.local`.** macOS reserves `.local` for Bonjour/mDNS (RFC 6762), and mDNS is consulted by a path an `/etc/resolver/<suffix>` file does not govern \u2014 so the OS can return \"server not found\" for a name whose resolver file is present and correct. Retrying rewrites files that were already right and asks for your password to do it, which is why the message names the durable fix instead: move the project off that TLD, in the project dialog (**Settings \u2192 TLD**) or with `supbuddy project set <project> --tld=test`. (This is *not* the `.local` slowness of 3.5.17 and earlier \u2014 that was our own DNS server and it is fixed. This is resolution failing outright, which the suffix genuinely can cause.)\n- **The resolver path is dead \u2014 the OS is loading no `/etc/resolver` file at all.** Up to 3.6.14 the banner told these users to change their TLD too. That advice is measurably wrong here: on the machine this was diagnosed on, `.local`, `.test`, `.internal` **and** `.dev` all failed while `/etc/hosts` worked, so no suffix recovers it. The banner now says the OS is not loading `/etc/resolver`, that changing TLD will not help, and that Supbuddy has written your domains into `/etc/hosts` as a fallback (or will on the next proxy start). See [the `/etc/hosts` fallback](#when-macos-wont-load-etcresolver-the-etchosts-fallback).\n\n**Automatic repairs stop re-prompting.** When the proxy is running but unreachable, Supbuddy re-runs the privileged setup to recover it \u2014 and that batch always asks for your password. In current builds an *automatic* attempt (the app re-attaching, a boot auto-start, the owner-ready repair) is skipped if the **same** failure was already re-applied within the last **10 minutes** and didn't recover; the daemon logs one line and leaves the banner and its diagnosis standing. A repeated prompt that fixes nothing only teaches you to dismiss prompts. Anything **you** initiate \u2014 **Retry** in the app, `supbuddy proxy restart`, the MCP `start_proxy` \u2014 is never throttled, and a recovery, or a different fault, clears the cooldown immediately.\n\n### Port forwarding is on but 443 won't connect\n\nSupbuddy reports port forwarding as **active** only when a live probe confirms 443 actually reaches Caddy \u2014 the rule being on disk isn't enough. If the rule is present but not being enforced (typically right after a reboot, or when an older Supbuddy version left `/etc/pf.conf` in a broken state), the status carries a `pf_not_enforcing` diagnostic instead of a false \"enabled\", and the banner tells you to **restart the proxy** to re-apply the redirect.\n\n**If you see \"not enforcing\" or repeated password prompts with no mappings enabled**, you are on a build older than 3.6.12. The 443 probe was gated on the Caddy *process* being alive rather than on something actually listening, so a project with no enabled mappings \u2014 whose Caddyfile has no site blocks, leaving nothing bound to 8443 \u2014 made a correctly-loaded pf rule look dead: NOT ENFORCING, the red banner, and a repair prompt on every network change. Current builds report that machine as **unknown** and stay quiet. To confirm your ruleset is fine: `sudo pfctl -a 'virtual.localhost' -s nat` lists both `rdr` rules.\n\nOlder versions appended their `rdr-anchor` to the **end** of `/etc/pf.conf`, after Apple's filter anchor \u2014 which pf rejects, because translation rules must come before filtering rules. That silently invalidated the whole ruleset, so every later `pfctl -f` failed and 443 was dead. Current builds insert the anchor in the correct translation section and **self-heal** a file corrupted by the old version on the next proxy start. Supbuddy keeps a single stable backup at `/etc/pf.conf.supbuddy-backup` (older builds accumulated unbounded timestamped backups). If a restart doesn't fix it, inspect `/etc/pf.conf` and confirm the `rdr-anchor \"virtual.localhost\"` line sits before `anchor \"com.apple/*\"`.\n\n### Proxy came up but shows a degraded \"error\" state\n\nIf the one-time sudo prompt for port forwarding / DNS is cancelled or fails, Supbuddy no longer aborts the whole start. Caddy still starts and HTTPS keeps working on the high port (8443), and the CA is still generated; the proxy just shows an actionable **error** (degraded) state with a **Retry**. Click **Retry** and approve the sudo prompt to restore real-port (80/443) access and DNS. Until then, reach your apps on `https://<domain>:8443`.\n\n### Port already in use (8080, 8443, 5353, 9877)\n\nDefault ports: HTTP 8080, HTTPS 8443, DNS 5353, MCP 9877. Change them in **Settings \u2192 Network** / **Settings \u2192 MCP**. Find what's holding a port: `lsof -i :<port>`.\n\n### Wipe everything and start over\n\nUse `supbuddy reset` (see *System reset*) \u2014 it backs up anything you can't regenerate first, and it removes the things a plain `rm -rf` leaves behind (the pf redirect, the resolver files, the loopback aliases, the trusted CA):\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy reset --tier=soft   # just the app state and caches\nsupbuddy reset --tier=deep   # + services, Caddy leftovers, /etc integrations, CA trust\nsupbuddy reset --tier=full   # + project data, repo artifacts, secrets, service, app data\n```\n\nThe manual equivalent, if the CLI isn't available \u2014 quit Supbuddy first, and note that this deletes `secrets/` and any backups under it with no copy anywhere:\n\n```bash\n# Wipe app data (state, certs, Caddyfile, logs, MCP tokens under secrets/)\nrm -rf ~/Library/Application\\ Support/Supbuddy\n\n# Optional: remove the trusted CA\nsudo security delete-certificate -c \"Caddy Local Authority\" /Library/Keychains/System.keychain\n```\n\n## FAQ\n\n### Is Supbuddy free?\n\nYes. Supbuddy is free. Register as many projects and mappings as you want, with full HTTPS, full DNS, full Supabase isolation, and full read and write MCP access. There are no caps and no tiers.\n\n### Does Supbuddy send my data anywhere?\n\nNo. Caddy, the DNS server, and the MCP server all run locally on your Mac. The only outbound traffic is: Tailscale split-DNS push (only if you enabled it), auto-update checks (GitHub Releases), and Google Analytics on the marketing site (not the desktop app). The desktop app does not send telemetry.\n\n### Can I work offline?\n\nYes. The app works fully offline once the CA is trusted and projects are registered.\n\n### Linux / Windows support?\n\nThe desktop app is macOS-only in v2. The headless CLI and daemon also run on Linux, where `supbuddy service install` registers a `systemd-user` start-on-login unit (macOS uses `launchd`). Windows is not supported. A few desktop code paths (certutil, update-ca-certificates) anticipate other platforms but are not tested there.\n\n### Can I use my own TLD?\n\nYes. Set any TLD in **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Default TLD**. Supbuddy installs `/etc/resolver/<project-domain>` files that tell macOS to query our DNS server for that project's domain. Avoid TLDs that actually resolve on the public internet (.com, .net, etc.); your browser will hit the real site for cached entries.\n\n### What happens if I delete a project?\n\nThe project moves to the Trash (visible in **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Trash**) for 7 days, then is permanently deleted by the sweep timer. Restoring brings back the project record and all its mappings.\n\n### How do I uninstall Supbuddy?\n\n1. Quit the app (the full reset refuses to run while it's open, because its watchdog restarts the daemon).\n2. Run `supbuddy reset --tier=full` and type `RESET` when it asks. This backs up your project data, then removes the containers, volumes, `/etc` integrations, CA trust, repo artifacts, credentials, the start-on-login service and the app-data directory \u2014 keeping `<app-data>/backups/reset-<timestamp>/`. See *System reset*, including the short list of things it deliberately leaves behind.\n3. Drag **Supbuddy.app** from `/Applications` to the Trash, and move the backups directory somewhere safe (or delete it).\n4. If you'd rather not use the CLI: see \"Wipe everything and start over\" above for the manual equivalent, plus `sudo security delete-certificate -c \"Caddy Local Authority\" /Library/Keychains/System.keychain` to remove the trusted CA.\n\n### Where do I report a bug?\n\nEmail support with your version (visible at the bottom of the Settings popover) and the relevant lines from `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/main.log`.\n";
+    DOCS_MARKDOWN = "# Supbuddy docs\n\n> Run multiple Supabase projects at once on one Mac, each with its own custom local domain.\n\n## Getting started\n\nThere are two ways to run Supbuddy. Use the **macOS desktop app** (steps below), or the **command-line interface**, which runs on macOS and Linux. For the CLI, install it with `npx supbuddy@latest` and jump to [Command-line interface](#command-line-interface-cli). The app and the CLI share the same state, so you can use either or both.\n\n### 1. Install\n\nDownload the latest `.dmg` from the [download page](/api/download). Drag **Supbuddy.app** into `/Applications` and launch it. Supbuddy is signed and notarized; macOS will not show a Gatekeeper warning. Requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3/M4, arm64). The desktop app is macOS-only in v2, but the headless CLI runs on Linux too. See [Command-line interface](#command-line-interface-cli).\n\n### 2. Trust the local Certificate Authority\n\nCaddy mints its local CA the first time the proxy starts \u2014 **no mapping required**, so you can trust it before you add anything. With the proxy running, open the app and click **Install** (the first-launch prompt, or **Settings \u2192 Network** later). Supbuddy adds the CA (Caddy's internal PKI at `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/caddy-data/caddy/pki/authorities/local/root.crt`) to your **System keychain** via `sudo security add-trusted-cert`; macOS asks for your password once. (On macOS 15+ that system-wide step is no longer permitted to a background helper, so Install falls back to per-user trust \u2014 see below.) Caddy does **not** self-install trust (the generated Caddyfile sets `skip_install_trust`), so this button is what makes the padlock green \u2014 fully quit and reopen your browser afterward to pick it up. Every Supbuddy domain then gets HTTPS with no per-domain prompts or warnings. (On Windows the install is manual: Supbuddy shows the PowerShell `Import-Certificate \u2026 -CertStoreLocation Cert:\\LocalMachine\\Root` command to run as Administrator.)\n\n**On macOS 15 (Sequoia) and later, Install trusts the CA for your user account.** Apple now routes system-wide trust changes through an authorization dialog that macOS refuses to show to a background helper \u2014 being root is no longer enough, and the attempt comes back as `SecTrustSettingsSetTrustSettings: The authorization was denied since no user interaction was possible`. Supbuddy still tries the system-wide install first (it works on Sonoma and earlier, and covers every user on the machine); when macOS refuses it, Supbuddy adds the root to your **login keychain** instead and macOS shows *\"You are making changes to your Certificate Trust Settings\"* \u2014 confirm with your login password. Browsers honour user-domain trust exactly the same way, and **Uninstall** removes the root from both keychains. If you dismiss that dialog, Supbuddy pins the exact command on screen so you can run it yourself \u2014 **without `sudo`**, which would land back in the domain macOS just refused:\n\n```bash\nsecurity add-trusted-cert -r trustRoot -k ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db \\\n  ~/Library/Application\\ Support/Supbuddy/caddy-data/caddy/pki/authorities/local/root.crt\n```\n\nCaddy names its root by year, so each yearly rotation (or a data wipe) leaves a same-name root behind with a different key. On every Install, Supbuddy first removes any stale `Caddy Local Authority` roots whose fingerprint doesn't match the current one, then adds the current root \u2014 leftover mismatched roots otherwise make Firefox-family browsers fail with `SEC_ERROR_BAD_SIGNATURE`. This cleanup runs against whichever keychain the install targets, and trust detection reads **both** the System and login keychains, so a root trusted per-user still reports as installed.\n\n**Firefox, Zen, and Brave keep their own certificate store** that Supbuddy can't reach (they don't consult the System keychain). After a CA change, either delete any stale `Caddy Local Authority` entries from the browser's own certificate manager and re-import the new root, or \u2014 on Firefox/Zen \u2014 set `security.enterprise_roots.enabled` to `true` in `about:config` so the browser reads the System keychain.\n\nIf Supbuddy detects an AI tool that ships its own JavaScript runtime (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Continue, Codex CLI, OpenCode, etc.) it will also offer to enable **Bundled-runtime trust** in the same first-run prompt. Those tools don't read the system Keychain (they carry their own Mozilla CA bundle), so without this setup the first OAuth/MCP connection to a `*.test` URL fails with `unable to get local issuer certificate`. Enable it once and Supbuddy keeps it in sync (including across yearly Caddy CA rotation). See the **Bundled-runtime trust** section under Settings \u2192 General for details.\n\nIf you skip the prompt, you can re-trigger it any time from the **Settings \u2192 Network** tab.\n\n### 3. Add your first project\n\nClick **Add project** in the Configure tab and pick a project root folder (the one with `package.json` and/or `supabase/config.toml`). Supbuddy scans it and creates auto-mapped subdomains based on what it finds:\n\n- Supabase Kong \u2192 `api.<project>.test`\n- Supabase Studio \u2192 `studio.<project>.test`\n- Supabase Inbucket / Mailpit \u2192 `mail.<project>.test`\n- Each detected app (Next.js, Vite, etc.) \u2192 `<app-name>.<project>.test`\n\nThe default TLD is `.test`. You can change it project-wide in **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Default TLD**.\n\n> **`.local` is fine again, from 3.5.18.** Earlier versions made every managed domain resolve slowly \u2014 a name resolved in milliseconds *once* and then stalled **five seconds per concurrent lookup**, so `curl`, a single `fetch` and `dig` all looked healthy while any page issuing several requests at once failed with what looked like a connect timeout on the proxy. The advice used to be to move off `.local`, on the grounds that macOS reserves it for multicast DNS (RFC 6762). That was only half right, and the half that mattered was ours: Supbuddy's DNS server answered only `A` for managed domains and forwarded the IPv6 (`AAAA`) lookup to the upstream resolver, which never answers for a local name \u2014 so no reply was sent at all and the client waited out its own timeout. A name on a *non-reserved* suffix stalled identically (5003 ms against `.local`'s 5002 ms), which is what proved the suffix was not the cause. Supbuddy now answers `AAAA` itself with `::1`; because that is a positive answer it also satisfies macOS's multicast rule, so `.local` resolves in single-digit milliseconds like any other suffix. (A client that prefers IPv6 is refused on `[::1]:443` and falls back to IPv4 in about 3 ms \u2014 there is deliberately no IPv6 redirect, because one was tried and it silently broke the backend HTTPS port.) **There is no need to rename your domains.** `doctor` still ships `dns-local-tld-mdns-stall` as a canary \u2014 if it fires on 3.5.18 or newer, check `supbuddy version` first, since an updated app can still be attached to an older daemon. One thing the suffix *can* still cause is the opposite symptom \u2014 the name not resolving **at all** on Sonoma and later, because mDNS owns the namespace by a path `/etc/resolver` does not govern. That is rarer, it is not slowness, and the only fix is a different TLD; see [the PROXY ERROR banner](#project-shows-a-red-proxy-error-banner-domain-resolves-but-wont-load).\n\n### 4. Start the proxy\n\nToggle the project on. Supbuddy starts Caddy on port 8443 (HTTPS) and starts its built-in DNS server on port 5353. If you want real ports 80/443 instead of 8080/8443, enable **port forwarding** in **Settings \u2192 Network**. Supbuddy inserts a `pfctl` redirect rule into `/etc/pf.conf` (asks for sudo once) and reports whether the redirect is actually being enforced via a live 443 probe \u2014 not merely that the rule is on disk. If port forwarding is on but 443 won't connect, see [Port forwarding is on but 443 won't connect](#port-forwarding-is-on-but-443-wont-connect).\n\nEnforcement has a third state: **unknown**. The 443 probe only means something when something is listening behind the redirect, so if the HTTPS port has no listener \u2014 most often when no mapping is enabled yet, which generates a Caddyfile with no site blocks \u2014 Supbuddy reports enforcement as unknown rather than off. In that state it shows no \"not enforcing\" badge, no red banner, and never asks for your password: a redirect it cannot observe is not a redirect it can call broken.\n\n> If the one-time sudo prompt is cancelled or fails, Supbuddy no longer aborts the start: Caddy still comes up and HTTPS keeps working on the high port (8443), and the proxy shows a degraded **error** state with a **Retry** so you can re-run the privileged setup. The CA is still generated in this state. You have **three minutes** to answer an admin prompt (older builds gave up after 30 seconds and then discarded the result of a password typed later, reporting work that had actually succeeded as failed).\n\n## Core concepts\n\nFour things to understand:\n\n- **Project**: a folder you registered. Holds detected *apps* (Next.js, Vite, etc.), detected *services* (Supabase stack, Docker Compose services), and a list of *mappings*.\n- **Mapping**: a domain \u2192 port pair (e.g. `api.acme.test \u2192 54321`). Auto-generated mappings are tied to a detected service or app; you can also create manual ones.\n- **Isolation mode**: per-project. One of:\n  - `thin` (lightweight, **the default for newly registered projects**): still your host Docker (no nested containers, no DinD), but Supbuddy gives each project its own **port block** and a unique Compose `project_id`, written into that project's `supabase/config.toml`. That's what lets several Supabase projects run **at once on the shared daemon**, each reached by name (`api.<project>.test`, `studio.<project>.test`). Apps bind a **per-project loopback IP** (127.0.0.2, 127.0.0.3, \u2026) so every project's dev servers keep their canonical ports \u2014 each project gets its *own* `:3000`. Start dev servers with `supbuddy run -- <dev command>` so they bind that IP. Supbuddy owns those config.toml keys while the project is `thin` and restores them the moment you switch back to `host`.\n  - `host`: everything shares `127.0.0.1` and the stock ports. Dev-server ports collide across projects, and only one host-mode Supabase project can run at a time (the standard `supabase start` constraint). Use `host` **only when the project's Supabase stack is already running on the host independently of Supbuddy** (you run `supabase start` yourself and don't want Supbuddy re-porting `config.toml`). MCP registration (`register_project`) detects that case and keeps such projects on `host` automatically; in the app's Add-project dialog, pick **Host** in the Environment section yourself.\n- **Active vs inactive**: any project can be \"active\" (proxied + reachable) or inactive. Inactive projects keep their state, so flipping them on is a few seconds. Run as many active projects as you want.\n\n## Project cards (Configure tab)\n\nEach registered project appears as a card in the Configure tab. Cards have a single-row header that's always visible and a tab-based body that expands on click.\n\n### Header\n\nReading left to right:\n\n- **Expand chevron** + **project name**: click to expand/collapse the card.\n- **Status indicator**: a single colored dot next to the project name aggregating the realtime state of every subsystem (Supabase services, Compose, scripts, AI sync, port conflicts, next.config warnings). Red = error, amber = warning, green = at least one service running, muted gray = idle, animated cyan spinner = transitioning. Hover for a tooltip that lists each subsystem's state.\n- **Tech badges**: e.g. `TurboRepo`, `Supabase` (shown when detected).\n\n**Supabase connection warning.** When a project's app `.env` is missing the\nSupabase connection vars, or they've gone stale relative to the live target\n(e.g. after switching isolation, which republishes ports), the card shows a\n`supabase env: not connected` / `supabase env: out of date` pill. Click it to\nopen Connect and push fresh values, or choose **Ignore for this project**.\n- **Env mode chip**: read-only `Host` or `Thin` label (matching the project's isolation mode). To switch modes, open the **Supabase** tab and use the **Environment** section at the top.\n- **Issues counter**: red for errors, amber for warnings. Click to open the **issues popover** (see below). Hidden when there are no issues.\n- **Warnings chip**: all project-level warnings (isolation drift, missing env vars, config issues, etc.) are consolidated into a single amber chip next to the enable toggle. Click it to see each warning item-by-item; it shows a spinner while Supbuddy re-checks the project.\n- **Enable toggle** (right edge): turn the project's proxy on/off without deleting it.\n- **\u22EF actions menu** (right edge): every project-level action: **Edit project**, **Rescan**, **Re-check configs** (re-runs the connection/env drift check for this project), **Select folder**, **Export bundle**, and **Delete project**.\n\n### Readiness banner\n\nBetween the header and the tabs, a card shows one bordered row per **readiness** finding \u2014 dependencies not installed or out of date, Supabase connection vars missing or stale, keys the project's `.env.example` declares that nothing sets. Each row carries the finding's detail, its evidence (project-relative paths and key names, never values), and, where Supbuddy can fix it, a button whose words come from the finding itself: **Run pnpm install** in a pnpm repo, **Run yarn install** in a yarn one. While an install runs, the banner shows a live tail of its output and a **Cancel** button, and the fix buttons are disabled \u2014 including when that install was started from the CLI or by an agent. **If the install exits non-zero, the banner says so and keeps the output**: a red row naming the exit code, the last lines of the run still under it, and a **Dismiss** button \u2014 it stays until you dismiss it or start another install. A cancelled install is not reported as a failure. A ready project shows no banner. See [Project readiness](#project-readiness-can-it-run).\n\n### Issues popover\n\nClicking the issues counter opens a popover listing all current errors and warnings \u2014 including readiness findings. Each issue shows a severity icon, title, optional detail, and a **\u2192 open {tab}** link. Clicking the link jumps to the relevant tab and closes the popover.\n\n### Body tabs (when expanded)\n\nThe body renders a flat tab strip with 6 conditional tabs. Below ~480 px, the strip collapses to a dropdown selector. (Project-level actions, like edit, rescan, re-check configs, select folder, export, and delete, are in the header's **\u22EF menu**, not a tab.)