What is deploy-vps-bootstrap?

A guided setup procedure for a new Ubuntu 22.04 or 24.04 Linux VPS, which is a rented internet server, after first logging in as root. It covers creating a deploy user, securing SSH, firewall setup, runtime installation, and deployment preparation.

Hardening SSH, configuring UFW and fail2ban, enabling security updates and swap, installing Node or Python and Docker, and cloning an application with its environment file.

It provides an ordered checklist for turning a bare server into a production-ready host while requiring confirmation before changes that could lock out access.

How arunanksharan/claude-forge configures Claude Code

Reuse

Borrowing it

Nothing to install: this file belongs to arunanksharan/claude-forge. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.

Copy the file

curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/arunanksharan/claude-forge/main/.claude/skills/deploy-vps-bootstrap/SKILL.md

Clone the repo

git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/arunanksharan/claude-forge

Made for: Claude Code.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

README.md

[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/arunanksharan/claude-forge/deploy-vps-bootstrap.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/arunanksharan/claude-forge/deploy-vps-bootstrap)

Your own site

<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/arunanksharan/claude-forge/deploy-vps-bootstrap"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/arunanksharan/claude-forge/deploy-vps-bootstrap.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Per session 99 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.

When invoked 497 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.

Security scan B 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.

Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.

Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

Model	Per session	Once invoked
Fable 5.1	$0.00099	$0.00497
Opus 5	$0.00049	$0.00249
Sonnet 5	$0.00020	$0.00099
Haiku 4.5	$0.00010	$0.00050

Measured 7d ago against content hash 53daed20404d, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-07, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

deploy-vps-bootstrap scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 7d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Reaches for credential filesmediumPrivilege escalation

SSH keys, cloud credentials, git-credentials, .npmrc, /etc/shadow: reading these is how a config file becomes a credential leak.

- SSH key on their laptop (`~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub`)?

Downgraded: this mod is about security review, or the phrase is quoted, so it is likely naming the pattern rather than instructing it.

.claude/skills/deploy-vps-bootstrap/SKILL.md · 31 lines

What it actually says

Bootstrap a Fresh VPS (claudeforge)

Follow deployment/ssh-and-remote-server-setup.md. Walk the user through these steps, asking before destructive actions:

Verify the user's setup:
- Domain pointing to the server's IP (A and AAAA records)?
- SSH key on their laptop (~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub)?
- Username they want for the deploy user (default: deploy)?
- Runtime: Node, Python, or both?
Walk through the steps in order from the deployment guide:
- Step 1: create non-root user, copy SSH key, test login
- Step 2: disable root SSH + password auth (test in a new window first!)
- Step 3: UFW firewall (allow OpenSSH + Nginx Full)
- Step 4: fail2ban
- Step 5: automatic security updates
- Step 6: swap (if RAM < 4GB)
- Step 7: timezone (UTC)
- Step 8: install runtime deps (Node via fnm/nvm, or uv for Python)
- Step 9: Docker (if using compose)
- Step 10: clone the project + create .env
Each command should be run by the user (you don't have SSH access to their server). Provide commands to copy-paste, ask for output if needed to verify.
NEVER assume: ask before disabling password auth, UFW enable, anything that could lock them out.
After bootstrap: point them to deploy-docker-nginx-ssl skill for the next stage (nginx + SSL + app deploy).

This skill is interactive — the user is doing the steps on their server. Be patient, confirm output at each gate.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

7d ago First seen · 31 lines · 99 tokens per session scan B 53daed20404d

Subscribe to this mod's changes

deploy-vps-bootstrap is a skill published in the GitHub repository arunanksharan/claude-forge (2 stars, last pushed 4mo ago), licensed Unlicense. It adds 99 tokens to every session and 497 once invoked, about $0.0005 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (reaches for credential files). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.

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