Brian Memory Sync: Hetzner <-> Contabo

Brian Memory Sync: Hetzner <-> Contabo

Date: 2026-04-20
Canonical source: Hetzner (ubuntu-8gb-hel1-1, 89.167.17.183, tailscale 100.99.129.102)
Mirror: Contabo (173.249.30.224)

Decision: rsync pull (not unison, not git)

• Hetzner is canonical. Contabo is a read-only mirror for Brian's second body.
• Chosen: rsync pull from Contabo, systemd-timer every 10 min.
• Rejected: unison (bidirectional — conflict-prone when Brian edits identically on both); git (overhead, merge conflicts on machine-generated files like session_handoffs).
• If Brian genuinely edits memory from Contabo, the edit must be written through to Hetzner via SSH (e.g., ssh hetzner 'cat > /path') — memory writes are not supposed to originate on the mirror.

Paths synced

Pulled from Hetzner -> Contabo:
- /root/.claude/projects/-/memory/ (all memory files)
- /opt/agent/data/brian/IDENTITY.md
- /root/CLAUDE.md
- /root/.claude/docs/
- /opt/agent/data/capabilities.md
- /opt/agent/tools/claude-memory-compiler/knowledge/

Transport

• Currently: SSH over public IP (Host hetzner in /root/.ssh/config on Contabo -> 89.167.17.183).
• After Tailscale join (step 3 of integration): switch Host hetzner to tailscale IP 100.99.129.102 for private transport.

Files

• Canonical sync script: /opt/agent/scripts/sync_brian_to_contabo.sh (Hetzner)
• Deployed copy on Contabo: /root/sync_brian_to_contabo.sh
• systemd service: /etc/systemd/system/brian-memory-sync.service (Contabo)
• systemd timer: /etc/systemd/system/brian-memory-sync.timer (Contabo, OnUnitActiveSec=10min)
• Log: /var/log/brian_memory_sync.log (Contabo)

Operations

• Force a sync now: ssh contabo 'systemctl start brian-memory-sync.service'
• Check last run: ssh contabo 'systemctl list-timers brian-memory-sync.timer --no-pager'
• Tail log: ssh contabo 'tail -f /var/log/brian_memory_sync.log'

If bidirectional is ever needed

Use git-over-SSH with Hetzner hosting a bare repo at /opt/agent/git/brian-memory.git. Not set up today because rsync-pull solves the actual use case (Brian needs a read-only copy of his brain to boot).