Docs: boxd auto-hibernate takes the tailnet node down with it - #135
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An idle boxd machine cold-snapshots after four hours by default (`auto_hibernate: 14400s`). tailscaled goes down with the host, so the node reads `offline, last seen …` in the Tailscale console — which looks like an expired key or a deregistered node, and isn't. `boxd machine wake <vm>` restores it with its state and the SAME tailnet IP, and systemd brings the engine back on its own. Hit for real on ateam-probe: hibernated after 6h idle, woken, node back at 100.81.40.73, and the phone's endpoint answered protocolVersion 2 again. The iOS section gets the sharper warning, because there it isn't an annoyance: the phone CANNOT wake a hibernated box — waking needs the boxd CLI or API, which the iOS app knows nothing about. So "agents around the clock, reachable from your phone" and auto-hibernate are incompatible, and any box backing the phone needs `auto-hibernate.timeout 0`.
pallaoro
enabled auto-merge (squash)
August 21, 2026 20:39
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An idle boxd machine cold-snapshots after four hours by default (
auto_hibernate: 14400s).tailscaledgoes down with the host, so the node readsoffline, last seen …in the Tailscale console — which looks like an expired key or a deregistered node, and is neither.boxd machine wake <vm>restores it with its state and the same tailnet IP, and systemd brings the engine back on its own.Hit for real on
ateam-probe: hibernated after 6h idle → woken → node back at100.81.40.73→ the phone's endpoint answeredprotocolVersion 2again.The iOS section gets the sharper warning, because there it isn't an annoyance: the phone cannot wake a hibernated box — waking needs the boxd CLI or API, which the iOS app knows nothing about. So "agents around the clock, reachable from your phone" and auto-hibernate are incompatible, and any box backing the phone needs
auto-hibernate.timeout 0.Docs only. The page's
Verified againstline is deliberately left at v0.1.39 / boxd 0.2.5 — re-stamping without re-running the whole recipe would be exactly the fake stamp the directory's rules forbid.