\n\n#### Apps (default tab)\n\nPer-app rows are domain-first: `domain \u2192 :port` (with hover-revealed copy/open URL buttons), then app name + tech badge, then a flex spacer pushes hover-revealed **edit** / **delete** / **access** (LAN / Tailscale state) actions and the per-mapping **toggle** to the right edge. A **Map** CTA appears on hover for unmapped apps. Manual mappings scoped to this project (not auto-generated) are listed below under their own subheader.\n\n#### Supabase (shown when Supabase is detected)\n\n**Environment section (top):** host/thin switcher. A legacy project still on the old Isolated (VM) mode shows the migration wizard here instead (see [Migrating a legacy Isolated (VM) project to Thin](#migrating-a-legacy-isolated-vm-project-to-thin)).\n\n**Action bar:** Start, Stop, Restart buttons; a first-class **Connect** button (cyan, opens the connection panel for `.env` generation / merge); and a **More** menu with **Config editor** and **Details**.\n\n**The connection panel: which button actually connects your app.** The panel generates the project's Supabase/app-URL variables using the app's framework prefix and targets the file that framework loads (see [Framework env vars: prefix and file](#framework-env-vars-prefix-and-file)). The **Prefix** dropdown opens on the prefix that table gives the app being written to \u2014 `NUXT_PUBLIC_` for a Nuxt app, `PUBLIC_` for Astro and SvelteKit, none for Remix or an app whose framework was not detected \u2014 and it follows the **Write to** app when you change it. Override it if you keep a different spelling; the dropdown offers every prefix Supbuddy knows, `EXPO_PUBLIC_` included. Two buttons write, and they are not interchangeable:\n\n- **Set env vars** (then **Apply & next**, one file at a time, with a per-key diff) merges the values into the env file your app actually reads \u2014 `.env.local` for Next/Vite/SvelteKit, `.env` for Astro/Nuxt/Remix \u2014 backing the original up first and preserving your comments. This is the one that connects the app and clears the `supabase env:` warning.\n- **Write .env.supbuddy** writes a **reference** file, `<app>/.env.supbuddy`. No framework auto-loads it, so on its own it changes nothing your app can see and the drift warning stays. It is for copying values out of, or for `source`-ing by hand.\n\n**Config editor: secret extraction.** When you save a `supabase/config.toml` that contains a secret-bearing value inline (e.g. an SMTP password under `[auth.email.smtp]`, an OAuth `secret`, or any `*_key`/`auth_token`), Supbuddy prompts before writing: it lists the detected secrets and lets you pick which gitignored env file to move them to (defaulting to the project-root `.env.local`). The value is written there and replaced in `config.toml` with an `env(SUPABASE_\u2026)` reference, so secrets never land in git. Supbuddy injects those `SUPABASE_`-prefixed values back into the `supabase start` environment so the references resolve. (Saving a config with no inline secrets writes directly, with no prompt.)\n\n**Service rows** (read-only): status dot, service name, URL. No inline actions; lifecycle is driven by the action bar.\n\n#### Compose (shown when Compose services are detected)\n\n**Action bar:** Start, Stop, Restart. **Service rows** are read-only (status dot, name, URL). Add-on services declared in `supbuddy.addons.yml` (see **Add-on Compose services**) appear here alongside the base stack and in `get_compose_status` over MCP.\n\n#### Other (shown when non-Supabase, non-Compose services are detected)\n\nRead-only service rows: status dot, name, URL.\n\n#### Scripts (shown when scripts are detected)\n\nBookmarked scripts appear in a **Quick Access** group at the top; remaining scripts appear under **Other Scripts**. Per-script row: status dot, name, uptime, bookmark star, Start/Stop/Restart buttons. A search input appears when there are more than 5 scripts.\n\n**Stop kills the whole tree, not just the shell.** A script runs as `<manager> run <name>` under a shell, so the dev server you care about is that shell's child \u2014 Supbuddy now signals the **process group** (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL five seconds later), so `next dev`/`vite` and anything they started go down with it. Earlier builds signalled only the tracked shell: the row went back to *stopped* while the server kept running and kept holding its port, and the next Start failed with `EADDRINUSE` against your own leftover process, which you then had to find with `lsof -i :3000` and kill by hand. The same applies to Stop from `supbuddy` and over MCP \u2014 all three drive one supervisor.\n\n#### AI Tools\n\nWraps the project-context-sync panel: sync mode selector (Auto / Manual / Off), detected targets list with per-target **scope** (global / local), advanced options, and recent activity. See [Per-project AI context sync](#per-project-ai-context-sync) for what global vs. local means.\n\n> Project-level actions (**Edit**, **Rescan**, **Re-check configs**, **Select folder**, **Export bundle**, **Delete**) are no longer a tab. They live in the header's **\u22EF actions menu**.\n\n---\n\n## Multiple Supabase projects (the main use case)\n\nThe reason Supbuddy exists. Stock Supabase CLI binds to fixed ports (54321 Kong, 54322 Postgres, 54323 Studio, 54324 mail). Two projects on the same machine collide; you must `supabase stop` one before `supabase start`-ing the other.\n\nTwo ways to break that constraint, picked per project in the **Supabase** tab \u2192 **Environment** section:\n\n### Thin (lightweight, recommended)\n\nSwitch a project to **Thin**. Supbuddy assigns it a free port block (in the `55000+` range), writes those ports plus a unique Compose `project_id` into its `supabase/config.toml`, and runs `supabase start` on your **normal host Docker**, with no nested containers and nothing to pull. Several projects boot side by side this way; each is reached by name (`api.acme.test`, `studio.acme.test`, `mail.acme.test`). Switch back to **Host** and Supbuddy restores the original `config.toml` and stops just that project's stack. A Thin project keeps that block for as long as it is Thin: anything that **creates or replaces** its `supabase/config.toml` afterwards gets the block re-written into the new file, because the content that lands there declares the stock `54321\u201354324` ports that belong to whichever project is on Host. That covers **creating** one \u2014 `supabase init` from the app or `init_supabase` over MCP on a project that had no Supabase yet, or repointing it with `set_supabase_config_path` \u2014 and **replacing** one: saving the visual config editor, `supbuddy supabase config apply` / `write_supabase_config`, restoring a config backup (`supbuddy supabase restore`, `restore_supabase_backup`) and restoring the `config.hosted.toml` snapshot. A backup or snapshot usually predates the switch to Thin, so restoring one verbatim would put the project back on the stock ports; the ports and `project_id` are re-imposed on top, and everything else in the file you restored is kept.\n\nThis is the lightest, fastest option and the right default for most setups \u2014 which is why **newly registered projects default to Thin**. One caveat: if your `config.toml` omits a port key (e.g. the mail catcher's `smtp_port`), Supbuddy can't relocate a port that isn't declared, so that one service falls back to its stock port. That is fine for a single project, but spell those keys out if two Thin projects need the same service. Where a whole section is missing and the rest of your ports sit outside the stock `54320\u201354329` block, Supbuddy reports that service's port as **unknown** rather than substituting the stock one \u2014 on a multi-project machine the stock port is another project's service, and a mapping built from it would open the wrong stack.\n\n#### Supported `config.toml` layout\n\nSupbuddy reads `[api]`, `[db]` (`port` + `shadow_port`), `[db.pooler]`, `[studio]`, `[analytics]`, and the mail catcher. **Supabase CLI 2.x renamed the mail section `[inbucket]` to `[local_smtp]`**; Supbuddy reads whichever one your file declares (`[local_smtp]` wins if both are somehow present) and falls back to the stock 54324/54325/54326 only when it declares neither. Thin's port rewrite targets the section you already have \u2014 it never adds the other spelling, because the CLI would ignore it while the diff made the port look moved.\n\n### Dev servers on Thin: every project keeps its own `:3000`\n\nA Thin project also gets its own **loopback IP** (127.0.0.2, 127.0.0.3, \u2026, persisted per project). That loopback covers **app dev servers only** \u2014 Supabase is separated by the port block above, not by the IP, so every project still needs its own Supabase port range in `config.toml`. Its app dev servers bind that IP instead of `127.0.0.1`, so canonical ports never collide across projects \u2014 five Next.js apps in five projects can all run on `:3000` at once, and Supbuddy's proxy routes each `web.<project>.test` to its project's IP.\n\nStart dev servers through the launcher:\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy run -- next dev          # binds -H <project loopback IP>, stays on :3000\nsupbuddy run -- vite              # injects --host <ip> --strictPort\nsupbuddy run --print -- next dev  # show what would run, without running it\n```\n\n`supbuddy run` reads the project's IP from the nearest `.supbuddy/meta.json` (`loopbackIp`, written when Thin is enabled), ensures the loopback alias exists, injects the right bind flag for the detected framework, and execs your command. It prints one concise line with the project's Caddy-proxied URL (e.g. `[supbuddy] \u2192 https://web.<project>.test`) \u2014 the address you should actually open. For **Next and Vite** it also hides the dev server's own `- Local:/- Network:` banner (which only echoes the raw loopback IP `127.0.0.N:<port>`, bypassing Supbuddy's HTTPS proxy): those two lines are filtered out of the piped output, every other line passes through untouched, and colours are preserved via `FORCE_COLOR` (stdin stays interactive). Other frameworks pass through with no filtering. When a project has several app mappings, it matches the one whose port equals the dev server's port (from `--port`/`-p` or the framework default), else lists them all. Make it the project's `dev` script (`\"dev\": \"supbuddy run -- next dev\"`) so nobody \u2014 humans or agents \u2014 has to remember it. **Never move an app to a nonstandard port because `127.0.0.1:3000` is busy**; that port belongs to another project's IP space.\n\n### When to stay on Host\n\nKeep a project on **Host** only when its Supabase stack runs on the host *independently of Supbuddy* \u2014 you run `supabase start` yourself on the stock ports and don't want Supbuddy rewriting `config.toml`. MCP registration (`register_project`) detects a stack like that (running containers for the project's `config.toml` `project_id`) and keeps the project on Host automatically; in the app's Add-project dialog, pick **Host** in the Environment section for such projects. Stop the stack (`supabase stop`) and switch to Thin whenever you're ready.\n\n### Running them all at once\n\nRegister as many projects as you want, and all of them can be \"active\" (proxied) at the same time. There's no limit. A Thin project's stack restarts in seconds; a Host project needs the standard `supabase start` cycle.\n\n### Migrating a legacy Isolated (VM) project to Thin\n\nIf you created a project in an older version of Supbuddy that used the now-retired **Isolated (VM)** mode, Supbuddy detects it on launch and offers a one-way, guided migration to **Thin**. The migration wizard appears in the **Supabase** tab's Environment section for any project still flagged as VM.\n\nThe migration is data-safe: Supbuddy dumps your Postgres data, starts a fresh Thin stack, restores the dump into it, and row-count-verifies the restore before tearing down the old VM container. No data loss. After migrating, the VM is gone and there's no way to switch back (but your data is intact in the Thin stack).\n\nOver MCP, three tools handle the migration bridge:\n\n- `list_pending_vm_migrations` (read): lists all projects still on the legacy VM mode awaiting migration.\n- `migrate_vm_to_thin` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): starts the guided data-safe migration (dump, restore, verify).\n- `finish_vm_migration` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): tears down the old VM container after migration is verified. Returns an error if called before verification passes.\n\n## Custom domains & TLDs\n\nEvery mapping resolves through Supbuddy's built-in DNS server on port 5353. By default the TLD is `.test` (an IETF-reserved TLD safe for local use). You can change the default in **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Default TLD** to `local`, `dev`, or anything else; existing mappings are migrated to the new TLD on save.\n\nFor host resolution, Supbuddy *does not* use `/etc/hosts` for wildcards; it runs a DNS resolver. macOS's default resolver only queries port 53; Supbuddy installs a per-project resolver file under `/etc/resolver/<project-domain>` (e.g. `/etc/resolver/myapp.local`) pointing at `127.0.0.1:5353`. macOS picks the longest-suffix-matching file, so per-project entries route reliably without colliding with reserved namespaces like `.local` (which Bonjour/mDNS owns). You'll be prompted for sudo the first time this changes.\n\nResolver files exist only for domains the proxy actually serves \u2014 the same set that gets a Caddy site block: enabled mappings that are either standalone or under an **enabled** project. Disable or delete a project and its resolver file is removed with its routes (one sudo prompt, and only when something really changed), so its domains go back to failing as \"server not found\" instead of resolving into a TLS handshake error from a proxy that has nothing to serve. Enabling it again writes the file back; so does restarting the proxy.\n\n### When macOS won't load `/etc/resolver`: the `/etc/hosts` fallback\n\nOn a small number of Macs the `/etc/resolver` mechanism is simply **inert**. The files are present and correct, Supbuddy's DNS server answers every managed name on `127.0.0.1:5353`, and `scutil --dns` still lists only the system's own resolvers \u2014 zero of Supbuddy's. Measured on macOS 26 with a responder that answers *every* query: a custom TLD failed, a custom TLD with a `domain` directive failed, and the real IANA TLD `.dev` failed too. `/etc/hosts` worked. **This is not a TLD problem and renaming your domains will not fix it.**\n\nSupbuddy detects that state and works around it by maintaining a managed block in `/etc/hosts`.\n\n- **How it engages.** After the proxy starts and the resolver files have been written and reloaded, Supbuddy resolves a name that *only* the resolver path can answer. If the files are in sync and that name still doesn't resolve \u2014 confirmed, not on a single miss \u2014 it writes the block. Nothing branches on your macOS version; it is the observed condition, so it is also correct for a machine locked down by a configuration profile or MDM.\n- **What it costs.** The condition can only be seen *after* the privileged setup has run, so the very first time it is detected you get **one extra password prompt**. Supbuddy then remembers the machine fact, and every later proxy start folds the hosts write into the **same** prompt as the resolver write. Steady state: one prompt, exactly as before. A declined prompt is not retried for 10 minutes, so it can never become a password loop.\n- **What it covers \u2014 and what it doesn't.** `/etc/hosts` has no wildcards. The block carries the exact names Supbuddy knows about: every enabled mapping, plus every enabled project's base domain, each pointing at `127.0.0.1` and `::1` (the same answers the DNS server gives). A brand-new subdomain that has no mapping will **not** resolve until you add one \u2014 the one behaviour difference you will notice. Everything else, including HTTPS and per-project TLDs, is unchanged.\n- **How to see it.** The block is delimited by `# Supbuddy DNS fallback - Start` / `# Supbuddy DNS fallback - End` \u2014 run `grep -A20 'Supbuddy DNS fallback' /etc/hosts`. `get_health` reports it as `dns.resolver.hosts_fallback: true`, and the \"domain doesn't resolve\" banner says so in words. Your original file is copied once to `/etc/hosts.supbuddy-backup` before the first edit.\n- **How to get out of it.** It retires itself: as soon as a proxy start finds the resolver path answering again, Supbuddy removes the block and forgets the machine fact. Stopping the proxy also removes it (the same teardown that removes the resolver files), and `supbuddy reset --deep` removes it for good. You can also delete the block by hand \u2014 Supbuddy rewrites it on the next start only if the fault is still there.\n\nNote that this block is **not** the old `# Supbuddy - Start` block from the pre-DNS-server era. That one is legacy, is deleted on every launch, and has nothing to do with this.\n\n### Per-project TLD\n\nBy default every project's domain uses the global TLD (Settings \u2192 Default TLD, e.g. `.test`). A single project can opt into its **own** TLD \u2014 set the suffix in the project dialog, pass `tld` to the `register_project` / `update_project` MCP tools, or use the CLI: `supbuddy project add <path> --tld=portal` when registering, or `supbuddy project set <project> --tld=portal` on an existing one (`--tld=` with an empty value clears the override). That project's base domain and all its subdomains then live on the override TLD (e.g. `cueplusplus.portal`, `web.cueplusplus.portal`) while every other project stays on the global default. The override is durable across restarts and is unaffected when you change the global TLD. Prefer `.test` or a vanity label like `.portal`; avoid `.local` (it collides with macOS mDNS/Bonjour).\n\n### LAN sharing\n\nWhen LAN sharing is enabled (Settings \u2192 Network), Supbuddy binds Caddy to `0.0.0.0` instead of `127.0.0.1` and runs an mDNS responder so other machines on your local network can reach your dev servers via `<hostname>.local`. Useful for testing on your phone or another laptop without setting up Tailscale.\n\n**`.local` TLD + LAN sharing:** macOS reserves the `.local` namespace for Bonjour/mDNS (RFC 6762), and macOS's TCP stack short-circuits self-connections to your own LAN IP via the loopback path *without consulting `pf`*, so the obvious \"redirect lo0 \u2192 my LAN IP\" trick can't fix it. Supbuddy's mDNS responder works around this by **ignoring queries that originate from this machine**, letting the OS resolver fall through to `/etc/resolver/<project-domain>` (which routes to `127.0.0.1` where Caddy listens). Other LAN devices still get answered with the LAN IP and reach you normally. The net result: `.local` works correctly both on this machine and on other LAN devices, with no manual configuration. If you previously worked around this by switching to `.test`, you can switch back.\n\nIf `studio.<project>.local` (or similar) doesn't load: open the Configure tab. A red banner will tell you whether it's a DNS, port-forwarding, or mDNS-race issue, with the specific recovery action.\n\n### Tailscale\n\nIf you have Tailscale installed and a Tailscale API key configured in Settings, Supbuddy can push split-DNS routes to your tailnet so any device on your tailnet resolves your Supbuddy domains. Optional, off by default.\n\n## Monorepo support\n\nSupbuddy auto-detects these monorepo layouts when scanning a project root:\n\n- Turborepo (presence of `turbo.json`)\n- pnpm workspaces (`pnpm-workspace.yaml`)\n- npm/yarn workspaces (`workspaces` field in root `package.json`)\n- Common folder layouts: `apps/*`, `packages/*`, `services/*`, `sites/*`\n\nEach detected app gets its own subdomain. Supabase is searched for in the project root and these subdirectories: `apps/*`, `packages/*`, `services/*`, `sites/*`, `db/`, `db/*`, `database/`, `database/*`, `packages/backend`, `packages/db`, `packages/database`.\n\n### Detected app frameworks\n\nSupbuddy picks an app's framework from **evidence, not table position**. It collects every known framework dependency in the package's `package.json` and takes the one whose `dev`/`start` script actually runs it \u2014 a package that merely depends on `next` for types is not a Next app, and a package whose scripts run none of them is not listed as an app at all. When two candidates both match, a fixed order breaks the tie, and that order puts **meta-frameworks before the bundlers they sit on**: SvelteKit and Remix-on-Vite both list `vite` as a direct devDependency, so a `\"dev\": \"vite dev\"` script resolves to SvelteKit rather than handing the app `VITE_` variables it never reads.\n\nPort detection then takes the first of: an explicit `-p`/`--port` in the dev/start script, a `PORT=` prefix in that script, a per-framework config file (`vite.config.*` / `svelte.config.*` for Vite and SvelteKit, `astro.config.*`, `nuxt.config.*`), then \u2014 for a meta-framework whose dev server *is* Vite \u2014 `vite.config.*`, and finally the framework default below.\n\n| Framework dependency | Detected as | Default port |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| `next` | `next` | 3000 |\n| `vite` | `vite` | 5173 |\n| `@sveltejs/kit` | `sveltekit` | 5173 |\n| `astro` | `astro` | 4321 |\n| `nuxt`, `nuxt3` | `nuxt` | 3000 |\n| `@remix-run/dev`, `@remix-run/serve` | `remix` | **5173** when `vite` is a direct dependency (a `remix vite:dev` app binds Vite's port), otherwise 3000 |\n| `@angular/core` | `node` | 4200 |\n| `@nestjs/core` | `node` | 3000 |\n| `express`, `fastify`, `koa`, `hono`, `@hono/node-server`, `elysia`, `polka`, `tinyhttp` | `node` | none (must be explicit in dev script) |\n\nSvelteKit, Astro, Nuxt and Remix are detected **as themselves**. Earlier versions reported SvelteKit and Remix as `vite` and let Astro and Nuxt fall through to `node`; the label is what decides the env-var prefix and the env file in the next section, so those apps were being handed variables they could not read. SvelteKit and Remix-on-Vite still get Vite's port and Vite's `server.allowedHosts` audit, because those follow the dev server rather than the label.\n\n### Framework env vars: prefix and file\n\nAn app only sees an environment variable if it is spelled with that framework's public prefix **and** written into the file that framework loads. Supbuddy keeps one table for both, and it drives the Connect panel, the connection-drift warning, and `apply_env`:\n\n| Detected as | Public prefix | Env file |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| `next` | `NEXT_PUBLIC_` | `.env.local` |\n| `vite` | `VITE_` | `.env.local` |\n| `sveltekit` | `PUBLIC_` | `.env.local` |\n| `astro` | `PUBLIC_` | `.env` |\n| `nuxt` | `NUXT_PUBLIC_` | `.env` |\n| `remix` | none | `.env` |\n| `react`, `node`, `unknown`, or undetected | none | `.env.local` |\n\nRemix having no prefix is the right answer rather than a gap: Remix hands values to the client through its loaders (the `window.ENV` pattern), not through a build-time prefix.\n\nThis table is also what the Connect panel's **Prefix** dropdown starts from, so the panel and the drift warning cannot disagree about your app: picking a prefix by hand is an override, not the default.