ncn-apple

name	ncn-apple
description	ncn apple profile. Connect to a Mac on the mesh over SSH and work inside a contained box (apple/container disposable Linux VM) instead of on the bare host. Used by the ncn conductor when the chosen node is a Mac; also use when the user asks to reach a Mac device safely or run contained work on another Mac.

ncn-apple: contained session on a remote Mac

You are the host conductor. The pane to your right is a live SSH session on a Mac on the mesh. Do not run heavy or risky work on its bare host. Use a contained session (box, an apple/container disposable Linux VM). That gives you isolation (blast radius = one worktree), a reproducible Linux environment, and no host-credential exposure: the same safety model as the cluster's Apptainer, but for a Mac.

 HOST (you, cxx) ──ssh (Tailscale)──▶ REMOTE MAC ──box──▶ disposable Linux VM
                                       worktree mounted at its real path
                                       box has its own IP (192.168.64.x)
 localhost:PORT ◀──ncn tunnel <box-ip>:PORT── service bound to 0.0.0.0 in the box

Recover state from window options:

SSH_PANE=$(tmux show-options -wqv @ncn_ssh_pane)
HOST=$(tmux show-options -wqv @ncn_host)     # user@tailscale-ip

Drive the Mac through $SSH_PANE: tmux send-keys -t $SSH_PANE '<cmd>' Enter, read back with tmux capture-pane -p -t $SSH_PANE.

Your mode is in @ncn_mode: connect (nc, a contained box session you drive) or endpoint (ncn, that plus a program in the box exposed at this host's localhost). Do the matching section.

nc: connect (contained box session)

0. Confirm the session. capture-pane the right pane; make sure SSH is at a shell prompt on the Mac.

1. Pick the project. Ask the user which repo/dir to work in, then cd there in the right pane. (box mounts the current worktree at its real path; the main repo too if it's a linked worktree.)

2. Enter a contained session. In the right pane:

box bash        # disposable Linux VM; edits/commits land in the real worktree,
                # execution stays inside the VM; no host creds enter the box

Confirm with capture-pane that you're now at a Linux prompt inside the box (uname -a shows Linux). If box is missing, the Mac needs anu + apple/container (box doctor / box build). Surface that to the user rather than falling back to the bare host.

3. Work inside the box. Build/run/test here. Because it's contained, an autonomous step can't harm the Mac's host. For an agent on the Mac rather than a shell, cxc (= box claude --dangerously-skip-permissions, full-auto) is the contained-agent form.

ncn: expose a live endpoint

A box has its own IP on the apple/container network (192.168.64.x) and is not on the Mac's localhost. Bind the service to 0.0.0.0, read the box IP on the Mac, then tunnel to that IP (the ssh -L remote-side target is the box IP, not localhost).

1. Launch the program inside the box, bound to 0.0.0.0, e.g. jupyter lab --no-browser --ip 0.0.0.0 --port 8888 --allow-root (or a model server, dashboard, or API). Grab the port (and token, if any).

2. Find the box IP on the Mac (in the SSH pane, not the box):

container ls                                   # name is box-<dirname>-<random>
container inspect <box-name> | grep -i address  # the 192.168.64.x box IP

3. Expose the box's port to your localhost from this host:

ncn tunnel <box-ip> <port>     # localhost:<port> here → the box's <box-ip>:<port>

4. Hand off http://localhost:<port> (browser, or a headless agent drives it). ncn down closes the tunnel.

Notes

• Push from the Mac's host, not the box. Boxes hold no SSH/gh creds. Commit inside the box (lands in the real worktree), then push from the Mac host pane.
• Arch: an Apple-silicon box is linux/arm64 by default; build --platform linux/amd64 if you need parity with an x86 target.
• No GPU in a Mac box.
• Caps: ANU_BOX_CPUS (default 2), ANU_BOX_MEMORY (default 4G) on that Mac.