Dashboard Remote Access

Problem

Dashboard binds to 127.0.0.1:9119 by default. Accessing from a different machine (e.g., local laptop → cloud VPS) requires either SSH tunnel or insecure bind.

Recommended: SSH Port Forwarding

# On your local machine
ssh -L 9119:127.0.0.1:9119 user@server-ip
# Then open http://127.0.0.1:9119 in browser

Pitfall (Windows): ssh: connect to host ... port 22: Connection timed out — almost always a cloud security group issue. Check your cloud provider's security group / firewall rules to allow inbound TCP 22. SSH socket activation (ssh.socket) is enabled by default on Ubuntu; the service itself may show inactive (dead) — that's normal, socket activation triggers it on connection.

Password Protection (Reverse Proxy)

Dashboard has no built-in password auth. Options:

Nginx + Basic Auth

sudo apt install nginx apache2-utils
sudo htpasswd -c /etc/nginx/.htpasswd your-username

server {
    listen 8080;
    location / {
        auth_basic "Hermes Dashboard";
        auth_basic_user_file /etc/nginx/.htpasswd;
        proxy_pass http://127.0.0.1:9119;
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;
        # WebSocket support for Chat TUI
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";
    }
}

Caddy (simpler config)

:8080 {
    basicauth * {
        username $hashed_password
    }
    reverse_proxy localhost:9119
}

Generate hash: caddy hash-password --plaintext 'your-password'

Alternative: Insecure Bind (⚠️ exposes API keys)

hermes dashboard --insecure --port 9119
# Access via http://server-ip:9119

Only use on trusted/private networks. The dashboard exposes .env contents including API keys. The --insecure flag exists because there's no built-in auth — the warning is intentional.

TUI Mode (Embedded Chat)

hermes dashboard --tui --no-open

Adds a Chat tab to the web UI — a browser-based hermes --tui via PTY/WebSocket. Useful when CLI access is inconvenient.

Common Issues

Multiple dashboard processes: hermes dashboard --stop kills all
Port conflict: change port with --port 8080
Gateway must be running for Kanban dispatch to work (hermes gateway status)
SSH connection timeout from Windows: check cloud security group allows inbound TCP 22

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