\n\nThe **Env file** column is what Supbuddy creates when the app has no env file yet. When one already exists it is preferred over creating another: the framework's own file wins if present, otherwise any env target already in that folder \u2014 and an existing `.env.local` counts as a target for every framework, so an Astro or Nuxt app that already keeps one is not moved to `.env`. Files that look like backups (`.bak`, dated snapshots) or non-local overrides (`.env.production`, `.env.local.live`) are never write targets.\n\nTwo values are deliberately **never** prefixed, whatever the framework: `DATABASE_URL` and the Supabase service-role key. Both are server-only and must not reach a client bundle.\n\nSupbuddy also mirrors what your file already spells. If `SUPABASE_URL`, `SUPABASE_ANON_KEY` or `SUPABASE_STUDIO_URL` is present both bare and prefixed (including `EXPO_PUBLIC_`, which the scanner never emits on its own), both spellings are updated, so neither goes stale.\n\n### Server Actions allowedOrigins audit\n\nFor Next.js apps, Supbuddy reads your `next.config.{ts,mts,js,mjs,cjs}` and extracts the hosts in `experimental.serverActions.allowedOrigins`. If a mapped subdomain is missing from that list, the project's **warnings chip** flags `next.config: N origins missing`; Server Action POSTs through Supbuddy mappings would 403 otherwise. Open the **Apps** tab (the chip's \"open apps\" jump) where the affected app shows the warning with a **Fix** button.\n\nThe Fix button opens a dialog with a paste-ready snippet and an **Apply\u2026** button: click it to see a unified diff of the change Supbuddy will make to your `next.config`, then **Confirm & write** to apply it. Supbuddy handles the four common config shapes (existing `allowedOrigins` array, existing `serverActions` block without it, existing `experimental` block without `serverActions`, or no `experimental` at all). The edit is strictly additive: existing array entries are kept verbatim, including spreads (`...devHosts`), identifiers and comments, and only the missing origins are appended.\n\nIf `allowedOrigins` (or `serverActions`, or `experimental`) is set to something other than a plain array/object literal \u2014 an identifier, a function call, a ternary, `[...] as string[]` \u2014 Supbuddy **refuses to patch** rather than guess, and the dialog says so along with the exact origins to add. This is deliberate: a wrong rewrite would produce a duplicate key (TypeScript `TS1117`) that breaks your build long after the fact, so the fallback is the copyable snippet. Use it and edit by hand.\n\nAfter write, Supbuddy rescans the project so the warning disappears immediately. Restart your dev server for the change to take effect; Next.js does not hot-reload `next.config`. Over MCP the same audit is exposed as `preview_next_origins` / `apply_next_origins`; both return `ok: false` with an explanation in the refusal case, and `apply_next_origins` never writes a file it cannot verify.\n\n### Next.js cross-origin dev requests (allowedDevOrigins)\n\nSupbuddy proxies your dev server but **passes the browser's real `Origin` header through** (it no longer rewrites `Origin` to the upstream address). That's required so Server Actions and other origin checks see the actual page origin \u2014 but it means **Next.js 15.3+ and 16** dev servers, which validate cross-origin dev requests against `allowedDevOrigins` (defaulting to `localhost`), now treat a request arriving on a Supbuddy domain (or a Thin project's `127.0.0.N` loopback IP) as cross-origin and can reject it. Add your Supbuddy domain to `allowedDevOrigins` in `next.config`:\n\n```js\n// next.config.js\nmodule.exports = {\n  allowedDevOrigins: ['web.myproject.test'],\n}\n```\n\nRestart the dev server afterward; Next.js does not hot-reload `next.config`. This is separate from `experimental.serverActions.allowedOrigins` (the Server Actions CSRF list above) \u2014 15.3+/16 may need both.\n\n### Vite allowedHosts audit\n\nFor Vite apps, Supbuddy reads your `vite.config.{ts,mts,cts,js,mjs,cjs}` and extracts `server.allowedHosts`. If a mapped host isn't covered, the **warnings chip** flags `vite: N hosts blocked`; Vite's dev server otherwise rejects proxied requests for unknown hosts with `Blocked request. This host (\"\u2026\") is not allowed.` (403). A `.your-project.local` entry counts as covering every subdomain, so an existing wildcard suffix doesn't trigger a false warning.\n\nLike the Next.js audit, the affected app's **Fix** button on the **Apps** tab opens a dialog with a paste-ready snippet and an **Apply\u2026** button that previews a unified diff and writes `server.allowedHosts` into your `vite.config` (handling an existing `allowedHosts` array, an existing `server` block without it, or no `server` block at all; `allowedHosts: true` is left untouched). The edit is strictly additive \u2014 existing entries, spreads and comments are kept verbatim and only missing hosts are appended \u2014 and, exactly as with the Next.js audit, Supbuddy **refuses to patch** when `allowedHosts` or `server` is set to anything other than a plain array/object literal, pointing you at the snippet instead of risking a duplicate-key build break. After write, Supbuddy rescans so the warning clears. Restart your dev server for the change to take effect; Vite does not hot-reload `vite.config`.\n\n## Project readiness (can it run?)\n\nRegistering a project gets it a domain, a certificate and a scripts list. None of that makes it *run*. Two things stop it, and **readiness** is the one check that covers both:\n\n- **Dependencies aren't installed**, or the lockfile has moved on since the last install. Before this check the way you found out was clicking Start on a dev script and reading its `exit 127` several steps downstream of the cause.\n- **Environment variables are missing or stale** \u2014 Supbuddy's own Supabase/app-URL values aren't in the file that app's framework actually loads, or keys the project's own `.env.example` declares aren't set anywhere.\n\nEvery finding carries a severity (`error` / `warning` / `info`), a category (`deps` / `env` / `toolchain`), evidence, and \u2014 when Supbuddy can genuinely fix it \u2014 a **fix descriptor**: the name of a real tool plus the arguments to call it with. The project card's button, `supbuddy ready --fix` and an agent's MCP call all render that same descriptor, so the three cannot drift and all three run the right package manager *for this project*. A finding with **no** fix is advisory on purpose: either Supbuddy has no value to supply (a third-party secret \u2014 it will name `STRIPE_SECRET_KEY`, it will never invent one), or it refuses to guess (nothing identifies a package manager, or that manager isn't installed, in which case an install would only exit 127).\n\n**Evidence carries names and verdicts, never values.** A readiness report reaches the MCP audit log, CLI stdout and the UI at once, so a finding names the key and the file \u2014 project-relative \u2014 and stops there. No secret, no home directory, no `KEY=value`.\n\nSupbuddy **never installs anything on its own**. Readiness reports; a person or an agent decides.\n\n### Variables your code reads that nothing sets\n\nReadiness also **reads your source** \u2014 `process.env.KEY`, `process.env['KEY']`, `import.meta.env.KEY`, `Deno.env.get('KEY')` \u2014 and names the keys that no env file sets and no example file declares. It looks project-wide, so a monorepo that keeps one `.env` at the root and loads it with `dotenv-cli` isn't reported wholesale.\n\nThis is the one check that **infers** rather than compares, so it is fenced in on every side:\n\n- Severity is **always `info`**. It can never make a project \"not ready\", and it is kept out of the card's issues counter \u2014 it appears in the readiness banner, toned down, and nowhere that counts problems.\n- There is **no fix**. Supbuddy has no value for `RESEND_API_KEY` and will not invent one.\n- Every key carries the **first `file:line` that reads it**, so a false positive is dismissible on sight instead of being a claim about your repo you'd have to go audit. The matched line itself is never quoted: one line of source can carry a credential (`process.env.DATABASE_URL ?? 'postgres://user:pw@host/db'`).\n- The finding says in its own words that it is inferred and can be wrong. A key behind a flag you never enable, one your CI supplies, one inside a code sample \u2014 from the outside all three look exactly like a variable you forgot.\n\nWhere it doesn't look: anything your `.gitignore` excludes, plus `node_modules`, `dist`, `build`, `.next`, `.nuxt`, `.svelte-kit`, `coverage` and `.git` \u2014 and your **tests and build configs** (`*.test.*`, `*.spec.*`, `__tests__/`, `test/`, `tests/`, `*.config.*`), because a variable only a test or a bundler reads isn't something you have to set to run the app. **Comments are not code**: a key that only appears in a comment is not reported, so prose explaining `process.env.SOMETHING` doesn't become a finding about a variable that doesn't exist.\n\nWhat it never reports: `NODE_ENV`, `PORT`, `CI`, `HOME`, `PATH`, `TZ`, `npm_*`, `VERCEL_*`, `XDG_*`, `NEXT_RUNTIME`, Vite's own `MODE` / `DEV` / `PROD` / `SSR` / `BASE_URL`, and the names your OS or terminal supplies \u2014 `APPDATA`, `LOCALAPPDATA`, `FORCE_COLOR`, `NO_COLOR`, `COLORTERM`, `TERM`, `SHELL`, `EDITOR`, `SUDO_ASKPASS`. The platform's variables, not yours. (`GH_TOKEN` is *not* on that list: a project that reads it may genuinely need you to provide it.)\n\n**A scan that hits its limits reports nothing at all.** The walk is capped at 2000 files for the whole project and 1 MiB per file; exceeding either yields **no** referenced-variable findings rather than the subset it managed to read. A truncated list under that heading reads exactly like a complete one \u2014 you'd set the three keys it named and trust the silence about the rest.\n\n### Install roots: one per lockfile, not one per app\n\nThe unit of install is the directory that owns a lockfile. In a pnpm/yarn/npm workspace that is one directory \u2014 the repo root \u2014 and a single install covers every app and every shared package in it, so a monorepo with five apps has **one** install root (`\"\"`, the project root). An app becomes its own install root only when it owns its own lockfile; then it gets a second root and its own install.\n\nSupbuddy picks the package manager by strict precedence, first match wins:\n\n| # | Signal | Result |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| 1 | `packageManager` field in that directory's `package.json` | its name (and version) |\n| 2 | `pnpm-lock.yaml` | pnpm |\n| 3 | `bun.lockb` or `bun.lock` | bun |\n| 4 | `yarn.lock` | yarn |\n| 5 | `package-lock.json` or `npm-shrinkwrap.json` | npm |\n| 6 | none of the above | **undetermined** \u2014 never a silent `npm` |\n\nCase 6 is a real answer, not a gap: running `npm install` in what is actually a pnpm repo drops a stray `package-lock.json` into your working tree, which then gets committed and mis-trains every detector that reads it afterwards. So a root with no signal gets no install command and no install button \u2014 the finding says so in words instead.\n\nWhether an install has *happened* is read from the manager's own receipt, never from the presence of `node_modules`:\n\n| Manager | Receipt |\n| --- | --- |\n| pnpm | `node_modules/.modules.yaml` |\n| npm | `node_modules/.package-lock.json` |\n| yarn (node-modules linker) | `node_modules/.yarn-state.yml` (Yarn 1 falls back to `node_modules/.yarn-integrity`) |\n| yarn (PnP) | `.yarn/install-state.gz` |\n| bun | `node_modules/.bun-tag`, else `node_modules` itself |\n\nA receipt older than the lockfile is **stale** (a warning: the project runs, it just no longer matches the repo). No receipt is **not installed**. A receipt Supbuddy cannot read is **unknown**, which produces *no finding at all* \u2014 receipt filenames drift between manager versions, and a reinstall button in front of a user whose project is fine is worse than saying nothing. **Yarn PnP projects have no `node_modules` and are correctly installed**; they are read from `.yarn/install-state.gz`, so they are never reported as broken.\n\n### What `packageManager` on a project now means\n\n`Project.packageManager` \u2014 the value `supbuddy project ls` prints and `get_project` / `list_projects` return \u2014 comes from that one detector now, which changes two things:\n\n- It can read **`bun`**.\n- It is **absent** for a project where nothing identifies a manager. Older builds always printed `npm` there, because the old detector's fallback was a guess rather than an observation. A project with no lockfile and no `packageManager` field therefore now shows no package-manager chip at all instead of a confident wrong one.\n\n**Running a script uses that same answer.** Starting or restarting a script \u2014 from the Scripts tab, from `supbuddy`, or over MCP \u2014 resolves the manager from the project's recorded value, falling back to what the project root shows. If nothing identifies one, **all three refuse and spawn nothing**, naming the cause ( no `packageManager` field, no lockfile ) and the two ways out: add the field, or install once so a lockfile exists, then rescan the project. Earlier builds quietly ran `npm run <script>` in that case, so one repo could be described as npm by the Scripts tab and as undetermined by `supbuddy ready` at the same time.\n\n**Pushing to the cloud uses it too.** The dev command Supbuddy hands each app in a cloud box comes from that same answer \u2014 the app's own manager when it owns a lockfile, otherwise the workspace root's, which is what installs every member of a pnpm or yarn monorepo. An app for which nothing identifies a manager is reported as **not running in the cloud, with the reason**, rather than started under a guessed `npm run dev`: the wrong manager resolves a different dependency tree, and npm would drop a stray `package-lock.json` into a workspace that syncs straight back to your machine. The box's own dependency install reads the same lockfile names in the same order, so a repo locked by `bun.lock` (the only lockfile bun 1.2 and later writes) or by `npm-shrinkwrap.json` is installed like any other instead of being skipped and left to fail on its first app start.\n\n### Installing is a job, not a call\n\nA cold install on a monorepo outlives every timeout on the path between you and the worker, so starting one **returns immediately** with a job (`{ id, state: \"running\", argv, rootPath }`) and the output arrives as a stream. Completion is a state transition you can watch or poll; cancellation is a first-class operation.\n\n- **At most one install per install root.** A second request for a root that is already installing hands back the *same* job rather than starting a duplicate \u2014 two package managers writing one `node_modules` is a corrupted store, not a slow install. Different roots of one project are independent directories and run at the same time.\n- A **cancelled** install is reported as `cancelled`, never `success`, even if the child happened to exit 0: it may have been halfway through writing the store. Treat the dependencies as not installed and run it again.\n- Deleting a project **stops** the installs still running for it, so nothing keeps writing into a folder you just told Supbuddy to forget.\n- **And its dev servers.** Deleting a project \u2014 from the app, from `supbuddy`, or via `delete_project` over MCP \u2014 stops every script it had running, for the same reason plus one more: once the project is gone there is no row left to press Stop on, so a survivor holds its port against whatever you register next with nothing in the UI able to reach it. Deleting with **keep data** still stops them; that option preserves the project's data, not a process writing into it.\n\n### On the project card\n\nAn unready project shows a **readiness banner** above the card's tabs: one bordered row per finding, toned by severity, with the finding's detail and its evidence underneath. Where the finding has a fix, the row carries a button whose words come from the descriptor \u2014 a yarn project reads **Run yarn install**, a bun project **Run bun install** \u2014 and hovering an install button shows the literal command it will run. An env finding's button runs the same `apply_env` merge described under *MCP tool surface*: it writes into the file the framework loads, backing the original up first.\n\nWhile an install runs, the banner shows a live tail of its output (the same ANSI rendering as the Scripts tab) and a **Cancel** button, and every fix button on that project is disabled \u2014 including when the install was started from the CLI or by an agent, since all three surfaces drive the same job. Readiness findings also feed the header's **issues counter** and its popover, with the same `\u2192 open {tab}` jump as every other issue.\n\n**A failed install is stated, not swallowed.** An install that exits non-zero does not throw anywhere \u2014 the job simply reaches `failed` \u2014 so the banner would otherwise just re-render the same \"dependencies are not installed\" row with the output gone, which reads as a button that did nothing. Instead the banner shows **Install failed (exit code N)** and keeps the tail of that run underneath it, so the lines that explain the failure are still on screen when you need them. It persists until you **Dismiss** it or start another install, and it says only what happened and how it ended \u2014 Supbuddy does not guess at a cause. A run killed by a signal or one that never started has no exit code to name and carries the runner's own error text instead. An install you **cancelled** is never shown as a failure.\n\nA ready project shows no banner. The card's status dot already carries the positive case.\n\n### One line in `doctor`\n\n`supbuddy doctor` (and the app's **System health** panel) carries a single aggregate warning \u2014 `projects-not-ready` \u2014 when registered projects wouldn't run: *\"3 project(s) are not ready to run\"*, with the project **names** as evidence and nothing else. That is deliberate. Per-project detail belongs on the card and in `supbuddy ready`, which can name the install root, the key and the file; a machine with twenty projects must still get a report about the *machine*. The line is **advisory**: doctor stages no install and offers no repair for it \u2014 it exists to send you to the surface that can explain it. A project whose folder has been deleted is skipped rather than reported forever on the strength of a leftover record, and a project Supbuddy could not read is listed as `(could not be scanned)` rather than quietly counted as healthy.\n\n## MCP setup (AI agents)\n\nSupbuddy ships a built-in MCP server on `http://127.0.0.1:9877/mcp` with static Bearer-token auth. Five clients have one-click install; any other MCP-compatible tool can be configured manually with the same URL + token.\n\nOpen **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Add client**, pick the client kind, and Supbuddy generates a token, edits the client's config file, and backs up the original (`<file>.supbuddy-backup` next to it). If the install can't complete it surfaces an error toast rather than stalling. The same client-management surface (**Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Clients**: install, edit scopes, set-primary, rotate token, revoke) drives each client from the app.\n\n### Auto-install paths\n\n| Client | Config file | Transport |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Claude Code | `~/.claude.json` (user) or `<project>/.mcp.json` (project) | HTTP |\n| Claude Desktop | `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` | stdio shim via `npx -y @supbuddy/mcp@latest` |\n| Cursor | `~/.cursor/mcp.json` (user) or `<project>/.cursor/mcp.json` (project) | HTTP |\n| Codex CLI | `~/.codex/config.toml` (adds an `[mcp_servers.supbuddy]` block) | HTTP |\n| Windsurf | `~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json` | HTTP |\n\n### MCP tool surface\n\nThe MCP server has full read and write access:\n\n- Read tools (`list_mappings`, `list_projects`, `get_health`, `get_compose_status`, `list_pending_vm_migrations`, etc.), with env values and request bodies included.\n- `get_client_capabilities` and `request_scope_elevation` (scope discovery + user-approved grant).\n- `read_env_file`, `tail_request_logs`, `watch_audit_log`.\n- Write tools: `create_mapping`, `delete_mapping` (soft-delete), `register_project`, `update_project`, `set_supabase_config_path`, `start_proxy`, `start_supabase`, `stop_supabase`, `restart_supabase`, `switch_isolation`, `migrate_vm_to_thin`, `finish_vm_migration`, `start_compose`, `stop_compose`, `restart_compose`, `scaffold_addons`, `seed_addons`, `write_env_file`, `copy_env_var`, `write_supabase_config`.\n- Scripts tools (`list_scripts`, `start_script`, `stop_script`, `restart_script`, `bookmark_script`, `tail_script_logs`); see *Scripts MCP tools* below.\n- Project readiness (see *Project readiness* above): `get_project_readiness` ( `{ project }` , scope `read`) reports whether each install root's dependencies are installed and whether the app's env vars are present and current. It spawns nothing and writes nothing, so it is safe to poll. Every actionable finding carries a `fix` \u2014 `{ tool, args, label, command }` naming a real tool call \u2014 which you pass straight to that tool: `install_dependencies` for a missing or stale install, `apply_env` for connection-env drift. Do **not** compose your own remedy and do not run a package-manager command directly; the descriptor already carries the right manager for that project. `install_dependencies` ( `{ project, root? }` , scope `projects`) is **destructive**, so under the default client it returns a plan naming the exact argv and cwd; applying it **starts a job and returns immediately** with an `InstallJob`, never a finished install. Follow it with `tail_install_log` ( `{ job_id }` , scope `read`), which replays what the job already printed and then streams to completion, or stop it with `cancel_install` ( `{ job_id }` , scope `projects`). A second `install_dependencies` for a root that is already installing returns the **same** job rather than starting a duplicate. It refuses, having spawned nothing, when no lockfile or `packageManager` field identifies a manager and when that manager's binary isn't on Supbuddy's PATH.\n- Extended Supabase tools: `init_supabase`, `validate_supabase_config`, `list_supabase_backups`, `restore_supabase_backup`, `cancel_supabase_start`, `force_recreate_supabase`, `restart_supabase_container`, `get_supabase_analytics`, `set_supabase_analytics`.\n- Bundle (export/import a project's full config): `export_bundle`, `import_bundle`, `validate_bundle`.\n- Supbuddy Cloud (opt-in, per-project): `cloud_sign_in`, `push_to_cloud`, `get_cloud_status`, `preview_cloud_env`, `cloud_teardown`, plus live sync (`cloud_sync_start`, `cloud_sync_status`, `cloud_sync_stop`) \u2014 push a project (with its Supabase schema + data) to a hosted cloud stack and control it. The `cloud` link (`{ projectId, stackId, pushedAt, url }`) also appears on `get_project` / `list_projects`, so any client sees which projects are in the cloud. `get_cloud_status` also returns a `box` summary \u2014 what the stack's box last reported doing, as a phase plus a per-unit state list, with `report_at` so the caller can age it. It is deliberately structural: the box's free-text detail is NOT included, because that text is written by whatever runs inside the box and this value reaches an agent's context. Absent (`null`) when the stack has never reported or runs an image with no reporter.