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AgentKennel

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Install guide · Hetzner

Install AgentKennel on Hetzner Cloud

Paste one script into the Cloud config field while you create the server. About ten minutes later the dashboard is up on HTTPS, with a dozen Claude Code terminals ready to start. No SSH needed.

What you need

1. Copy the setup script

This is a cloud-init script. When the server boots for the first time, it creates a user named agents with sudo, and runs the AgentKennel installer as that user with your password. The installer sets up Claude Code, the dashboard and a Let's Encrypt certificate.

With JavaScript on, this page puts a random password into the script for you.

cloud-init
#cloud-config
users:
  - default
  - name: agents
    shell: /bin/bash
    sudo: ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL
runcmd:
  - [bash, -c, "sudo -iu agents bash -c 'curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/yanhs/agentkennel/master/install.sh | AGENTKENNEL_PASSWORD=CHANGE-ME bash -s -- --yes --no-guests' > /var/log/agentkennel-install.log 2>&1"]

The script installs from the master branch of the public repository, the same command as the README's one-line install, with --yes (ask nothing) and --no-guests (no other people work on this server). Its output goes to /var/log/agentkennel-install.log.

2. Create the server

  1. In the Hetzner Console, open your project, choose Servers in the left menu, then Add server.
  2. Type and Location: pick a plan and a location near you (see the size note below).
  3. Image: Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04 or Debian 12.
  4. Networking: keep the public IPv4 address. The dashboard's address is made from it.
  5. SSH key is optional: you won't need SSH for this guide.
  6. In Cloud config, paste the script from step 1.
  7. Give the server a Name and press Create & Buy now.

Hetzner runs cloud-init only on the system images it provides, so use one of those rather than a custom image or snapshot.

How big a server?

The AgentKennel README doesn't name a minimum size. Memory decides how many terminals can be loaded at once: each loaded terminal is its own Claude Code process. AgentKennel keeps at most 12 loaded (AGENTKENNEL_MAX_ACTIVE), unloads one that has been idle for 2 hours, and brings it back when you click it. Start with the number of agents you expect to run at the same time; the Server tab shows how much memory each one uses. Hetzner can change the server's plan later with Rescale, to plans with a disk at least as large as the current one.

3. Wait, then open the dashboard

Give it 5 to 10 minutes. The installer gets a free name for the server's IP address from sslip.io and a trusted certificate for it, so you don't need a domain. The address is the public IPv4 address with dashes instead of dots:

Sign in with the password from the script.

4. Sign in to Claude in the first terminal

Press ＋ New. A terminal opens in ~/projects with Claude Code running in it. The first time, Claude Code asks for a colour theme, then how to log in: your Claude subscription or an API key. Follow its prompts. You do this once; every terminal after that uses the same login. Then give the agent its first task.

5. Change the password

The script, with the password in it, is stored in the server's metadata at Hetzner. Anyone who can read your Hetzner account or that metadata can read it. After the first sign-in, open the dashboard's menu ⋯ → Password and set a new one.

Forgot it later? Open the server's console at Hetzner and run sudo -iu agents ~/agentkennel/install.sh --reset-password. It prints a new one-time link to set a new password; the old one and every signed-in browser stop working.

If the page doesn't open

If the address still doesn't load after 15 minutes, read the install log. In the Hetzner Console, open the server and select the console icon at the top right: a VNC console in the browser. You sign in as root; if you don't know its password, the server's Rescue tab has Reset root password. Sign in there and run:

sudo tail -n 40 /var/log/agentkennel-install.log

Next steps

Hetzner documentation