vaco-machine-setup

Full machine setup & migration tool. Backs up credentials, AI agent state, and tool configs from your current machine — then installs everything on a new machine.

Install

From npm registry

npm install -g vaco-machine-setup

From local checkout

git clone <repo-url> vaco-machine-setup
cd vaco-machine-setup
npm install -g .

Or install directly in your home project:

npm install vaco-machine-setup
npx vaco-setup --help

From a tarball (no network)

# Package it on the old machine
npm pack
# Copy vaco-machine-setup-1.0.0.tgz to the new machine
npm install -g vaco-machine-setup-1.0.0.tgz

Verify installation

vaco-setup --version
vaco-setup --help

Workflow

Step 1: Backup your current machine

vaco-setup backup --output ./my-backup.tar.gz

This collects:

• Credentials: SSH keys, git config, Docker auth, Claude auth, npmrc
• AI state: Claude Code sessions/projects/skills, Hermes config, OpenCode config
• Agent skills: All 21 installed skills (caveman, do, make-plan, etc.)
• Tool configs: Neovim, tmux, starship, btop, lazygit, and 15+ more
• Shell configs: .zshrc, .bashrc
• Manual binaries: VPS agent

Output: ./my-backup.tar.gz (~1-5 MB)

Step 2: Copy backup to the new machine

scp ./my-backup.tar.gz user@new-machine:~/
# or USB, or any other transfer method

Step 3: Install tools on the new machine

# On the new machine (requires sudo for system packages)
vaco-setup install

Or with agent skills:

vaco-setup install --with-skills

This installs:

• System deps: curl, git, docker, tmux, zsh
• CLI tools: neovim, starship, fzf, btop, lazygit, bat, lsd, ripgrep, fd
• Dev runtimes: bun, uv, node, python, go, rust
• AI agents: opencode, rtk, hermes, iii, claude-code, gemini-cli, qwen-code
• Python tools: glances (pipx), kimi-cli, mempalace (uv)

Step 4: Restore configs from backup

vaco-setup restore ./my-backup.tar.gz --force

Restores all backed-up files to their correct locations with proper permissions (SSH keys → 600, credentials → 600, etc.)

All-in-one

vaco-setup full ./my-backup.tar.gz --with-skills --force

This runs install + restore in sequence.

Options

| Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | --output <path> | Backup destination path | | --with-skills, -s | Also install agent skills from GitHub (slow) | | --force | Overwrite existing config files during restore | | --exclude-skills | Exclude AI skill files from backup | | --exclude-state | Exclude non-essential AI state from backup |

Manual steps after setup

exec zsh                          # Restart shell
claude login                      # Claude Code authentication
ssh -T [email protected]             # Verify SSH keys work
gcloud auth login                 # If using Google Cloud

What gets backed up (full list)

~/.ssh/                          SSH keys, config, known_hosts
~/.gitconfig                     Git identity
~/.docker/config.json            Docker registry auth
~/.claude/                       Claude Code settings, credentials
~/.hermes/config.yaml            Hermes agent config
~/.agents/                       Installed agent skills + skill-lock
~/.agent-link/                   Agent-link hub (skills, agents, rules, workflows)
~/.config/opencode/              OpenCode config, plugins, memory
~/.config/rtk/                   RTK filter rules
~/.config/starship.toml          Shell prompt
~/.config/nvim/                  Neovim config
~/.config/tmux/                  Tmux config
~/.config/btop/                  System monitor config
~/.config/fastfetch/             System info config
~/.config/lazygit/               Git TUI config
~/.config/lazydocker/            Docker TUI config
~/.config/nushell/               Nushell config
~/.config/fish/                  Fish shell config
~/.config/colima/                Container runtime config
~/.config/zed/                   Zed editor config
~/.config/gcloud/                Google Cloud auth
~/.zshrc                         Zsh config
~/.bashrc                        Bash config
~/bin/vps-agent                  VPS agent binary

Development

git clone <repo>
cd vaco-machine-setup
npm link                          # Link locally for testing

# Test backup
vaco-setup backup --output /tmp/test.tar.gz --exclude-state

# Test help
vaco-setup --help

Package structure

├── bin/setup-vaco.js         CLI entry point
├── scripts/install-tools.sh  Tool installation (bash)
├── config/                   Default config templates
├── lib/backup-list.js        Definitive file list for backup/restore
└── package.json              npm package definition

To publish:

npm login
npm publish

License

MIT