\n\n  `preview_cloud_env` answers what a project's env would MEAN in a cloud box, before anything is pushed. Values are classified, never uniformly substituted \u2014 a blanket rewrite silently repoints a project at a different backend, and a blanket copy points a cloud box at a database on somebody's laptop. Each variable comes back as **local** (`127.0.0.1`, a `.local` host, a LAN address \u2014 meaningless inside a box), **remote** (correct as-is in both places), **secret**, or **plain**, each with a reason in plain words, plus `needs_attention` \u2014 the count of local ones, the only number that implies an action. It is read-only and changes nothing. **Secret values are never returned** \u2014 not masked, not truncated, omitted: a masked secret is still a decision to send it somewhere, and a preview has no use for the value.\n- Connection / env-target workflow: `preview_connection`, `get_env_targets`, `diff_env`, `apply_env`, `write_connection`, `test_connection`, `dismiss_connection_drift`. **`apply_env` is the one that connects an app**: it merges into the file the framework loads (`.env.local` for Next/Vite/SvelteKit, `.env` for Astro/Nuxt/Remix \u2014 see *Framework env vars*), backs it up first, and clears the connection-drift warning. `write_connection` writes a **reference** `<app>/.env.supbuddy` that no framework auto-loads; it never satisfies the app and never clears that warning. Both compute the same values with the app's framework prefix.\n- Host & network tools: bundled-runtime trust (`get_trust_status`, `install_trust`, `remove_trust`, `detect_trust_tools`, `test_trust`), Tailscale (`get_tailscale_status`, `set_tailscale_key`, `remove_tailscale_key`, `test_tailscale`), DNS (`get_dns_status`), CA (`uninstall_ca`), and port-forwarding (`get_port_forwarding_status`, `set_port_forwarding`, `reload_port_forwarding`). Two port-forwarding fields mean different things and are reported separately: `enabled` is what you asked for, `enforced` is whether the `443 \u2192 8443` redirect is actually live \u2014 probed, not remembered. `enforced` is `null` whenever the probe would be meaningless \u2014 the proxy is stopped, or nothing is listening on the HTTPS port \u2014 and `null` means *unknown*, never a fault: it raises no finding, no degraded flag and no password prompt. `get_proxy_status` and `get_health` both carry the same distinction as `portForwardingEnabled` and `portForwardingEnforced`, and report `networkingDegraded: true` when the two disagree, because a redirect that is switched on and not working is an outage rather than a setting. The live probe is decisive in both directions: it overrides a stored flag that claims health, and it also clears one left behind by an abandoned repair once the redirect is confirmed working. `reload_port_forwarding` re-applies the rules with a sudo prompt and returns `ok` only once a fresh probe confirms 443 answers \u2014 a successful `pfctl` and a working redirect are not the same claim. `set_port_forwarding` deliberately returns **no `ok` field at all**: the elevation runs on the host and resolves after the tool has already replied, so it reports `requested` plus `confirmed: false` and points you at `get_port_forwarding_status`. It can still fail afterwards \u2014 a declined prompt, a timeout, or a ruleset that fails validation \u2014 and a success token there would be a guess, not an observation.\n- `tail_service_logs`: streams a Compose/add-on service's container logs over SSE (like `tail_request_logs` but for container stdout/stderr).\n- `watch_supabase`: streams a project's live Supabase start/stop/restart progress over SSE: operation status, image-pull/service snapshots, and (for VM projects) raw log lines. Backs `supbuddy supabase start --follow`.\n- System doctor: `doctor` (scope `read`) runs the read-only health & drift scan and returns a report of findings (each with a `checkId`, severity, evidence, and whether it's `fixable`) \u2014 it mutates nothing. `doctor_fix` ( `{ check_ids: [...] }` ) applies the opt-in repairs for those checks; it's **system-scoped and confirm-gated** (a modal, exactly like `uninstall_ca`), so a read-scoped client can't trigger a fix and an agent can't silently run a destructive repair. Backs `supbuddy doctor` / `doctor --fix` (see *System doctor*).\n- System reset: `system_wipe` ( `{ tier: \"soft\" | \"deep\" }` , scope `system`) runs the tiered reset described under *System reset*. It is gated **twice**: it always returns a plan first \u2014 even for `auto_apply` clients \u2014 whose `side_effects` are the literal manifest the wipe will execute, and the subsequent `apply` still blocks on a user confirmation modal. `tier: \"full\"` is **rejected**: it deletes the credentials the caller is authenticating with, and its final steps (uninstalling the service, removing the app-data directory) can't run inside the daemon \u2014 run `supbuddy reset --tier=full` in a terminal instead.\n- Multiple MCP clients can connect simultaneously. The same MCP-HTTP surface backs the headless **CLI** (see *Command-line interface* below).\n\n### Scopes: discovery & self-service elevation\n\nEach MCP client holds a set of **scopes** (`read`, `log_tail`, `mappings`, `projects`, `services`, `config`, `system`, `apply`) chosen when it's added. A tool call that needs a scope the client lacks fails with `scope_denied`, whose payload now carries a `user_message` and `details.remediation` pointing at the fix.\n\n- `get_client_capabilities` ( `{ tool? }` ) returns the calling client's `granted_scopes` and `available_scopes`. Pass a `tool` name to get `{ required_scope, required_feature, can_call, reason? }` so an agent can pre-flight a call instead of probing by hitting `scope_denied`.\n- `request_scope_elevation` ( `{ scopes: [...] }` ) asks the **user** to grant the named scopes. Supbuddy shows a blocking approval dialog; on approval the scopes are added to the client. Already-granted scopes short-circuit without a prompt.\n\nYou can also review and edit any client's scopes from the GUI: **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Clients** lists each client's granted scopes inline and exposes a **Scopes** button that opens the same scope editor used when adding a client.\n\n### Registering a project via MCP\n\n`register_project` takes a `root_path` (required), an optional `label`, `auto_scan` (default `true`), and an optional `isolation` (`'thin'` or `'host'`). It registers the project the same way the GUI's \"Add project\" flow does:\n\n- Derives a base domain as `<slug>.<defaultTld>` from the label (or the folder name), e.g. `staffhub.test`.\n- Records both the project `path` and `rootPath` so the project is visible to the proxy, scans, and file tools alike.\n- Scans the folder (unless `auto_scan: false`) for apps, services, scripts, and package manager.\n- Creates per-app subdomain mappings from the discovered apps (e.g. `site.staffhub.test \u2192 :3400`), derives the host service subdomains (`api.`, `studio.`, \u2026), and reloads Caddy.\n- **Defaults to `thin` isolation**: the project gets its own loopback IP so its dev servers keep canonical ports (`:3000`) with no cross-project collisions \u2014 run them with `supbuddy run -- <dev command>`.\n\nA project lands on `host` in exactly three cases:\n\n1. You passed `isolation: 'host'`, or **Settings \u2192 Default isolation** is host. (`isolation: 'thin'` forces thin and skips the detection below.)\n2. The project's Supabase stack is **already running on the host outside Supbuddy** \u2014 switching would rewrite its `config.toml` ports and orphan that stack, so registration keeps it on host.\n3. Thin was **attempted and failed** \u2014 most often because creating the project's `127.0.0.N` loopback alias needs sudo and the prompt was dismissed. The project is left on host with `isolationError` set.\n\nCase 3 is a **fallback, not a deliberate outcome**: retry it with `switch_isolation { target_mode: 'thin' }` and then `apply` the plan that stages (see *Plan / apply for destructive tools*).\n\nThe response includes an `isolation_note` explaining which mode was chosen and why \u2014 agents should read it instead of assuming.\n\n### Switching isolation over MCP\n\n`switch_isolation` ( `{ project_id, target_mode: 'host' | 'thin', auto_start? }` ) moves an existing project between **host** and **thin** mode. It is a destructive tool, so unless the client has auto-apply it **stages a plan** rather than switching \u2014 call `apply` with the `plan_id` to execute it (see *Plan / apply for destructive tools*). Execution then runs in the background and returns `{ started: true }`; poll `get_project` (`isolation`, and `loopbackIp` for thin) for the current mode. To-thin writes the per-project port block and `project_id` into `supabase/config.toml` and (unless `auto_start: false`) starts Supabase; to-host restores the original `config.toml` and stops that project's stack.\n\nA project can also be patched with `update_project`: its `patch` accepts `name`, `enabled`, `domain`, and `isolation` (it intentionally does **not** accept `path`/`rootPath`). Note that patching `isolation` only flips the flag; use `switch_isolation` to actually provision/tear down the port assignment.\n\n### Legacy VM migration over MCP\n\nFor projects still on the retired Isolated (VM) mode, three tools handle the one-way migration to Thin:\n\n- `list_pending_vm_migrations` (read): lists all projects still on the legacy VM mode, with their current `vmState` and migration readiness.\n- `migrate_vm_to_thin` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): starts the guided data-safe migration. It dumps Postgres data from the VM, starts a fresh Thin stack, restores the dump, and row-count-verifies before signalling completion. Returns `{ started: true }`; poll `get_project` (`migrationState`) for progress.\n- `finish_vm_migration` ( `{ project_id }` ) (write): tears down the old VM container after verification passes. Errors if called before the verify step completes.\n\n### Repointing a project's Supabase config\n\n`set_supabase_config_path` ( `{ project_id, supabase_path }` ) switches which `supabase/config.toml` a project uses, for monorepos that carry more than one (e.g. a repo-root config and an app-level one). `supabase_path` is the project-relative directory **containing** the `supabase/` folder (`\".\"` for the repo root, e.g. `\"apps/getnightowls\"`). It persists the path, re-derives `supabaseProjectId` from the new config, and re-scans services. For a **Thin** project it also re-writes that project's port block into the newly pointed config (reported under `thin_supabase_block`), since the file it points at declares the stock ports. The previous stack's Docker volume is **left intact** (not deleted), so the switch is reversible; the response reports it under `orphaned_previous_stack`.\n\n### Moving a secret between env files\n\n`copy_env_var` ( `{ source_path, source_key, target_path, target_key? }` ) relocates a single variable from one env file to another (e.g. a value put in an app's `.env.local` that the stack actually injects from the repo-root `.env.local`). The value is read and written entirely inside the worker (it **never crosses the MCP boundary** and never appears in the audit log), so an agent can move a secret without it being printed. `target_key` defaults to `source_key`.\n\n### Plan / apply for destructive tools\n\nTools that delete or mutate state (`delete_mapping`, `delete_project`, `switch_isolation`, `write_env_file`, etc.) return a *plan* with a preview instead of a result. The MCP client (or you, in the Activity panel) explicitly calls `apply` with the `plan_id` to execute; `cancel_plan` discards it. Plans expire after 5 minutes if not applied. Soft-deletes go to the Trash and are recoverable for 7 days. A client with **auto-apply** skips staging and executes directly \u2014 except `system_wipe`, which always stages.\n\nA staged plan carries two fields an agent should act on:\n\n- **`can_apply: true`** \u2014 the plan is applyable. It is on every pending plan, because a plan only exists once scope, argument validation and rate limiting have all passed. In particular it outranks `required_feature`, which is **declarative metadata that nothing enforces** \u2014 never read that field as a denial.\n- **`__apply_via`** \u2014 the literal next call: `{ tool: 'apply', args: { plan_id } }`. The mirror of `__reversible_via` on completed operations.\n\nThe MCP server states the same contract in its `initialize` instructions, so any client sees it at connect time.\n\n## Add-on Compose services\n\nA project can declare **extra** Docker Compose services that Supbuddy discovers, merges, runs, health-checks, and tails alongside the managed stack: a Redis cache, a worker queue, a search engine, etc. Add-on services run on the host's shared Docker daemon in both `host` and `thin` isolation, with no extra setup needed.\n\n### Declaration files & merge precedence\n\nSupbuddy looks for up to three Compose fragments in the project and merges them, later wins:\n\n1. `docker-compose.yml`: your base Compose file.\n2. `docker-compose.override.yml`: your own override, honored if present (standard Compose convention).\n3. `supbuddy.addons.yml`: Supbuddy-owned add-on fragment.\n\nAll present fragments are passed explicitly, e.g. `docker compose -f docker-compose.yml -f docker-compose.override.yml -f supbuddy.addons.yml --project-name <pinned> \u2026`. The project name is pinned so the same set of containers is addressed every time. Add-on services join the Compose project's default network automatically; no extra network setup is needed for them to reach (or be reached by) the rest of the stack.\n\n### `supbuddy.addons.yml` format\n\nA valid Compose fragment (a standard `services:` map) plus an optional Supbuddy-only `x-supbuddy:` extension block. A plain `docker compose up` ignores `x-supbuddy:`, so the file stays usable without Supbuddy. Today `x-supbuddy` supports a one-shot **seed** step:\n\n```yaml\nservices:\n  redis:\n    image: redis:7-alpine\n    ports: [\"6379:6379\"]\nx-supbuddy:\n  seed:\n    service: redis\n    command: [\"redis-cli\", \"ping\"]   # explicit argv, runs once after services are healthy\n    runOnce: true\n```\n\nThe seed step runs **once** after the add-on services are up and healthy. It's idempotent, keyed by a signature of the seed spec, so it only re-runs if the spec changes (or you force it). It fires automatically on project start, and on demand via the `seed_addons` MCP tool.\n\n### MCP tools\n\n- `scaffold_addons` ( `{ project_id }` ): scope `config`. Creates a starter `supbuddy.addons.yml` if the project doesn't have one. Never clobbers an existing file.\n- `seed_addons` ( `{ project_id, force? }` ): scope `services`. Runs the declared `x-supbuddy.seed` step. Idempotent unless `force: true`.\n- `tail_service_logs` ( `{ project_id, service }` ): scope `log_tail`. Streams a Compose/add-on service's container logs over SSE (like `tail_request_logs`, but for container stdout/stderr).\n- `watch_supabase` ( `{ project_id }` ): scope `log_tail`. Streams a project's live Supabase start/stop/restart progress over SSE: `operation` (status + message), `progress` (image-pull/service snapshots), and `log` (raw lines, VM projects). The stream ends on a terminal status. Backs `supbuddy supabase start --follow`.\n\n### Scripts MCP tools\n\nScripts detected in a project (e.g. `dev`, `build`, `test`) are controllable over MCP:\n\n- `list_scripts` ( `{ project_id }` ): scope `read`. Returns all detected scripts with their current status and bookmark state.\n- `start_script` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `services`. Starts the named script process. Refuses, having spawned nothing, when no `packageManager` field and no lockfile identify a manager for the project \u2014 the same verdict readiness gives that repo.\n- `stop_script` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `services`. Stops the named script process \u2014 the whole process group, so the dev server under the shell goes with it.\n- `restart_script` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `services`. Stops then starts the named script process. Refuses on the same terms as `start_script`.\n- `bookmark_script` ( `{ project_id, script, bookmarked }` ): scope `services`. Pins (`bookmarked: true`) or unpins a script in the Quick Access group.\n- `tail_script_logs` ( `{ project_id, script }` ): scope `log_tail`. Streams the named script's stdout/stderr over SSE.\n\n### `get_compose_status` shape\n\n`get_compose_status` ( `{ project_id }` ) returns per-service status, not just whether Compose is installed:\n\n```json\n{\n  \"project_id\": \"\u2026\",\n  \"compose_installed\": true,\n  \"running\": true,\n  \"services\": [\n    { \"name\": \"redis\", \"status\": \"running\", \"health\": \"healthy\", \"ports\": [\"6379:6379\"], \"image\": \"redis:7-alpine\", \"container_id\": \"\u2026\", \"source\": \"addons\" }\n  ],\n  \"services_source\": \"store-snapshot (updated by docker events, not probed by this call)\"\n}\n```\n\nEach service's `source` is one of `base` | `override` | `addons`, telling you which fragment declared it.\n\nThe service statuses are a **snapshot**, kept current by Supbuddy's docker-events watcher rather than probed when you call \u2014 which is why `services_source` says so. Only `compose_installed` is checked on the call itself. `get_supabase_status` reports the same way, and answers the question its name asks: `running` plus the project's Supabase services, alongside the machine-level `cli_installed` and `docker_running`.\n\n## Per-project AI context sync\n\nEach project has a **Context sync: AI tools** panel, accessible via the **AI Tools** tab in the project card, that writes a project-scoped briefing to disk so AI agents working in that repo see your live mappings, services, and isolation state without having to ask. Files written:\n\n- `.supbuddy/`: `README.md`, `mappings.md`, `services.md`, `project.md`, `mcp.md`, `do-not.md`, `docs.md`. The full live snapshot, regenerated on each sync.\n- `AGENTS.md` and `CLAUDE.md`: a small managed block prepended (or updated in place) telling the agent which project this is and pointing it at `.supbuddy/`.\n- Editor skill files when detected: `.cursor/rules/supbuddy.mdc`, `.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`, `.codeium/windsurf/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.continue/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.github/copilot-instructions.md`, `.idea/supbuddy.md`.\n- `.gitignore` managed block, ignoring: `.supbuddy/meta.json` (volatile sync state), `*.supbuddy-backup-*` (rollback snapshots), and the per-editor skill files that are written **locally** (see scope below). The rest of `.supbuddy/` is intended to be committed; `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, and `.github/copilot-instructions.md` are also kept committable since you may have hand-written content there alongside Supbuddy's managed block.\n\n### Global vs. local scope\n\nThe per-editor skill files are generic Supbuddy-owned pointers (\"this is a Supbuddy project: read `.supbuddy/`, prefer the MCP tools\"). For editors that expose a **Supbuddy-owned global location**, Supbuddy writes that pointer **once, machine-wide** instead of copying it into every project, so it isn't duplicated across all your repos. Project-specific data always stays local in `.supbuddy/`.\n\n- **Claude Code** \u2192 one global skill at `~/.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`. **Cursor** \u2192 `~/.cursor/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`. The global skill self-scopes: it only acts when the working directory has a `.supbuddy/` folder, and resolves the active project from that folder's `meta.json`.\n- All other targets (`windsurf`, `continue`, the `AGENTS.md`/`CLAUDE.md`/Copilot managed blocks, JetBrains) stay **local**: their \"global\" files are shared user files, so Supbuddy won't overwrite them.\n- Each target has a **scope** setting: `auto` (default: global for the Claude/Cursor skills, local for everything else), `global`, `local` (force per-project, useful if you commit the file for teammates), or `off`. A machine-global file is reference-counted across projects and removed automatically once no project uses it (on disabling sync, deleting a project, or switching that target back to local). Note: uninstalling Supbuddy (e.g. dragging it to the Trash on macOS) does **not** auto-remove these global files; delete them manually from `~/.claude/skills/supbuddy/` and `~/.cursor/skills/supbuddy/` if needed.\n- The always-loaded `CLAUDE.md`/`AGENTS.md` managed block stays local as a safety net so agents stay aware even if the on-demand global skill doesn't auto-activate.\n\nSync modes per project:\n\n- **Auto**: Supbuddy regenerates the files whenever mappings, services, or project state change.\n- **Manual only**: files are only written when you click **Sync now** (or use the tray's *Sync AI context for all projects*).\n- **Off**: nothing is written.\n\nThe collapsed header shows an at-a-glance status pill: mode (`auto` / `manual` / `off`), a colored dot for the last sync result, and a relative timestamp. Disabled targets (e.g. an editor whose folder isn't present) appear greyed out in the **Detected targets** list inside the panel.\n\n## Supbuddy Cloud\n\nPush a project \u2014 its Supabase schema **and data** \u2014 to a hosted cloud dev-stack (its own full self-hosted Supabase \u2014 Postgres, Auth, REST, Storage, Realtime, Studio behind a gateway \u2014 as an isolated graph of machines on a per-tenant private network) and control it from the app, the CLI, or MCP. **Opt-in and per-project:** nothing cloud-related appears in a project until you've signed in.\n\n- **Invite-only, for now** \u2014 Supbuddy Cloud is not open signup. You need an invite from the Supbuddy\n  operator; redeeming it creates **your own organisation**, with you as its owner. Until you redeem\n  one, cloud actions answer *\"Supbuddy Cloud is invite-only. Redeem your invite code to create your\n  organisation.\"* Org members cannot issue invites \u2014 only the operator can.\n- **Get started** \u2014 the top bar shows a **Get started with Supbuddy Cloud** strip; sign in (email/password) there. Once signed in it becomes **Open cloud** (opens [cloud.supbuddy.app](https://cloud.supbuddy.app) in your browser). Sign-in state + the Claude connection also live under **Settings \u2192 Cloud**.\n- **Push a project** \u2014 after signing in, each project's \u22EF menu gains **Push to cloud\u2026**. The dialog previews what the project's **env** would mean in the box before you commit: values are classified, never rewritten, and it leads with how many point at *this machine* \u2014 those are meaningless inside a box and are the only ones needing a decision. It never blocks the push (a local-looking value may be exactly what you meant) and changes nothing for you. Secrets are listed by name only; their values are never read out of the file. The push ships the project's stack descriptor + a `pg_dump` of its Supabase data (fail-closed: uploaded to a private bucket via a single-use key, sha-verified, restored *inside* the stack's private network, then deleted). Your **local project stays intact** \u2014 a **\u2601** badge appears on its row; click it (or \u22EF \u2192 **Open in cloud**) to open the stack in the web app.