Claude Dev Environment - Ansible Automation

Ansible playbook for automated installation of Claude development environment on Rocky Linux ARM64 servers.

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IMPORTANT: For working with Claude CLI, login as user dev (not root):

ssh dev@<server-ip>

What Gets Installed

• EPEL repository
• Basic tools (git, tmux, htop, curl, wget)
• Development Tools (gcc, make, ...)
• Docker CE + Docker Compose plugin
• NVM + Node.js LTS
• Python 3 + pip
• Go (ARM64)
• Claude CLI (@anthropic-ai/claude-code)
• Claunch + cl command (interactive session manager)

What Gets Configured

• /src directory for projects
• ~/README.txt - quick reference for working on server
• MOTD - shows running Claude sessions on login
• PATH in .bashrc for Go, NVM, ~/bin

Requirements

Local Machine

# macOS
brew install ansible

# or pip
pip install ansible

Server

• Rocky Linux 9 (ARM64)
• SSH access as root
• Internet connection

How to Run

1. Verify Connection

ansible -i inventory.ini claude_servers -m ping

2. Dry Run (test without changes)

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbook.yml --check

3. Installation

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbook.yml

4. Specific Tags Only

# Docker only
ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbook.yml --tags docker

# Claude tools only
ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbook.yml --tags claude,claunch

# MOTD and README only
ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbook.yml --tags motd,templates

Adding a New Server

1. Copy the example inventory (if not done already):

cp inventory.ini.example inventory.ini

2. Edit inventory.ini:

[claude_servers]
my-server ansible_host=1.2.3.4 ansible_user=root
another-server ansible_host=5.6.7.8 ansible_user=root

[claude_servers:vars]
git_user_name=Your Name
git_user_email=your@email.com

3. Run the playbook:

ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini playbook.yml

VS Code Remote SSH

Configuration (~/.ssh/config)

Host my-claude-server
    HostName 1.2.3.4
    User dev
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa

Workflow

1. VS Code: Cmd+Shift+P → "Remote-SSH: Connect to Host"
2. Select my-claude-server
3. Open /src/<project>

Working on the Server

After login, MOTD displays overview of running Claude sessions.

Quick Start - Just Type cl

The easiest way to work with Claude on the server is the cl command - an interactive session manager:

cl                      # Interactive menu - select existing session or create new one

This gives you a menu to:

• See all running tmux sessions
• Attach to any existing session with one keypress
• Start a new Claude session in current directory

New Project

cd /src
mkdir my-project && cd my-project
git init
cl                      # Interactive menu to start Claude

Direct Claunch Commands

claunch                 # Start Claude in current directory
claunch --tmux          # Start in tmux (persistent session)
claunch list            # List running sessions
claunch clean           # Clean orphaned sessions

Working with tmux Sessions

cl                      # Easiest way - interactive menu
# or manually:
claunch --tmux          # Start Claude in tmux
# Ctrl+B, D             # Detach
tmux attach -t <name>   # Reattach

Useful Commands

cl                      # Interactive session manager
src                     # Alias for "cd /src"
cat ~/README.txt        # Quick reference

Project Structure

remoteclaude/
├── README.md                            # This file
├── CLAUDE.md                            # Context for Claude
├── inventory.ini.example               # Server list template (copy to inventory.ini)
├── inventory.ini                        # Your local server list (git ignored)
├── playbook.yml                         # Main Ansible playbook
├── server-readme.txt                    # Copy of README for server
└── templates/
    ├── new-project.sh.j2                # New project script
    ├── docker-compose.template.yml.j2   # Docker template
    ├── README.txt.j2                    # README for ~/README.txt
    ├── motd.sh.j2                       # MOTD script
    └── cl.sh.j2                         # Interactive session manager

Troubleshooting

SSH Key Not Accepted

ssh-copy-id root@<server-ip>

Ansible Can't See Server

ansible -i inventory.ini claude_servers -m ping -vvv

Docker Not Working

systemctl status docker
journalctl -u docker

Claunch Not in PATH

source ~/.bashrc
# or
~/bin/claunch --help