\n- **CLI / MCP** \u2014 the same flow headless: `supbuddy cloud login|push|status|teardown` (password via arg or `SUPBUDDY_CLOUD_PASSWORD`), or the `push_to_cloud` / `get_cloud_status` / `cloud_teardown` / `cloud_sign_in` MCP tools. `project ls` marks pushed projects with \u2601, and `get_project` / `list_projects` carry the `cloud` link. `cloud_teardown` (and the \u22EF teardown) destroy the remote stack and unlink it locally \u2014 routed through the same plan/apply gate as other destructive tools.\n- **Service breadth** \u2014 a self-hosted push provisions the **full** Supabase stack by default. Pass `push_to_cloud`'s `supabase_services: \"minimal\"` (MCP) to opt down to a lean db/auth/REST stack instead.\n- **Idle auto-stop** \u2014 a running cloud stack that reports no activity for ~30 minutes is automatically **stopped** to save cost (its data + config persist; start it again from the web app). A background reaper also reconciles any stack whose machines went missing.\n- **Web console** \u2014 [cloud.supbuddy.app](https://cloud.supbuddy.app) lists your org's stacks; open one for its per-service health, live status, and **start / stop / restart / tear down** controls, plus a **Recent activity** feed of control-plane events. **Push to cloud** in the console provisions a stack from a GitHub `owner/repo` (self-hosted or bring-your-own Supabase; full or minimal service set) \u2014 the code-only path; pushing a local project *with its data* still goes through the desktop app / CLI.\n\n### Public addresses, and renaming them\n\nEach app in a cloud box gets a public address of the form\n`<app>.<project>.<org>.supbuddy.cloud` \u2014 for example `web.site.acme.supbuddy.cloud`. The `<app>` label\ncomes from the runner serving that port, `<project>` and `<org>` from the slugs you choose. One wildcard\ncertificate is issued per project (`*.<project>.<org>.supbuddy.cloud`) and covers every app under it.\n\n- **Renaming is allowed while boxes are running.** It used to be refused, and for a real reason: a box was\n  told its hostnames once, when its machine was created, and that value cannot be changed afterwards \u2014 so a\n  rename left it serving the old names while the new address showed the editor instead of your app. Boxes\n  now *ask* for their hostnames on each heartbeat, so a running box moves itself, usually within a minute.\n- **The old address stops working immediately.** Its DNS records are removed as part of the rename. This is\n  deliberate: leaving them would make the old URL resolve and quietly serve the editor, which is more\n  confusing than a name that has plainly gone away. Links you have already shared will break.\n- **A rename can succeed while an address is still moving.** Certificates are issued by Let's Encrypt, which\n  limits how often the same set of names can be re-issued (5 per week), so renaming back and forth can hit\n  that ceiling. The rename itself still applies \u2014 you will see *\"The name is changed, but 1 box is still\n  moving to it\u2026\"* with the reason, rather than a silent half-rename.\n- **Hostnames need the deployment to be configured for them** (`VERCEL_TOKEN`, `VERCEL_TEAM_ID`,\n  `SUPBUDDY_CLOUD_BASE_DOMAIN`). Without those, boxes are still reachable through the editor and the stack\n  page says *\"public hostnames are not configured on this deployment\"* rather than showing nothing.\n\n### The Supbuddy panel, inside the box's editor\n\nEvery cloud box's editor carries a **Supbuddy** view in the activity bar \u2014 one place to see what the box is\ndoing without leaving it. It reads the status report the box's own supervisor writes, so it adds no\ncredential and no network listener of its own.\n\n- **Box** (the main view) \u2014 the box's phase and uptime, then four sections:\n  - **Apps** \u2014 the runners this project declared. Each shows its state and port, with **Open** (in the\n    editor's browser), **Tab** (a real browser tab), **Start** / **Stop**, **Restart** and **Logs**. A\n    runner that has *not* started is still listed, because that is usually the one you came to start \u2014 and\n    a runner that failed shows why (for example *approved for `aaaaaaaa`, HEAD is `bbbbbbbb`* when\n    autostart's approved commit no longer matches what the box checked out).\n  - **Services** \u2014 the stack's own Supabase and sidecar services, with where each one lives. These run on\n    separate machines on your private network, so they are *probed* rather than supervised; one whose first\n    probe has not landed reads **checking**, not *down*.\n  - **Configuration** \u2014 read-only: the repository, the commit, the workspace path, the tailnet name and any\n    public hostnames. Nothing here is editable, because all of it is decided by the plan that built the box.\n  - **System** \u2014 the box's own plumbing (clone, sshd, tailnet, credential and module installs). It expands\n    itself when something in it is wrong.\n- **Logs** open inline, under the app that produced them, and press again to close. A runner with no output\n  says so rather than showing an empty box, and when the supervisor cannot be reached the panel shows *its*\n  reason instead of failing quietly.\n- **If the supervisor stops writing, the panel says so** \u2014 *\"The supervisor stopped updating 45s ago. What\n  is shown below may no longer be true.\"* A stale report is never rendered as healthy.\n- **Apps & Services** \u2014 the original compact tree, still available below the panel and collapsed by default.\n\n### Live sync (local \u2194 cloud)\n\nKeep a project's local directory and its cloud box in step, so you can edit locally and run in the\ncloud. Sync runs over a private Tailscale network; nothing is exposed publicly.\n\n- **Start it** \u2014 in the app, a cloud project's \u22EF menu has **Start live sync\u2026** and **Stop live sync**.\n  Starting opens a chooser: nothing is preselected and the confirm button stays disabled until you\n  pick a side, because the first pass overwrites one of them.\n- **Headless** \u2014 `supbuddy cloud sync start <project> --authority=cloud|local`, plus `status` and\n  `stop`. Same three as MCP tools (`cloud_sync_start` / `cloud_sync_status` / `cloud_sync_stop`).\n- **Supbuddy refuses a cloud-authority sync that would destroy local-only work.** The box clones your\n  repository from its **remote**, so it has never seen uncommitted changes or commits you have not\n  pushed \u2014 and the first pass deletes anything the other side lacks. Rather than let that happen,\n  starting sync with the cloud as authority is refused, naming what is at risk and the remedy:\n  *\"\u2026has 2 uncommitted changes (commit or stash them), and 1 unpushed commit (push them first).\"* A\n  directory that is not a git repository is refused too, since nothing there could be recovered.\n  Choosing **this machine's copy** is never blocked \u2014 that direction overwrites the box.\n- **Sync survives restarting Supbuddy.** The file synchroniser runs in its own process, so quitting and\n  reopening the app (or an update) does not interrupt a running sync; Supbuddy re-adopts the session on\n  start and the status badge picks up where it left off.\n- **`authority` decides which side wins the FIRST pass, and that pass is one-way.** Choose `\"cloud\"`\n  when the box has the truth (the usual case \u2014 the repo was cloned there) and `\"local\"` when your\n  machine does. It has no default anywhere, deliberately: the named side overwrites the other, so a\n  guess can delete work. After the first sync completes, the session switches to two-way automatically.\n- **What is not synced** \u2014 `.git`, `node_modules`, `.next`, `dist` and `.turbo` are ignored by default.\n  `.git` in particular: the box has its own clone with its own remote, and syncing two managed copies\n  of an index produces conflicts that look like repository corruption.\n- **Requirements** \u2014 sync needs the `tailscaled` and `mutagen` platform packages, which install\n  automatically with the CLI on **macOS and Linux** (Intel and Apple Silicon / x86-64 and arm64).\n  **Windows is not supported yet**, and Supbuddy says so rather than reporting a missing package.\n  Without the packages Supbuddy reports sync as *unavailable* and everything else keeps working.\n- **Your own Tailscale is untouched.** Supbuddy runs its own tailnet daemon with a separate state file\n  and socket, so joining does not log you out of a personal or work tailnet.\n- **Teardown stops sync first**, and the box's tailnet node is removed with the stack \u2014 nothing outlives\n  a destroyed stack.\n- **Seeing it** \u2014 a syncing project shows its state beside the \u2601 badge: *First sync\u2026*, *In sync*,\n  *n conflicts*, or *Paused \u2014 stack stopped* when the box has been idle-stopped. Nothing is shown\n  for a project that is not syncing.\n- **If sync is unavailable**, everything else keeps working. Provisioning, the IDE, runners and\n  teardown do not depend on the sync network; a stack simply comes up without sync and says so.\n\n## Command-line interface (CLI)\n\nEverything the desktop app can do is also driveable headlessly from a terminal, with no GUI window. The CLI runs a **daemon** (the same worker process the GUI uses: Caddy proxy, DNS, Supabase/Compose lifecycle, MCP-HTTP) and a set of commands that attach to it over the local MCP-HTTP port. This is for SSH sessions, CI, `tmux`/server boxes, and scripting.\n\nThe binary is `supbuddy`, with a short alias `sup`. Run `supbuddy help` for the full usage list.\n\nYou can install the CLI on its own, without the desktop app:\n\n```bash\nnpx supbuddy@latest        # asks to install the CLI globally (supbuddy + sup)\n```\n\nThat command does nothing on its own except offer to put `supbuddy` and `sup` on your PATH. The CLI runs independently of the desktop app, so you can add the app later (or never). On a Mac the app installs the same two commands for you.\n\n### The daemon\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy daemon --detach        # start the worker in the background\nsupbuddy status                 # daemon + proxy health, plus which worker the daemon is running\nsupbuddy version                # which CLI build this is, and which daemon it is talking to\nsupbuddy stop                   # graceful shutdown\n```\n\n`supbuddy version` answers a question that used to have no answer: **which copy of the CLI is this?** Three builds exist and they look identical \u2014 the one inside the desktop app (`host`), the one from npm (`npm`), and one built from a checkout (`dev`). The build kind is stamped in at compile time, because nothing at runtime can tell them apart: the version numbers match, and a working-tree build even carries the same `daemon/worker.cjs` layout as an npm install. It prints the CLI's version, build kind and path, plus the daemon's, and warns when the two disagree \u2014 a `dev` CLI driving a shipped daemon means unreleased code is running privileged repairs against your real machine.\n\nThe names `supbuddy` and `sup` are reserved for shipped builds. A `dev` build invoked under either name **refuses to run** and explains how to find the shadowing symlink, because `pnpm link` or a hand-made symlink in a directory that precedes `/usr/local/bin` on `PATH` otherwise silently replaces the installed CLI. To run a checkout, use `./scripts/supbuddy-dev <command>` \u2014 it runs from source and needs no build. It deliberately shares the production state dir: a daemon's machine-level resources (the worker port, the Caddyfile, `/etc/hosts`, `/etc/resolver`, the pf anchor, the launchd label) are **not** state-dir scoped, so pointing a dev daemon at a private state dir does not isolate it \u2014 it only hides the running daemon from the single-daemon check, after which the dev worker takes port 48760 by killing the process holding it. Sharing the state dir keeps that check working, so `supbuddy-dev daemon` declines while the app's daemon is running. A dev CLI driving a shipped daemon prints a warning on every command.\n\n`--detach` backgrounds the daemon and prints its pid + ports. Foreground `supbuddy daemon` runs it attached (Ctrl-C shuts it down cleanly). On start the daemon writes a discovery file, `daemon.json` (mode `0600`), into the shared state dir holding its pid, the Socket.IO port, the MCP-HTTP port, and a control token; every other command reads it to find and authenticate to the daemon, so you never pass ports or tokens by hand. Only one daemon may run per state dir; a second `daemon` start is refused.\n\nThe CLI and the desktop app **share one state dir** (`~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/`), so they manage the same projects, mappings, and settings. They must not run two workers against it at once: if you launch the desktop app while a CLI daemon is running, the app detects it and offers to **stop the daemon and continue** or **quit**. It never forks a competing worker (which would corrupt `state.json`).\n\n**After the app updates itself, it replaces an outdated daemon.** The daemon is detached, so it survives the app relaunching \u2014 without this the app would look updated while still running the previous version's worker, and any fix shipped in that worker would silently not take effect. On launch the app compares the running daemon's version (stamped into `daemon.json`) against its own: an **older** daemon is stopped and replaced, and a **newer** one is left alone and attached to, since an out-of-date app must not downgrade a running worker. If the daemon ignores the graceful stop, the app **forces it** rather than carrying on as though the stop had worked \u2014 attaching to the daemon it just judged stale is exactly how an updated app ends up running old code, and the replacement spawn would be refused anyway (\"already running\"). Shutdown is bounded from the other side too: every stop step has a timeout and the worker exits even when a service refuses to stop, because a daemon that cannot be stopped cannot be updated. A forced shutdown may leave Caddy briefly running; the health monitor reaps it and the replacement daemon takes over.\n\n### Run on login (service)\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy service install        # start-on-login (launchd on macOS, systemd-user on Linux)\nsupbuddy service status\nsupbuddy service uninstall\n```\n\n### Commands\n\nAll app surfaces have a command. Names follow `supbuddy <module> <action> [args] [--flags]`. The main groups:\n\n| Group | Examples |\n| --- | --- |\n| Dev launcher | `run [--print] -- <dev command>` \u2014 on a Thin project, binds the dev server to the project's loopback IP (from `.supbuddy/meta.json`) so it keeps its canonical port (e.g. `supbuddy run -- next dev` stays on `:3000`) |\n| Health / proxy | `status`, `doctor [--fix]` (health & drift scan \u2014 see *System doctor*), `ready [<proj>] [--fix] [--only=<category>]` (can a project run? \u2014 see *Project readiness (`supbuddy ready`)*), `reset [--tier=soft\\|deep\\|full]` (tiered system reset \u2014 see *System reset*), `proxy status\\|start\\|stop\\|restart` |\n| Mappings | `map ls\\|add\\|get\\|set\\|enable\\|disable\\|rm\\|restore` |\n| Projects | `project ls\\|add\\|get\\|scan\\|set\\|enable\\|disable\\|rm\\|restore\\|env\\|refresh-context` |\n| Supabase | `supabase start\\|stop\\|restart\\|status <proj>` (add `--follow` to stream live progress), `supabase config apply <proj> <file>` |\n| Cloud | `cloud login <email> [<pw>]` (or `SUPBUDDY_CLOUD_PASSWORD`), `cloud push <proj> [--repo=owner/repo] [--force]`, `cloud status [<proj>]`, `cloud teardown <proj>` \u2014 push a project (with its Supabase data) to a hosted cloud stack; `project ls` marks pushed projects with \u2601 |\n| Compose | `compose up\\|down\\|restart\\|status\\|logs <proj> [svcs]` |\n| Scripts | `scripts ls\\|start\\|stop\\|restart\\|logs\\|bookmark <proj> [script]` |\n| Isolation | `isolation switch <proj> <host\\|thin>`, `isolation pending-migrations`, `migrate start\\|finish <uuid>` |\n| Certificates | `ca status\\|install\\|uninstall` |\n| Env files | `env copy <src> <key> <target>`, `env write <path> <K=V>\u2026` |\n| Settings | `settings get`, `settings set --json <patch>` |\n| MCP | `mcp add [<agent>]` (register Supbuddy into a coding agent: interactive, or `--write`/`--print`/`--prompt`), `mcp ls`, `mcp revoke <id>`, `mcp approvals apply\\|cancel <id>` |\n| Host / network | `connect`, `trust`, `tailscale`, `dns`, `pf` (port-forwarding) |\n| Logs | `logs requests [-f]`, `logs audit [-f]`, `logs get <id>` |\n| Account | `account`, `caps`, `addons scaffold\\|seed <proj>` |\n| Dashboard | `tui` (alias `dash`), `shell` (alias `menu`) \u2014 **repo checkout only**, see *Live dashboard (TUI)* |\n\nGlobal flags: `--json` (machine-readable output), `--yes` (skip confirmations), `--quiet`, `--url`/`--token` (attach to a specific/remote daemon instead of auto-discovery), `--state-dir` (override the shared dir), `--timeout`, and `-f`/`--follow` for streaming log commands and live `supabase start|stop|restart` progress.\n\nDestructive operations go through the same **plan \u2192 apply** gate as MCP (see *Plan / apply for destructive tools*); the CLI's control token is granted auto-apply, so they execute directly.\n\n### Live dashboard (TUI) \u2014 repo checkout only\n\n```bash\n./scripts/supbuddy-dev tui      # from a clone of the repo; alias: dash\n./scripts/supbuddy-dev shell    # the interactive picker; alias: menu\n```\n\n`tui` opens a full-screen terminal dashboard that attaches to the running daemon and shows live connection/proxy status, the project list (with each project's isolation, Supabase, and Compose state), the mapping count, and a tail of recent requests. Press `r` to refresh, `q` to quit. It needs a running daemon (`supbuddy daemon --detach`); if none is found it tells you so.\n\n**It is not part of any shipped build.** The dashboard and the picker are a separate React/Ink program (the `@supbuddy/tui` workspace package): it is published nowhere, and it is not staged into the desktop app. So `tui`, `dash`, `shell` and `menu` work only from a clone of the repo \u2014 in the npm CLI and in the CLI inside Supbuddy.app they print where the dashboard *is* available and exit non-zero, and they are omitted from that build's `--help`. From an installed CLI use `supbuddy status`, `supbuddy project ls`, `supbuddy map ls` and `supbuddy logs requests -f`, or the desktop app window, which shows the same thing live.\n\n### System doctor\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy doctor                              # read-only scan; prints findings by severity\nsupbuddy doctor --fix                        # scan, show the repair manifest, confirm (y/N), then apply\nsupbuddy doctor --fix --only=ca-not-trusted  # restrict repairs to specific check ids (comma-separated)\nsupbuddy doctor --fix --yes                  # skip the interactive confirm (scripting / CI)\n```\n\n`supbuddy doctor` runs a **read-only** health and drift scan and prints its findings grouped by severity \u2014 **critical**, **warning**, **info** \u2014 each with a title, a one-line detail, and concrete evidence (paths, container names, certificate fingerprints). The scan mutates nothing, so you can gate a script or CI on it.\n\n**Exit codes.** A check that can't run is an *unknown*, not a clean bill of health \u2014 so the scan reports \"I couldn't look\" separately from \"I looked and it's fine\":\n\n| Code | Meaning |\n|---|---|\n| `0` | The scan completed and found nothing critical |\n| `1` | **Critical** findings \u2014 something is definitely broken |\n| `2` | The scan **could not complete** \u2014 one or more checks never ran (see **SCAN ERRORS** in the output), so the result is an unknown |\n\nExit `2` covers cases that used to (wrongly) exit `0`: with Docker stopped, for example, every Docker-backed check fails to run, and a `0` there would tell CI the machine was healthy while part of the scan was blind. A critical finding outranks an incomplete scan \u2014 if both apply you get `1`, because that's the actionable one. Gating on \"non-zero\" catches both; check for `2` specifically if you want to start Docker and retry rather than fail the build. These codes apply to `--fix` too: a run where every repair applied but part of the scan never ran also exits `2`.\n\n`--fix` re-scans, prints a **manifest** \u2014 one line per fixable finding, taken from the scan you just saw \u2014 and, unless you pass `--yes`, asks `Apply these fixes? [y/N]` (default **No**) before touching anything. (The desktop app's doctor panel shows the finer-grained repair *actions* themselves; the CLI lists the findings those actions belong to.) `--only=<comma,ids>` restricts the repair to specific check ids; `--yes` skips the prompt for non-interactive use. This is the **confirm-before-harm** contract: the scan is read-only, and every repair is opt-in and gated. Fixes that need elevated access prompt for your password when they run.\n\nA repair that ends up doing nothing is reported as such, never as success: if a requested check's finding is already gone, is advisory, can't be re-checked, or names an unknown id, it's listed under **NOT APPLIED** and the command exits non-zero.\n\n**An aborted `--fix` also exits non-zero (`1`).** Declining the confirmation applies nothing, so every finding is still there \u2014 exiting `0` would tell a script the machine was fine when it had just been reported as critical. This matters most where nobody actually declined: with no TTY to prompt on, `--fix` refuses on principle (confirm-before-harm), so a scripted run prints `aborted \u2014 no fixes applied` and stops. Pass `--yes` to run it unattended. A daemon-side denial of the confirmation has always exited `1`; the same outcome now gets the same code regardless of which side refused.\n\nThe doctor ships **22 checks**. Rows marked **Advisory** have **no auto-fix at all**: `--fix` will never touch them, and the finding's detail tells you what to do by hand. Checks marked *macOS* return nothing on other platforms.\n\n| Check id | Severity | What it flags | Auto-fix |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| `state-corrupt` | critical | `state.json` can't be parsed (or isn't an object), so the daemon boots with **empty** state \u2014 no projects, mappings, settings or MCP clients | Copies the file aside as `state.json.corrupt-<timestamp>` so you can hand-recover it. Nothing is deleted or rewritten |\n| `dns-not-resolving` | critical | Supbuddy serves these domains but the OS will not resolve them, so every mapped URL fails before it reaches the proxy \u2014 a **missing** `/etc/resolver` file, the local DNS server **not answering**, or (the case a file audit calls healthy) the files being correct while the OS has never **loaded** them. Leftover files for suffixes nobody uses are not this \u2014 they break no resolution and belong to `stale-resolver-files`. Uses the same verdict `get_health` and `get_proxy_status` use, so the three cannot disagree about one machine | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** `supbuddy proxy restart` rewrites the resolver files and reloads the OS cache. The available privileged re-apply is audit-gated \u2014 it does nothing when the files are already correct, which is exactly the unloaded case \u2014 so offering it as a fix would elevate, change nothing and report success | **Fixable when resolver files are MISSING** (typically after a TLD change): `doctor --fix` writes them and re-audits to confirm. Stays **advisory** when the files exist but the OS never loaded them \u2014 the only repair available there provably does nothing, so offering it would elevate, change nothing and report success.\n| `dns-local-tld-mdns-stall` | warning | *macOS.* Managed **`.local`** domains resolve fast once and stall ~5s per concurrent lookup \u2014 macOS reserves `.local` for multicast DNS and a resolver file does not stop it. Only the IPv6 (AAAA) half stalls, so curl, a single fetch and `dig` all look healthy while a page issuing parallel requests fails with what looks like a proxy connect timeout. **Advisory.** The check measures rather than lints \u2014 8 parallel lookups against a real mapping \u2014 so it stays silent on a machine that is genuinely unaffected. Fix by moving off `.local`: `supbuddy project set <project> --tld=test` |\n| `proxy-not-serving` | critical | The proxy should be serving and **nothing is** \u2014 Caddy is not alive, so every enabled mapping is unreachable. It stays silent when Caddy is up but a privileged step failed (HTTPS still serves on the high port there, and `pf-not-enforcing` describes that state precisely) \u2014 two contradictory critical findings would teach you to ignore both. It reads the same derived status `get_proxy_status` does, so the two can never disagree about the same machine: a deliberate `proxy stop` and an in-flight auto-restart are **not** flagged | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** The finding carries the tracked cause and names both routes back: `supbuddy proxy restart` (or Start in the app), and `SUPBUDDY_ASKPASS` when the cause is a privileged step that needs a TTY. Starting the proxy is the step that failed, so `--fix` would re-run the failing path |\n| `caddy-stuck` | critical | Caddy is alive but its admin API is wedged, so config reloads can't land | Restarts Caddy (stop \u2192 start) |\n| `caddy-ipv4-unreachable` | critical | Caddy's loaded config declares an HTTPS listener but `127.0.0.1:<port>` **refuses** connections \u2014 every IPv4 client is cut off (browsers, curl, and the pf 443\u21928443 redirect) while the process is up and its admin API answers | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Run `supbuddy proxy restart` to rebind. Only a connection **refused** counts: a *timeout* on a pf redirect target is normal (the reply is reverse-NAT'd back to :443 and never matches your socket), so it is never reported as a fault |\n| `ca-not-trusted` | warning | The local CA exists but the **current** root isn't trusted (the padlock stays broken). Detection is by fingerprint and reads **both** the System and login keychains, so neither a stale same-name root from an earlier CA nor a per-user install is misread | Installs it (`security add-trusted-cert`; asks for your password \u2014 on macOS 15+ this becomes the per-user install with its own confirmation dialog). Where trust **cannot be read at all** (Windows, or an unreadable keychain) this drops to **advisory, info, no auto-fix** \u2014 it reports what to import by hand rather than offering a repair that can't run |\n| `pf-not-enforcing` | critical | Port forwarding is configured but 443 isn't redirecting, so every `https://` URL on the default port is unreachable. It first checks that the HTTPS port has a listener: with nothing serving behind the redirect a closed 443 says nothing about pf, so that machine gets no finding rather than a false one | **Fixable.** `doctor --fix` re-applies the pf ruleset (asks for your password) and then probes 443 to confirm \u2014 it reports success only if the redirect actually answers. By hand: `sudo pfctl -f /etc/pf.conf`. `supbuddy proxy restart` also re-applies it now, but only when a probe says it is genuinely broken, so an ordinary restart still prompts for nothing |\n| `duplicate-caddy-ca` | warning | *macOS.* Stale same-name `Caddy Local Authority` roots with a different key \u2014 the cause of Firefox-family `SEC_ERROR_BAD_SIGNATURE` | Deletes the stale roots **and installs the current one** in a single elevated batch (asks for your password). Delete-only could leave a machine with no trusted Caddy root at all when the current one wasn't in the keychain yet |\n| `orphan-caddy-container` | warning | A leftover pre-binary-era `supbuddy-caddy` Docker container | Removes the container, its `supbuddy-net` network and its data/config volumes (the `caddy:latest` image is kept) |\n| `orphan-lo0-aliases` | warning | *macOS.* `127.0.0.N` aliases on `lo0` owned by no Thin project \u2014 deleting a Thin project never tore its alias down | Removes only those aliases (asks for your password); `127.0.0.1` and any non-Supbuddy alias are left alone |\n| `orphan-dind` | warning | Docker-in-Docker containers from the retired Isolated (VM) mode belonging to no registered project \u2014 each one confirmed to actually be a DinD first | Force-removes those containers and their `<name>-docker` data volumes. **This is project data**: if you deleted a project and chose to keep its data, this is that data. The Caddy container and non-Supbuddy containers are never touched |\n| `orphan-supabase-volumes` | warning | Docker volumes of Supbuddy-managed (`sb-`-prefixed) Supabase stacks owned by no registered project | Removes those volumes. **This is database data.** Host-mode stacks, stacks you started yourself, and projects still in the MCP trash (restorable for 7 days) are never touched |\n| `orphan-launchagents` | warning | *macOS.* Legacy CA-trust LaunchAgents from older builds that re-export `SSL_CERT_FILE` / `REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE` / `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` at every login and break **public** TLS | Boots each agent out and removes it, leaving a `.supbuddy-backup` copy alongside. Root-owned agents under `/Library` may resist; the fix reports those as a failure instead of claiming success |\n| `orphan-electron-token-files` | warning | Leftover `~/.config/Supbuddy/mcp/<clientId>.bin` token files from the retired Electron app, for clients that no longer exist | Deletes those files (no elevation). They can't be decrypted any more anyway; clients that are merely revoked keep their record and are left alone |\n| `orphan-mcp-secrets` | warning | `secrets/mcp-<clientId>.secret` files whose token can no longer authenticate (client revoked, or no record at all) | Deletes those files (no elevation) \u2014 it can't log a working agent out. Secrets for current clients, and the non-MCP secrets stored alongside them (license, cloud session, Tailscale key), are left untouched |\n| `projects-not-ready` | warning | Registered projects that wouldn't actually run \u2014 dependencies never installed (or a lockfile newer than the last install), or Supbuddy's Supabase connection vars missing from the env file the app loads. **One aggregate line, never one finding per project**, with **project names only** as evidence. A project whose folder is gone is skipped; one Supbuddy couldn't read is listed as `(could not be scanned)` rather than passed as healthy | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** It points at `supbuddy ready` and the project card, which carry the specific finding, the file it names and the one-click fix. Doctor installs nothing |\n| `unmanaged-supabase` | info | A Supabase stack on the host daemon that maps to no registered project (e.g. a plain `supabase start`) | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Supbuddy never tears down a stack you started yourself; run `supabase stop` in its project if you don't need it |\n| `stale-resolver-files` | info | *macOS.* Supbuddy-marked `/etc/resolver/<suffix>` files for suffixes no **enabled** project or mapping claims any more (deleted projects, a disabled one, an older per-project TLD) | Removes only those files (asks for your password); suffixes still in use are left alone. Reversible \u2014 enabling the project or restarting the proxy writes the file back |\n| `pf-conf-backups` | info | *macOS.* `/etc/pf.conf.backup.<timestamp>` copies piled up in `/etc` by older versions (which wrote a new one on every port-forwarding disable) | Removes the redundant copies, **keeping the newest one** and the stable `/etc/pf.conf.supbuddy-backup` (asks for your password) |\n| `stale-mcp-config-tokens` | info | An agent config (`~/.claude.json`, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, or a registered project's `.mcp.json` / `.cursor/mcp.json`) holds a `mcpServers.supbuddy` token Supbuddy no longer accepts \u2014 the 401 \"Token not recognized\" state | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Supbuddy won't rewrite config files you own and edit. Delete the `mcpServers.supbuddy` entry from the file named in the finding, or run `supbuddy mcp add <agent>` to mint a fresh token. The finding names the file, never the token |\n| `stale-browser-nss-roots` | info | *macOS.* A Firefox / Zen / LibreWolf / Waterfox profile whose own NSS store (`cert9.db`) holds a `Caddy Local Authority` root Supbuddy can't reach | **Advisory \u2014 no auto-fix.** Nothing is wrong unless that browser shows certificate errors. Fix it there: Settings \u2192 Privacy & Security \u2192 Certificates \u2192 View Certificates\u2026 \u2192 Authorities, delete every `Caddy Local Authority` entry, then re-import Supbuddy's CA |\n\nThe same scan and repairs are available over MCP as the `doctor` and `doctor_fix` tools (see *MCP tool surface*), and in the app under **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 System health \u2192 Scan** \u2014 the panel scans on open, groups the findings by severity, and gates every repair behind the same manifest + confirm step (see *Settings reference \u2192 General*). The panel has no reset button: a wipe stays a CLI operation.\n\n### Project readiness (`supbuddy ready`)\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy ready                               # every registered project\nsupbuddy ready acme                          # one project (id, or an unambiguous name)\nsupbuddy ready acme --fix                    # show a manifest, confirm (y/N), then apply each fix\nsupbuddy ready acme --fix --only=deps        # deps | env | toolchain\nsupbuddy ready acme --fix --yes              # skip the interactive confirm (scripting / CI)\nsupbuddy ready --json                        # machine-readable\n```\n\n`supbuddy ready` answers \"can this project actually run?\" \u2014 see [Project readiness](#project-readiness-can-it-run) for what it checks. It is presented like `supbuddy doctor`: findings grouped by severity (**ERROR**, **WARNING**, **INFO**), a `[fixable]` marker, evidence indented beneath each finding, and a **SCAN ERRORS** block for projects it could not scan. Without `--fix` it mutates nothing.\n\n`--fix` differs from `doctor --fix` in one way that matters: doctor sends a list of check ids back to one repair tool, while each readiness finding already names **its own** tool and arguments, so `ready --fix` calls that. A yarn project gets `yarn install`, a pnpm project `pnpm install`, an env finding gets `apply_env` \u2014 the CLI picks none of it. You see the manifest of what will run before anything does; `n` (and a non-interactive terminal without `--yes`) aborts having changed nothing.\n\nBecause an install is a job rather than a call, `--fix` then **follows the install log to completion** and takes that job's outcome as the fix's outcome, so the command blocks with live output instead of exiting `0` over an install that is still resolving.\n\n**Exit codes** mirror `doctor`:\n\n| Code | Meaning |\n|---|---|\n| `0` | Ready \u2014 no error-severity findings |\n| `1` | An error-severity finding, or a fix that failed |\n| `2` | The scan could not complete (see **SCAN ERRORS**), so the result is an unknown |\n\n`--only` narrows the verdict as well as the view: a run filtered to `deps` exits on the deps findings alone, because a command that printed three findings and exited on a fourth it never showed you would be lying.\n\nRelated: `supbuddy project ls` now shows a project's connection-env verdict (`env missing` / `env stale`) on its sub-line. It was previously hidden from that list entirely, so the CLI could not tell you the one fact that explains why an app 500s against a stack that is up. Only the verdict is printed \u2014 never the target path or a `KEY=value` \u2014 for the same reason readiness evidence never carries values.\n\n### System reset\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy reset                        # soft (the default): app state + caches\nsupbuddy reset --tier=deep            # + services, Caddy containers, system integrations, CA trust\nsupbuddy reset --tier=full            # + project data, repo artifacts, secrets, service, app data\nsupbuddy reset --tier=deep --yes      # skip the y/N confirm (scripting / CI)\nsupbuddy reset --tier=full --yes --i-understand   # the ONLY scripted path for a full reset\n```\n\n`supbuddy reset` removes Supbuddy's footprint from your machine in **tiers**, and each tier is a superset of the one before it:\n\n| Tier | What it removes |\n| --- | --- |\n| `soft` (default) | Stops the dev servers Supbuddy started (it is about to forget which project owns them), then resets app state \u2014 projects, mappings, settings, MCP clients, project-context sync and user-skill records \u2014 plus the Docker image cache (`<app-data>/image-cache`, images are re-pulled on demand) and the buffered request log. It touches **no** Docker container or volume, **nothing** under `/etc`, and **no** file in your repos, so it never asks for your password |\n| `deep` | \u2026plus: stops every service; removes the leftover Caddy container/network/volumes, **both** `/etc/hosts` blocks (the legacy `# Supbuddy - Start` one and the `# Supbuddy DNS fallback` one), the `/etc/resolver` files, the pf `:80`/`:443` redirect, the `127.0.0.N` loopback aliases, the bundled-runtime CA trust and the `Caddy Local Authority` roots in your keychain, and the token files of already-revoked MCP clients. **Your data is preserved**: no Supabase volume, no DinD container, no repo file and no *live* MCP token is touched \u2014 `deep` unwinds what Supbuddy installed on the machine, it is not a data wipe |\n| `full` | \u2026plus **your project data, backed up first**: every Supbuddy-**managed** (`sb-`-prefixed) Supabase stack's data volumes and every DinD container with its data volume, the `.supbuddy/` directories, managed blocks and `.env.supbuddy` files in your registered repos, and **every** credential (license, live MCP tokens, cloud session, Tailscale key) \u2014 then it uninstalls the start-on-login service and empties the app-data directory. A **host-mode** project's Supabase stack is only *stopped*: those containers and volumes are yours, and they are kept |\n\nMost steps enumerate what's actually on your machine first, so anything that isn't there drops out of the manifest instead of being advertised and skipped. `soft` needs no elevated access at all. `deep` batches the pf redirect, the resolver configuration (including the `/etc/hosts` fallback block, which is removed by the same command) and the loopback aliases into **one** password prompt; the legacy `/etc/hosts` block and the keychain CA removal ask separately, so expect up to three. `full` may prompt more than once as it tears projects down.\n\n**Running dev servers are stopped first \u2014 except on `--tier=full`.** Every tier forgets your projects, and a `pnpm dev` that outlives that row holds its port against whatever you register next, keeps writing into a directory Supbuddy no longer knows about, and can no longer be stopped from the app or with `supbuddy scripts stop` (both look the project up first). So `soft` and `deep` sweep them before resetting the registry, and the manifest names each one. `--tier=full` **cannot**: it stops the daemon before the wipe runs (it has to \u2014 a live daemon would rewrite `state.json` underneath it), and those dev servers are the daemon's own children, tracked only in its memory. Stop them yourself \u2014 in the app, or `supbuddy scripts stop <project> <script>` \u2014 before a full reset, or they outlive it as orphans you have to kill by pid.\n\n**Reset is a CLI operation, on purpose \u2014 there is no reset button in the app.** The gates that make a wipe safe don't survive the trip into a GUI: a typed `RESET`, a refusal on non-interactive input, and a daemon confirmation the app itself would be answering. On top of that, `--tier=full` refuses outright while the desktop app is running (its watchdog respawns the daemon ~20s after it stops), so a button for it would be a trap. The app's **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 System health** panel points here instead.\n\n**Backup before harm.** Anything you can't regenerate \u2014 `state.json`, every managed Supabase database that is running (`pg_dump`, custom format, with a `.sha256` alongside), every managed data volume (`tar.gz`, verified with `gzip -t`) \u2014 is written to `<app-data>/backups/reset-<timestamp>/` **before** a single destructive step runs, and if any backup fails the whole reset **aborts before destroying anything**. The directory is printed prominently before you confirm, and again when the reset finishes; `manifest.json` inside it records exactly what was planned and what ran. On top of that coarse guarantee, each volume is gated individually: **no archive, no removal** \u2014 a volume with no non-empty `.tar.gz` next to it is left alone and the run records why.\n\n**A backup that can't be written stops the reset \u2014 safely.** Archiving a volume is given ten minutes; a genuinely large one (tens of GB of Postgres data plus a DinD image cache) can exceed that, and when it does the reset **aborts with nothing destroyed**. Stop the stack and prune what you don't need (`docker system prune`, drop old branches/schemas), or archive that volume yourself, then run the reset again. The same applies to any other backup failure: a full disk, an unreadable volume, a Docker daemon that stops answering.\n\n**The backups survive a full reset.** They live inside the app-data directory, so the last step of `--tier=full` empties that directory *content-wise and skips `backups/`* rather than deleting it wholesale. Move that directory somewhere safe afterwards \u2014 it's the only copy.\n\n**Confirmation.** Every tier prints the **manifest** first \u2014 the literal list of actions that will run, derived from the same actions the engine executes. `soft` and `deep` then ask `Apply this \"<tier>\" reset? [y/N]` (default **No**); `--yes` skips that prompt. `--tier=full` requires you to **type the word `RESET`** \u2014 `--yes` alone does **not** bypass it. The one scripted path for a full reset is `--yes --i-understand`, both flags together. Every prompt refuses on a non-interactive (piped) stdin rather than proceeding.\n\n**The daemon confirms too.** `soft` and `deep` run inside the daemon, which asks for its own approval before it starts \u2014 the same gate as `doctor --fix` and `ca uninstall`. With the Supbuddy app open you get a native **Allow / Deny** dialog. A daemon with neither a dialog nor a terminal \u2014 the start-on-login service, or an app-spawned daemon while the app is closed \u2014 has nobody to ask and **denies**; run a foreground `supbuddy daemon` in one terminal and the reset from a second, and it will prompt there. Don't reach for `supbuddy daemon --yes` to get past it: that auto-approves *every* confirmation for that daemon's whole lifetime.\n\n**Quit the app before a full reset.** The desktop app supervises the daemon and restarts it about 20 seconds after it stops, which would put a live daemon back into the directory the last step clears. `--tier=full` refuses up front while the app is running \u2014 before it asks you to type `RESET`, and before it changes anything. Quit the app (menu bar icon \u2192 Quit) and run it again; the quit dialog's default **Leave running** is fine, since the reset stops the daemon itself. The check looks for the *app* process only, so nothing else has to change. `--tier=full` also runs with no daemon at all, so if you quit with **Stop service** you can go straight ahead.\n\n**The order of a full reset**, once you've confirmed: the start-on-login service is uninstalled, the daemon is stopped and waited for (the reset refuses to run against a live daemon, which would rewrite `state.json` underneath it), the backup and teardown steps above run, and only then is the app-data directory emptied \u2014 keeping `backups/`. If the reset aborted, or if a daemon came back while it was running, the app-data directory is left in place and the CLI tells you so rather than clearing it under a live process.\n\n`soft` and `deep` are also available over MCP as the plan-gated `system_wipe` tool (see *MCP tool surface*). `--tier=full` is **CLI-only**: it deletes the credentials any agent would be calling with, and a daemon cannot uninstall the service it runs under or delete the directory it runs from.\n\n**What a full reset does not remove.** It only ever touches paths of **registered** projects \u2014 there is no disk scan for stray `.supbuddy` directories \u2014 and it won't delete or rewrite files whose ownership is ambiguous. So after `--tier=full` these are still on disk, and you can remove them by hand:\n\n- Per-editor rule files Supbuddy wrote in your repos: `.cursor/rules/supbuddy.mdc`, `.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`, `.codeium/windsurf/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.continue/rules/supbuddy.md`, `.idea/supbuddy.md`. Shared files (`CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, `.gitignore`, \u2026) keep their content and only lose Supbuddy's sentinel-delimited block.\n- Values `apply_env` merged into your **own** `.env*` files. The fully-owned `.env.supbuddy` files *are* deleted.\n- The bare `.env.supbuddy` line in `.gitignore` \u2014 it sits outside the managed block.\n- `vite.config.*` `allowedHosts` and `next.config.*` dev-origin patches.\n- `supabase/config.toml` port / `project_id` patches, when restoring the original file failed during the Thin teardown.\n- MCP client config entries written by `mcp add` / `install_mcp_config` (`~/.claude.json`, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Windsurf, a project `.mcp.json` / `.cursor/mcp.json`). The token they hold is dead the moment the secrets are deleted; `supbuddy doctor`'s `stale-mcp-config-tokens` check will name each file.\n- The `caddy:latest` Docker image (shared and re-pullable) and anything a host-mode project owns.\n- The Supbuddy app itself \u2014 drag `Supbuddy.app` to the Trash \u2014 and the backups directory, which is the whole point of keeping it.\n\n## Settings reference\n\nOpen Settings via the gear icon top-right or by clicking the tray icon \u2192 Open Dashboard \u2192 gear. Five tabs.\n\n### General\n\n- **Theme**: dark or light.\n- **Auto-start at login**: registers Supbuddy as a macOS login item. Default: on.\n- **Default TLD**: applied to new auto-generated mappings. Existing mappings are renamed to the new TLD on save. Default: `test`.\n- **Default isolation**: `host` or `thin` for newly added projects. Default: `thin` (per-project loopback IP; apps keep canonical ports like `:3000`). MCP registration additionally keeps a project on `host` when its Supabase stack is already running on the host outside Supbuddy.\n- **Auto-subdomain mapping**: when on, services and apps detected during a project scan get mappings created automatically. Default: on.\n- **Bundled-runtime trust**: installs Supbuddy's local root CA into a place that apps with bundled JavaScript runtimes (Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Continue, Codex CLI, OpenCode, \u2026) actually read. These apps don't consult the system Keychain (they ship their own Mozilla bundle), so without this they fail OAuth/MCP/HTTPS calls to `*.test` with `unable to get local issuer certificate`. Default: prompted on first launch when one of those tools is detected.\n  - **macOS**: writes `~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.cueplusplus.supbuddy.bundled-runtime-ca-trust.plist` and calls `launchctl setenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` so GUI-launched apps inherit it at process-start time.\n  - **Linux**: writes `~/.config/environment.d/supbuddy-ca.conf` (read by systemd-aware user sessions on GNOME/KDE/Sway/etc.).\n  - **Windows**: per-user `setx NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` to `HKCU\\Environment`.\n  - **Only `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` is set session-globally**, because it is *additive* \u2014 Node appends the file to its built-in public roots, so a stale or wrong value can never strip public trust. `SSL_CERT_FILE` / `REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE` are deliberately **not** set globally: they *replace* the entire trust store, and pointing them at a local-only bundle breaks every public TLS handshake in the login session. Older builds did set them; install and every boot reconcile now actively unset them. OpenSSL/Python tools that need local trust get it per-project, from the merged public+local bundle.\n  - It points at `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/ca-bundle/current.crt` (or the platform equivalent), a *cumulative* concatenated PEM Supbuddy maintains \u2014 **not** Caddy's own `caddy-data/\u2026/pki/authorities/local/root.crt`, which rotates independently. When Caddy rotates its root (yearly today, sometimes more), Supbuddy appends the new root automatically; long-running TLS contexts holding the old root keep working until the process restarts. Reading trust status also verifies Caddy's *active* root is actually in the bundle and re-appends it if not, so a rotation can't be missed just because the file watcher wasn't running.\n  - **Test trust**: runs an in-process HTTPS request against the first available `*.test` mapping with the same env vars set, to verify end-to-end without relaunching anything. It probes the **real access path** (port 443 when port forwarding is on, otherwise the high port), matching what real clients hit, so it doesn't false-negative against a port nothing is forwarding.\n  - **Effective-value detection**: status reports the value *in effect*, not just the one Supbuddy set. `launchctl setenv` cannot retro-patch an already-running process, so an app launched before an install keeps whatever it captured and hands that to every shell and dev server it spawns \u2014 a terminal can be using a completely different CA path from the one `launchctl getenv` prints. Supbuddy samples three places: what it set, what a fresh login shell resolves, and what live processes actually hold. Divergent values are listed with the app to relaunch (and flagged when the file no longer exists \u2014 Node ignores a missing `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` silently, which presents as `unable to get local issuer certificate` with nothing to explain it).\n  - **Conflict refusal**: if `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` is already set to a bundle Supbuddy doesn't own (corporate proxy, Zscaler, another vendor's CA), install refuses and surfaces the conflicting path. You can override with the explicit prompt that pops up on Install. A path Supbuddy *does* own but that isn't the current bundle \u2014 an older build's value, or Caddy's `root.crt` from a hand-rolled setup \u2014 is not a conflict: install corrects it.\n  - **Quit and relaunch your AI tools** after install: the env var only takes effect for *newly-launched* processes. Install names any app still holding an older path.\n- **System health** (**Scan**): opens the **System Doctor** panel \u2014 the same read-only, 17-check health & drift scan as `supbuddy doctor` (see *System doctor*), in the app. Opening the panel only scans; it changes nothing.\n  - Findings are grouped **critical \u2192 warning \u2192 info**, each with its title, one-line detail, concrete evidence (paths, container names, fingerprints), check id and category. **Rescan** re-runs the scan; the header shows the counts. A scan that times out says so and points at `supbuddy doctor` \u2014 the daemon is installed and updated separately from the app, and one older than this panel doesn't answer its channels.\n  - **Fix\u2026** on a fixable finding \u2014 or **Fix all (n)** in the header \u2014 never repairs anything by itself. It opens the **manifest**: the literal list of actions that would run, each marked *destructive* or *safe*, built from the same actions the engine executes. **Apply** stays disabled until that manifest has loaded and contains at least one action, so an empty or failed plan can't be rubber-stamped. Same confirm-before-harm contract as `doctor --fix`.\n  - Repairs that need elevated access ask for your password when they run. One that outlives the app's 15-second reply window (a password prompt sitting open) is reported as *may still be running \u2014 rescan in a moment*, not as a failure.\n  - Findings with no auto-fix show **advisory** instead of a Fix button; the detail says what to do by hand. Checks that couldn't run at all are listed at the bottom as *Checks that could not run*, rather than being silently dropped.\n  - **There is no reset button here, on purpose** \u2014 the footer points at `supbuddy reset` instead. See *System reset*.\n\n### Network\n\n- **HTTP port**: default 8080.\n- **HTTPS port**: default 8443.\n- **DNS port**: default 5353.\n- **Port forwarding**: when on, inserts a `pfctl` rule mapping 80\u2192HTTP port and 443\u2192HTTPS port into `/etc/pf.conf` (correct translation-section placement; self-heals a file corrupted by older versions). Asks for sudo once. Status reflects a live 443 enforcement probe, not just file presence.\n- **LAN sharing**: binds Caddy to `0.0.0.0` + starts mDNS responder.\n- **Tailscale**: paste a tailnet API key to enable split-DNS push.\n- **Install / Uninstall CA**: **Install** adds Caddy's root cert to your System keychain (removing any stale same-name roots first), falling back to your **login keychain** on macOS 15+ where system-wide trust needs a dialog macOS won't show a background helper; **Uninstall** removes every `Caddy Local Authority` root it added, from **both** keychains. macOS asks for your password each time. If Install can't complete, the exact command to run yourself stays pinned under the row rather than only in a toast.\n\n### Storage\n\nTrash retention (per-kind), volume sizes, image-cache controls.\n\n### MCP\n\n- **Clients**: list of connected clients. Each row has a **\u22EF** actions menu: install, edit scopes, set-primary, rotate token, revoke.\n- **Activity**: audit log with Apply/Cancel/Undo on plan rows.\n- **Trash**: soft-deleted mappings and projects, restorable for 7 days.\n- Settings: server `enabled`, `port` (default 9877), `audit_cap` (default 5000), `trash_ttl_days` (default 7).\n\n### AI Skills\n\nInstall Supbuddy's agent **skill at the user level** (machine-wide) so the agent sees Supbuddy in every repo without per-project setup. Each global-capable agent has a **master on/off** plus an **autosync** toggle (keeps the installed skill refreshed when Supbuddy updates it) and shows its install path + version.\n\n- **Who can install at user level**: only agents whose global file Supbuddy fully **owns** and that **self-scope** (act only when the working directory has a `.supbuddy/`): **Claude Code** (`~/.claude/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`) and **Cursor** (`~/.cursor/skills/supbuddy/SKILL.md`). The install is reference-counted under a synthetic `__user__` ref so it persists independent of any project and is never pruned by the boot reconcile.\n- **Master \u2194 project**: the AI Skills tab is the **master** (user-level). To commit a skill into a specific repo, use that project's **AI Tools** tab and set the target to **Project** (the old `local` scope, which writes into the repo for teammates); **User** there means the master install covers it.\n- Agents whose global file holds *your own* content (Claude `CLAUDE.md`, Codex `AGENTS.md`, Copilot, Windsurf, Continue, JetBrains) are **project-level only**: a machine-wide write there could clobber your config, so they're injected per-project instead.\n\n## Tray menu\n\nThe macOS menu bar tray icon opens a menu with:\n\n- **Status: \u2026**: current proxy state (running / idle).\n- **DNS Active (:5353)**: shown when proxy is running.\n- **LAN Sharing (\\<ip\\>)**: shown when LAN sharing is on.\n- **Tailscale (\\<ip\\>)**: shown when Tailscale is connected.\n- **Start Proxy / Stop Proxy**: opens the dashboard.\n- **Projects**: each project opens a submenu with **Apps** (click to open the mapped URL), **Supabase** services (status dot + open), and **Scripts** (your bookmarked scripts as a one-click **Start <name>** / **Stop <name>** toggle), plus **Restart Supabase**/**Restart services** and **Show in Supbuddy**.\n- **Open Dashboard**.\n- **Sync AI context for all projects**: runs the project-context sync engine for every registered project (writes `.supbuddy/`, `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, etc.).\n- **Show Logs**: reveals `main.log` in Finder.\n- **Check for Updates...**: manual update check (only enabled in packaged builds). The panel names all three moving parts and their versions \u2014 the **app**, the **daemon** running inside it (`bundled` when it ships with the app, `npm` when it came from the CLI package), and the **CLI** itself \u2014 because they release on their own cadences and a single unlabelled version number cannot tell you which is behind. A **CLI-only release** is detected too: the check asks npm for the newest `supbuddy` and, when yours is older, says so and gives you the command (`npx supbuddy@latest`) even though the app itself is current. In that case the panel says *\"The app is up to date\"* rather than *\"You're up to date\"*, which would not be true. A CLI version it cannot determine is shown as **unknown** rather than left blank, and a failed registry check says it failed instead of implying you are current.\n- **Quit**.\n\n## File locations\n\nAll under `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/` on macOS:\n\n- `main.log` + `main.log.1`: app logs (rotates at 2 MB).\n- `state.json`: persistent state (projects, mappings, settings, MCP clients, license).\n- `caddy-data/`: Caddy's data dir (PKI, autosaves, certs).\n- `caddy-data/caddy/pki/authorities/local/root.crt`: the local CA cert installed in your Keychain.\n- `ca-bundle/current.crt`: cumulative PEM containing every Caddy root that has ever been emitted. Used by **Bundled-runtime trust** as the target for `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` / `SSL_CERT_FILE` / `REQUESTS_CA_BUNDLE`. Real file (not a symlink) so Bun-bundled CLIs read it correctly.\n- `ca-bundle/versioned/<sha>.crt`: per-root snapshots for forensics.\n- `Caddyfile`: generated reverse-proxy config.\n- `daemon.json`: written while a headless CLI daemon is running (pid, Socket.IO + MCP-HTTP ports, control token); `0600`, removed on shutdown. Used by `supbuddy` CLI commands to discover and authenticate to the daemon, and by the desktop app to detect a running CLI daemon at launch.\n- `certs/`: legacy CA from the pre-Caddy era (unused in current builds).\n\nMCP-specific:\n\n- MCP client tokens (file-backed secret, mode `0600`): `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/secrets/mcp-<client-id>.secret`\n- MCP audit log: under `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/`, capped at `audit_cap` entries (default 5000).\n\n## Troubleshooting\n\n### Run a health & drift scan first (`supbuddy doctor`)\n\nWhen something's off, `supbuddy doctor` is the quickest triage. It runs a **read-only** scan of 18 checks and prints findings by severity, and many of the issues below have a matching check \u2014 an unreadable `state.json`, an untrusted CA, a wedged Caddy, port 443 not redirecting, stale duplicate CA roots, legacy CA-trust LaunchAgents poisoning public TLS, an agent config still holding a revoked MCP token, a Firefox profile pinning an old Caddy root, and leftovers from deleted projects (Docker containers/volumes, `127.0.0.N` loopback aliases, `/etc/resolver` files, MCP token files). Add `--fix` to apply the opt-in repairs after a confirmation prompt \u2014 some checks are advisory and have no auto-fix. See [System doctor](#system-doctor) for the full check list and flags.\n\n### Browser shows \"Not secure\" or certificate warning\n\nThe Caddy CA is not trusted. Open **Settings \u2192 Network \u2192 Install Certificate**. macOS will prompt for your password \u2014 on macOS 15+ this is the *\"You are making changes to your Certificate Trust Settings\"* dialog for the per-user install. After install, fully restart your browser (Cmd+Q, not just close window). Verify: *Keychain Access* \u2192 **System** keychain, then the **login** keychain \u2192 search for \"Caddy Local Authority\".\n\nIf the install fails with `SecTrustSettingsSetTrustSettings: The authorization was denied since no user interaction was possible`, that is macOS 15+ refusing system-wide trust to a background helper; Supbuddy retries per-user automatically, and if you dismiss that dialog it shows you the no-`sudo` command to run yourself.\n\n### \"unable to get local issuer certificate\" / \"self signed certificate in certificate chain\" from Claude Code, Cursor, MCP servers, or other AI tools\n\nThese tools ship their own bundled JavaScript runtime (Bun, Electron, pkg-bundled Node) and ignore the system Keychain. Open **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Bundled-runtime trust** and click **Install**. Then *fully quit and relaunch* the AI tool; the env var only takes effect for newly-launched processes. Verify with `launchctl getenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` (macOS); it should print `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/ca-bundle/current.crt`. If install is refused with a conflict warning, you already have `NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS` pointing at a bundle Supbuddy doesn't own (often a corporate proxy / Zscaler), so Supbuddy won't silently overwrite; use the override prompt or manually concatenate the two PEMs.\n\nIf it *still* fails after a relaunch, the process is probably not using the value `launchctl getenv` prints. Compare them:\n\n```bash\nlaunchctl getenv NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS                     # what Supbuddy set\nnode -e \"console.log(process.env.NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS)\"   # what your shell actually has\n```\n\nIf they differ, an app launched *before* the install captured the old value and is handing it to every shell and dev server it spawns \u2014 `launchctl setenv` cannot change an already-running process. The trust panel lists the divergent value and names the app to relaunch; quitting and reopening that app (not just the terminal tab) fixes it. A value pointing at Caddy's own `caddy-data/\u2026/pki/authorities/local/root.crt` is the classic case: that file rotates independently of Supbuddy's bundle, so the two agree until they suddenly don't.\n\n### \"Docker is not running. Please start Docker Desktop.\"\n\nCompose and Supabase features need Docker. Open Docker Desktop and wait until the whale icon stops animating.\n\n### \"Docker Compose is not installed\"\n\nCompose v2 ships inside Docker Desktop. If you removed Docker Desktop and are using a standalone Docker daemon (e.g. Colima, Rancher), install compose: `brew install docker-compose`.\n\n### \"Leftover host containers\" / \"isolation drift\" warning on a project\n\nSupbuddy flags **isolation drift** when a project's running containers don't match its configured isolation mode, for example a **Host** project with a stale `thin`-mode stack still running, or a **Thin** project with leftover host-mode containers. Switching isolation modes doesn't tear down the old layer, so those containers linger, waste resources, and can shadow the project's real stack. The warning appears in the **warnings chip** next to the enable toggle (click it to see each item; it shows a spinner while Supbuddy re-checks), as an entry in the issues counter, and as a notice on the **Supabase** tab listing the exact containers and any data volumes.\n\n**Guided cleanup.** Open the Supabase tab \u2192 **Clean up leftovers\u2026** to stop and remove the leftover containers. Data volumes are kept by default; deleting them is opt-in, and when the leftover copy looks newer than the active one, it requires an explicit choice and a backup (tarred to `\u2026/Supbuddy/backups/<project>-<timestamp>/`). If you recently migrated a VM project, any leftover VM container from before migration can also be cleaned up from this flow.\n\nIf the leftover copy's data looks **newer** than the active one, the warning turns red; don't delete its volumes without first deciding which copy to keep. The Configure tab also shows a dismissible note when Supabase stacks are running on your host that Supbuddy doesn't manage at all (e.g. a plain `supabase start`).\n\n### MCP client says \"Invalid OAuth error\" or \"JSON Parse error: Unexpected EOF\"\n\nThe MCP client is trying OAuth discovery and getting an empty 404. Either the token was lost (regenerate it in **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 the client's \u22EF menu \u2192 Rotate token**) or you're on a build older than the OAuth-probe fix. Update to the latest version; the server now answers OAuth discovery paths with a structured 404 instead of an empty body, and 401 responses include `WWW-Authenticate: Bearer` so the client doesn't fall back to OAuth.\n\n### MCP token disappeared after app restart\n\nFixed in recent builds. If you're on an older version, regenerate the token. Root cause was that `addMcpClient` didn't trigger state persistence; the client was held in memory only.\n\n### Server Actions return 403 in a Next.js app behind Supbuddy\n\nNext.js's CSRF guard rejects POSTs whose Origin isn't in `experimental.serverActions.allowedOrigins`. Supbuddy detects this and flags it in the warnings chip: open the **Apps** tab and hit **Fix** on the affected app for a paste-ready snippet, or **Apply\u2026** to preview a unified diff and write the change to `next.config` directly. After applying, restart your dev server.\n\nOn **Next.js 15.3+/16**, a proxied dev request can also be blocked (e.g. a \"Cross origin request detected\" warning) because Supbuddy now passes the real browser `Origin` through rather than rewriting it, and Next validates it against `allowedDevOrigins` (which defaults to `localhost`). Add your Supbuddy domain to `allowedDevOrigins` in `next.config` \u2014 see [Next.js cross-origin dev requests](#nextjs-cross-origin-dev-requests-alloweddevorigins). This is a separate key from the Server Actions list; 15.3+/16 may need both.\n\n### Vite dev server returns \"Blocked request. This host is not allowed.\" (403)\n\nVite (v5+) rejects requests whose `Host` header isn't in `server.allowedHosts`, so a Vite app reached through a Supbuddy domain 403s until the host is allowed. Supbuddy detects this and flags `vite: N hosts blocked` in the warnings chip: open the **Apps** tab and hit **Fix** on the affected app for a paste-ready snippet, or **Apply\u2026** to preview a diff and write `server.allowedHosts` into your `vite.config` directly. **Restart the Vite dev server afterward**; Vite does not hot-reload its config. A single `.your-project.local` entry covers every subdomain.\n\n### `mail.<project>` opens another project's inbox, or Supabase refuses to start over port 54324\n\nSupabase CLI 2.x renamed the mail-catcher section `[inbucket]` to `[local_smtp]`. Builds up to 3.6.14 only read `[inbucket]`, so a project whose `config.toml` says `[local_smtp] port = 54624` had its mail port silently read as the stock **54324** \u2014 which on a multi-project machine is a *different* project's inbox. Three symptoms came from that one cause: the generated `mail.<project>` mapping pointed at 54324, `supabase start` was refused with \"Inbucket needs port 54324 (in use by \u2026)\" for a project that never wanted 54324, and Thin's port rewrite skipped the mail keys entirely (`managed port key \"inbucket.port\" not found in config.toml`). Current builds read whichever section your file declares. If you are on an older build, either update or rename the section to `[inbucket]`; after updating, rescan the project so the mapping is regenerated on the right port.\n\n### Toggling Supabase analytics said it restarted, and the stack never came back\n\nFixed in current builds. `set_supabase_analytics` (and the Supabase tab's analytics toggle) writes the config change and then restarts the stack in the background. Up to 3.6.14 the stop ran first and the start was preflighted only afterwards \u2014 so a start that could not succeed left the stack **down**, while the project card and `get_supabase_status` went on reporting every service as running from the snapshot taken before the stop.\n\nTwo things changed. The restart is now preflighted **before** anything is stopped, excluding the ports this project's own containers are about to free: if the start could not succeed, the whole operation is refused with the port and the process holding it, and **the running stack is left running**. And any restart that does fail is recorded on the project \u2014 surfaced as `supabase_error` on `get_supabase_status`, with the stack's still-\"running\" services downgraded to `unknown`, because after a failed restart that is what their state actually is. A later successful restart clears it.\n\n### Supabase Realtime: channel reaches `SUBSCRIBED` but no `postgres_changes` events arrive\n\nIf a channel subscribes fine (and writes succeed) but change events never fire, this is almost always **realtime warmup timing right after the stack starts** \u2014 not the Supbuddy proxy. Local Realtime can accept a channel join and report `SUBSCRIBED` before its logical-replication binding for the tenant is ready, so `INSERT`/`UPDATE`s in that brief window are silently missed. Give the stack a few seconds after the Supabase tab goes green, then re-subscribe (or reconnect the channel). This is **unrelated to the `.local` domain**: Kong routes `/realtime/v1/*` by path and rewrites the upstream `Host` to its internal realtime tenant, so reaching realtime through `https://api.<project>.local` behaves identically to the raw `localhost:54321` port \u2014 forwarding the `.local` host upstream does not change tenant resolution. The new `sb_publishable_*` / `sb_secret_*` API keys also work for local realtime (Kong maps them to the legacy JWT), so you don't need to switch key formats.\n\n### Project shows a red \"PROXY ERROR\" banner: domain resolves but won't load\n\nAfter the proxy starts, Supbuddy runs an end-to-end reachability check: it resolves a project domain through the OS resolver and tries to connect to Caddy on the HTTPS port. If the name resolves but the connection fails, the project shows a red **PROXY ERROR** banner naming the likely cause (DNS, port-forwarding, or mDNS race) plus a recovery action.\n\n**The check waits for the OS to settle, and a single miss no longer raises the banner.** Starting the proxy runs the privileged setup, which kickstarts `mDNSResponder` and rewrites `/etc/resolver` \u2014 for a few seconds afterwards macOS legitimately fails to resolve names it is about to serve normally. Up to and including 3.6.14 the check was a single probe fired 1.5 s after that, so it often measured the settling window rather than the machine: the banner cleared on restart and came back \"a few seconds later\", then stayed up until the next start even though every URL worked. Current builds re-probe across roughly the first **13 seconds** and only report a failure that outlives the whole window; a lookup that fails once is also retried before it counts as \"doesn't resolve\". Proxy start is not slowed \u2014 the check runs in the background.\n\n**A banner that no longer applies clears itself.** While a reachability fault is showing, Supbuddy re-checks about every **45 seconds** and takes the banner down as soon as the name resolves and the port answers again \u2014 so a machine that recovers on its own (a resolver reload finishing, Wi-Fi coming back, another device releasing an mDNS name) no longer needs a proxy restart just to stop showing a stale error. It is observation only: no password prompt, no repair, and no elevation. It also only clears the fault it raised \u2014 if a port-forwarding failure has since claimed the banner, that one stays up, and clearing still requires Caddy to be serving and the 443 redirect (when you asked for one) to answer.\n\nThe most common case: the domain resolves to `127.0.0.1` but port 443 won't connect because the elevated `pfctl` 443\u21928443 redirect drifted away (typically after a restart, so Caddy is up on 8443 with nothing forwarding 443). Click **Retry**; as of v2.3.6 it re-applies the port-forwarding rule (approve the sudo prompt). On older builds, toggle the proxy off\u2192on instead. If LAN sharing is **off**, disregard any \"LAN sharing / Bonjour\" wording in the banner; the cause is the missing forward, not mDNS.\n\n**If the name doesn't resolve at all, the banner now names the cause it actually measured.** Before writing that message Supbuddy probes a name only `/etc/resolver` can answer, and says one of two different things:\n\n- **The resolver path works, and the project is on `.local`.** macOS reserves `.local` for Bonjour/mDNS (RFC 6762), and mDNS is consulted by a path an `/etc/resolver/<suffix>` file does not govern \u2014 so the OS can return \"server not found\" for a name whose resolver file is present and correct. Retrying rewrites files that were already right and asks for your password to do it, which is why the message names the durable fix instead: move the project off that TLD, in the project dialog (**Settings \u2192 TLD**) or with `supbuddy project set <project> --tld=test`. (This is *not* the `.local` slowness of 3.5.17 and earlier \u2014 that was our own DNS server and it is fixed. This is resolution failing outright, which the suffix genuinely can cause.)\n- **The resolver path is dead \u2014 the OS is loading no `/etc/resolver` file at all.** Up to 3.6.14 the banner told these users to change their TLD too. That advice is measurably wrong here: on the machine this was diagnosed on, `.local`, `.test`, `.internal` **and** `.dev` all failed while `/etc/hosts` worked, so no suffix recovers it. The banner now says the OS is not loading `/etc/resolver`, that changing TLD will not help, and that Supbuddy has written your domains into `/etc/hosts` as a fallback (or will on the next proxy start). See [the `/etc/hosts` fallback](#when-macos-wont-load-etcresolver-the-etchosts-fallback).\n\n**Automatic repairs stop re-prompting.** When the proxy is running but unreachable, Supbuddy re-runs the privileged setup to recover it \u2014 and that batch always asks for your password. In current builds an *automatic* attempt (the app re-attaching, a boot auto-start, the owner-ready repair) is skipped if the **same** failure was already re-applied within the last **10 minutes** and didn't recover; the daemon logs one line and leaves the banner and its diagnosis standing. A repeated prompt that fixes nothing only teaches you to dismiss prompts. Anything **you** initiate \u2014 **Retry** in the app, `supbuddy proxy restart`, the MCP `start_proxy` \u2014 is never throttled, and a recovery, or a different fault, clears the cooldown immediately.\n\n### Port forwarding is on but 443 won't connect\n\nSupbuddy reports port forwarding as **active** only when a live probe confirms 443 actually reaches Caddy \u2014 the rule being on disk isn't enough. If the rule is present but not being enforced (typically right after a reboot, or when an older Supbuddy version left `/etc/pf.conf` in a broken state), the status carries a `pf_not_enforcing` diagnostic instead of a false \"enabled\", and the banner tells you to **restart the proxy** to re-apply the redirect.\n\n**If you see \"not enforcing\" or repeated password prompts with no mappings enabled**, you are on a build older than 3.6.12. The 443 probe was gated on the Caddy *process* being alive rather than on something actually listening, so a project with no enabled mappings \u2014 whose Caddyfile has no site blocks, leaving nothing bound to 8443 \u2014 made a correctly-loaded pf rule look dead: NOT ENFORCING, the red banner, and a repair prompt on every network change. Current builds report that machine as **unknown** and stay quiet. To confirm your ruleset is fine: `sudo pfctl -a 'virtual.localhost' -s nat` lists both `rdr` rules.\n\nOlder versions appended their `rdr-anchor` to the **end** of `/etc/pf.conf`, after Apple's filter anchor \u2014 which pf rejects, because translation rules must come before filtering rules. That silently invalidated the whole ruleset, so every later `pfctl -f` failed and 443 was dead. Current builds insert the anchor in the correct translation section and **self-heal** a file corrupted by the old version on the next proxy start. Supbuddy keeps a single stable backup at `/etc/pf.conf.supbuddy-backup` (older builds accumulated unbounded timestamped backups). If a restart doesn't fix it, inspect `/etc/pf.conf` and confirm the `rdr-anchor \"virtual.localhost\"` line sits before `anchor \"com.apple/*\"`.\n\n### Proxy came up but shows a degraded \"error\" state\n\nIf the one-time sudo prompt for port forwarding / DNS is cancelled or fails, Supbuddy no longer aborts the whole start. Caddy still starts and HTTPS keeps working on the high port (8443), and the CA is still generated; the proxy just shows an actionable **error** (degraded) state with a **Retry**. Click **Retry** and approve the sudo prompt to restore real-port (80/443) access and DNS. Until then, reach your apps on `https://<domain>:8443`.\n\n### Port already in use (8080, 8443, 5353, 9877)\n\nDefault ports: HTTP 8080, HTTPS 8443, DNS 5353, MCP 9877. Change them in **Settings \u2192 Network** / **Settings \u2192 MCP**. Find what's holding a port: `lsof -i :<port>`.\n\n### Wipe everything and start over\n\nUse `supbuddy reset` (see *System reset*) \u2014 it backs up anything you can't regenerate first, and it removes the things a plain `rm -rf` leaves behind (the pf redirect, the resolver files, the loopback aliases, the trusted CA):\n\n```bash\nsupbuddy reset --tier=soft   # just the app state and caches\nsupbuddy reset --tier=deep   # + services, Caddy leftovers, /etc integrations, CA trust\nsupbuddy reset --tier=full   # + project data, repo artifacts, secrets, service, app data\n```\n\nThe manual equivalent, if the CLI isn't available \u2014 quit Supbuddy first, and note that this deletes `secrets/` and any backups under it with no copy anywhere:\n\n```bash\n# Wipe app data (state, certs, Caddyfile, logs, MCP tokens under secrets/)\nrm -rf ~/Library/Application\\ Support/Supbuddy\n\n# Optional: remove the trusted CA\nsudo security delete-certificate -c \"Caddy Local Authority\" /Library/Keychains/System.keychain\n```\n\n## FAQ\n\n### Is Supbuddy free?\n\nYes. Supbuddy is free. Register as many projects and mappings as you want, with full HTTPS, full DNS, full Supabase isolation, and full read and write MCP access. There are no caps and no tiers.\n\n### Does Supbuddy send my data anywhere?\n\nNo. Caddy, the DNS server, and the MCP server all run locally on your Mac. The only outbound traffic is: Tailscale split-DNS push (only if you enabled it), auto-update checks (GitHub Releases), and Google Analytics on the marketing site (not the desktop app). The desktop app does not send telemetry.\n\n### Can I work offline?\n\nYes. The app works fully offline once the CA is trusted and projects are registered.\n\n### Linux / Windows support?\n\nThe desktop app is macOS-only in v2. The headless CLI and daemon also run on Linux, where `supbuddy service install` registers a `systemd-user` start-on-login unit (macOS uses `launchd`). Windows is not supported. A few desktop code paths (certutil, update-ca-certificates) anticipate other platforms but are not tested there.\n\n### Can I use my own TLD?\n\nYes. Set any TLD in **Settings \u2192 General \u2192 Default TLD**. Supbuddy installs `/etc/resolver/<project-domain>` files that tell macOS to query our DNS server for that project's domain. Avoid TLDs that actually resolve on the public internet (.com, .net, etc.); your browser will hit the real site for cached entries.\n\n### What happens if I delete a project?\n\nThe project moves to the Trash (visible in **Settings \u2192 MCP \u2192 Trash**) for 7 days, then is permanently deleted by the sweep timer. Restoring brings back the project record and all its mappings.\n\n### How do I uninstall Supbuddy?\n\n1. Quit the app (the full reset refuses to run while it's open, because its watchdog restarts the daemon).\n2. Run `supbuddy reset --tier=full` and type `RESET` when it asks. This backs up your project data, then removes the containers, volumes, `/etc` integrations, CA trust, repo artifacts, credentials, the start-on-login service and the app-data directory \u2014 keeping `<app-data>/backups/reset-<timestamp>/`. See *System reset*, including the short list of things it deliberately leaves behind.\n3. Drag **Supbuddy.app** from `/Applications` to the Trash, and move the backups directory somewhere safe (or delete it).\n4. If you'd rather not use the CLI: see \"Wipe everything and start over\" above for the manual equivalent, plus `sudo security delete-certificate -c \"Caddy Local Authority\" /Library/Keychains/System.keychain` to remove the trusted CA.\n\n### Where do I report a bug?\n\nEmail support with your version (visible at the bottom of the Settings popover) and the relevant lines from `~/Library/Application Support/Supbuddy/main.log`.\n";
   }
 });
 
@@ -41733,15 +41741,24 @@ loopback IP \u2014 target the app's **canonical** dev port (Next.js \`:3000\`, V
 share \`127.0.0.1\` and need unique ports.
 `;
 }
+function supabaseServicePort(project, type2, managedKey, stock) {
+  const svc = (project.services ?? []).find((s) => s.type === type2);
+  const snapshot = svc?.port ?? svc?.ports?.[0];
+  if (typeof snapshot === "number") return snapshot;
+  const managed = project.supabaseManaged?.ports?.[managedKey];
+  return typeof managed === "number" ? managed : stock;
+}
 function renderServicesMd(ctx) {
   const placeholder = ctx.write_secrets ? "<set; populated by Supbuddy>" : "<see Supbuddy \u2192 Configure, or use MCP tools>";
+  const apiPort = supabaseServicePort(ctx.project, "supabase-kong", "api.port", 54321);
+  const studioPort = supabaseServicePort(ctx.project, "supabase-studio", "studio.port", 54323);
   return HEADER(".supbuddy/services.md") + `# Services
 
 ## Supabase
 
 - **Status:** ${ctx.supabase_running ? "running" : "stopped"}
-- **API URL:** ${ctx.supabase_running ? "http://127.0.0.1:54321" : "<not running>"}
-- **Studio:** ${ctx.supabase_running ? "http://127.0.0.1:54323" : "<not running>"}
+- **API URL:** ${ctx.supabase_running ? `http://127.0.0.1:${apiPort}` : "<not running>"}
+- **Studio:** ${ctx.supabase_running ? `http://127.0.0.1:${studioPort}` : "<not running>"}
 - **Anon key:** ${placeholder}
 - **Service role key:** ${placeholder}
 
@@ -42311,10 +42328,17 @@ function buildContext(projectId, generatedAt) {
     project,
     mappings,
     proxyState: s.proxyState,
-    // Supabase status isn't yet exposed on the store — keep the honest "stopped"
-    // placeholder. Compose status IS live: the scanner writes per-service state
-    // into `project.services`, so reflect any running compose service here.
-    supabase_running: false,
+    // Both statuses come off the SAME per-service snapshot the scanner writes
+    // into `project.services`. Supabase used to be hardcoded `false` here — so
+    // every `.supbuddy/services.md` in every registered repo said "Supabase:
+    // stopped" whatever the truth, and `--force` re-rendered the same lie. An
+    // agent reading that file on a project with the stack up concluded the DB
+    // was down and acted on it. `startsWith('supabase')` (not an exact type)
+    // because the snapshot carries one entry per container — supabase-kong,
+    // -db, -studio, … — and matches get_supabase_status / the CLI / the TUI.
+    supabase_running: (project.services ?? []).some(
+      (sv) => typeof sv.type === "string" && sv.type.startsWith("supabase") && sv.status === "running"
+    ),
     compose_running: (project.services ?? []).some((sv) => sv.type === "compose" && sv.status === "running"),
     mcp_endpoint: `http://127.0.0.1:${s.mcpServerState.bound_port ?? s.settings.mcp.port}/mcp`,
     mcp_running: !!s.mcpServerState.running,
@@ -45449,6 +45473,44 @@ var init_commands = __esm({
   }
 });
 
+// src/tui-availability.ts
+function shipsTui(kind = cliBuildKind()) {
+  return kind === "dev";
+}
+function tuiUnavailableMessage(command, kind = cliBuildKind()) {
+  const feature = command === "tui" || command === "dash" ? "The live dashboard" : "The interactive picker";
+  const why = kind === "host" ? `${feature} is a separate React/Ink program (the \`@supbuddy/tui\` workspace
+  package). It is not staged into Supbuddy.app, so there is nothing here to run.` : `${feature} is a separate React/Ink program (the \`@supbuddy/tui\` workspace
+  package). It is not part of the npm package \u2014 \`supbuddy\` installs without
+  React, ink or tsx \u2014 so there is nothing here to run.`;
+  const where = kind === "host" ? `    * the Supbuddy app window you already have \u2014 same status, same projects,
+      same request tail
+    * a checkout of the repo:  ./scripts/supbuddy-dev ${command}` : `    * the Supbuddy desktop app \u2014 https://supbuddy.app
+    * a checkout of the repo:  ./scripts/supbuddy-dev ${command}`;
+  return [
+    `supbuddy ${command}: not available in this build.`,
+    "",
+    `  ${why}`,
+    "",
+    "  Where it IS available:",
+    where,
+    "",
+    "  The same information from this CLI, without the TUI:",
+    "    supbuddy status              daemon + proxy health",
+    "    supbuddy project ls          registered projects",
+    "    supbuddy map ls              domain \u2192 port mappings",
+    "    supbuddy logs requests -f    live request stream"
+  ].join("\n");
+}
+var TUI_COMMANDS;
+var init_tui_availability = __esm({
+  "src/tui-availability.ts"() {
+    "use strict";
+    init_build_identity();
+    TUI_COMMANDS = ["tui", "dash", "shell", "menu"];
+  }
+});
+
 // src/completions.ts
 var completions_exports = {};
 __export(completions_exports, {
@@ -45469,10 +45531,11 @@ function describe2(module, action) {
   if (action) return DESCRIPTIONS[`${module}:${action}`] ?? "";
   return DESCRIPTIONS[module] ?? "";
 }
-function zshCompletion() {
-  const tops = TOP_LEVEL.join(" ");
+function zshCompletion(kind = cliBuildKind()) {
+  const hidden = shipsTui(kind) ? /* @__PURE__ */ new Set() : new Set(TUI_COMMANDS);
+  const tops = TOP_LEVEL.filter((c) => !hidden.has(c)).join(" ");
   const subArms = [
-    ...Object.entries(COMMAND_TREE).filter(([, subs]) => subs.length > 0).map(([cmd, subs]) => `      ${cmd}) compadd ${subs.join(" ")}; return ;;`),
+    ...Object.entries(COMMAND_TREE).filter(([cmd, subs]) => subs.length > 0 && !hidden.has(cmd)).map(([cmd, subs]) => `      ${cmd}) compadd ${subs.join(" ")}; return ;;`),
     // Leaf modules whose first positional is a live target. NO `return`: these fall
     // through to the flag list below, so `supbuddy ready <tab>` offers both the
     // project names and `--fix`.
@@ -45542,6 +45605,8 @@ var COMMAND_TREE, GLOBAL_FLAGS, TOP_LEVEL, ARG_SOURCE, LEAF_ARG_SOURCE, DESCRIPT
 var init_completions = __esm({
   "src/completions.ts"() {
     "use strict";
+    init_build_identity();
+    init_tui_availability();
     COMMAND_TREE = {
       status: [],
       doctor: [],
@@ -46479,6 +46544,8 @@ init_state_dir();
 init_commands();
 init_completions();
 init_install();
+init_build_identity();
+init_tui_availability();
 import { realpathSync } from "fs";
 import { spawnSync as spawnSync4 } from "child_process";
 import { fileURLToPath as fileURLToPath3 } from "url";
@@ -46519,7 +46586,12 @@ function parseFlags(argv) {
   }
   return { flags, positionals };
 }
-var HELP = `supbuddy \u2014 headless developer proxy   (short alias: sup)
+function tuiHelpBlock(kind) {
+  if (!shipsTui(kind)) return "";
+  return "  supbuddy tui|dash                     Open the live dashboard.\n  supbuddy shell|menu [module]          Interactive picker: modules \u2192 actions.\n                                        (also opens via bare 'supbuddy', or a bare module like 'supbuddy proxy')\n";
+}
+function helpText(kind = cliBuildKind()) {
+  return `supbuddy \u2014 headless developer proxy   (short alias: sup)
 
 Usage:
   supbuddy status [--json]              Show daemon + proxy health.
@@ -46656,10 +46728,7 @@ Usage:
   supbuddy service install [--state-dir=PATH]  Install start-on-login daemon (launchd/systemd-user).
   supbuddy service uninstall                   Uninstall the daemon service.
   supbuddy service status                      Show service installation/running status.
-  supbuddy tui|dash                     Open the live dashboard.
-  supbuddy shell|menu [module]          Interactive picker: modules \u2192 actions.
-                                        (also opens via bare 'supbuddy', or a bare module like 'supbuddy proxy')
-  supbuddy run [--print] -- <dev cmd>   Thin-isolation dev launcher.
+${tuiHelpBlock(kind)}  supbuddy run [--print] -- <dev cmd>   Thin-isolation dev launcher.
   supbuddy completion zsh               Print a zsh completion script (see below).
 
 Global flags:
@@ -46674,6 +46743,21 @@ Global flags:
   -f, --follow      Follow/stream mode (log streaming + supabase start/stop/restart progress).
 
 See docs/MULTIMODE_DELIVERY_ASSESSMENT.md for the full roadmap.`;
+}
+function resolveSpawnOutcome(result, what, interpreter) {
+  if (result.error) {
+    const e = result.error;
+    return {
+      exitCode: 1,
+      message: `supbuddy ${what}: could not start it \u2014 ${e.message}
+  interpreter: ${interpreter}
+` + (e.code === "ENOENT" ? "  That path does not exist, so nothing ran. The TUI runs from a repo checkout\n  (`pnpm install` at the repo root), not from an installed CLI." : "  The child process never started, so nothing ran.")
+    };
+  }
+  if (typeof result.status === "number") return { exitCode: result.status };
+  const cause = result.signal ? `killed by ${result.signal}` : "exited with no status";
+  return { exitCode: 1, message: `supbuddy ${what}: the child ${cause} \u2014 nothing completed.` };
+}
 async function runShell(opts, stateDir, module) {
   const os15 = await import("os");
   const fs34 = await import("fs");
@@ -46684,7 +46768,12 @@ async function runShell(opts, stateDir, module) {
   const env3 = { ...process.env, SUPBUDDY_SHELL_RESULT: resultFile };
   if (stateDir) env3.SUPBUDDY_STATE_DIR = stateDir;
   if (module) env3.SUPBUDDY_SHELL_MODULE = module;
-  spawnSync4(tsxBin, [shellEntry], { stdio: "inherit", env: env3 });
+  const spawned = spawnSync4(tsxBin, [shellEntry], { stdio: "inherit", env: env3 });
+  const outcome = resolveSpawnOutcome(spawned, module ? `shell ${module}` : "shell", tsxBin);
+  if (outcome.message) {
+    console.error(outcome.message);
+    return outcome.exitCode;
+  }
   let chosen = null;
   try {
     chosen = JSON.parse(fs34.readFileSync(resultFile, "utf8"));
@@ -46776,6 +46865,11 @@ async function dispatch(argv, opts) {
     }
     case "tui":
     case "dash": {
+      const kind = cliBuildKind();
+      if (!shipsTui(kind)) {
+        console.error(tuiUnavailableMessage(command, kind));
+        return 1;
+      }
       const tuiEntry = fileURLToPath3(new URL("../../tui/src/bin.tsx", import.meta.url));
       const REPO_ROOT2 = path39.resolve(fileURLToPath3(import.meta.url), "..", "..", "..", "..");
       const tsxBin = path39.join(REPO_ROOT2, "node_modules", ".bin", "tsx");
@@ -46789,10 +46883,17 @@ async function dispatch(argv, opts) {
         return typeof ec === "number" ? ec : ec instanceof Promise ? await ec : 0;
       }
       const result = spawnSync4(tsxBin, [tuiEntry], { stdio: "inherit", env: env3 });
-      return result.status ?? 0;
+      const outcome = resolveSpawnOutcome(result, command, tsxBin);
+      if (outcome.message) console.error(outcome.message);
+      return outcome.exitCode;
     }
     case "shell":
     case "menu": {
+      const kind = cliBuildKind();
+      if (!shipsTui(kind)) {
+        console.error(tuiUnavailableMessage(command, kind));
+        return 1;
+      }
       const stateDir = typeof flags["state-dir"] === "string" ? flags["state-dir"] : void 0;
       const mod = positionals[0] === "projects" ? "project" : positionals[0];
       return await runShell(opts, stateDir, mod);
@@ -46845,16 +46946,16 @@ async function dispatch(argv, opts) {
         const { runInstaller: runInstaller2 } = await Promise.resolve().then(() => (init_install(), install_exports));
         return await runInstaller2();
       }
-      if (process.stdin.isTTY && process.stdout.isTTY) {
+      if (shipsTui() && process.stdin.isTTY && process.stdout.isTTY) {
         return await runShell(opts, typeof flags["state-dir"] === "string" ? flags["state-dir"] : void 0);
       }
-      console.log(HELP);
+      console.log(helpText());
       return 0;
     }
     case "help":
     case "--help":
     case "-h":
-      console.log(HELP);
+      console.log(helpText());
       return 0;
     /**
      * WHAT AM I, AND WHAT AM I TALKING TO?
@@ -46899,7 +47000,7 @@ ${mismatch}`);
       const mod = command === "projects" ? "project" : command;
       const hasActions = (COMMAND_TREE[mod]?.length ?? 0) > 0;
       if (hasActions && positionals.length === 0 && !flags.json && !flags.details && !flags.help) {
-        if (process.stdin.isTTY && process.stdout.isTTY) {
+        if (shipsTui() && process.stdin.isTTY && process.stdout.isTTY) {
           return await runShell(opts, typeof flags["state-dir"] === "string" ? flags["state-dir"] : void 0, mod);
         }
         console.log(`supbuddy ${mod} \u2014 actions:`);
@@ -46970,7 +47071,9 @@ if (isMain) {
 export {
   dispatch,
   flushStream,
+  helpText,
   parseFlags,
+  resolveSpawnOutcome,
   resolveStopOutcome
 };
 /*! Bundled license information: