BlumeOps Docs

Ringtail

3 min read

Ringtail

Service host and gaming PC. Custom-built PC running NixOS.

Specifications

PropertyValue
MotherboardASUS ROG Crosshair VI Hero (Wi-Fi AC)
CPUAMD Ryzen 7 1700X (8-core/16-thread, 3.4 GHz)
RAM32 GB DDR4 (4x8 GB Corsair Vengeance CMK16GX4M2B3200C16, 3200 MT/s DOCP)
GPUNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 (AD103, 16 GB VRAM)
MonitorHP OMEN 27i IPS (2560x1440, 165 Hz, DisplayPort)
Storage (boot)Samsung 970 PRO 1TB NVMe
Storage (SATA)Samsung 850 EVO 1TB (/mnt/games), 850 EVO 500GB (/mnt/storage1), 840 PRO 120GB (/mnt/storage2)
PeripheralsDas Keyboard 4, Logitech MX Master 3, 8BitDo Ultimate 2 controller
OSNixOS 25.11 (Sway/Wayland)
Tailscale hostnameringtail.tail8d86e.ts.net

Software

Managed declaratively via nixos/ringtail/configuration.nix. Home-manager handles ringtail-specific sway/waybar config; chezmoi manages cross-platform dotfiles.

  • Desktop: Sway (Wayland, Catppuccin Macchiato theme) with waybar and wezterm
  • Browser: LibreWolf
  • Gaming: Steam (library on /mnt/games), 8BitDo controller via Steam Input
  • Audio: Edifier R1280DBs (Bluetooth), PipeWire
  • Secrets: 1Password CLI + GUI (NixOS modules for polkit/setgid integration)
  • Runtimes: mise manages Node, Python, Rust, .NET; nix-ld enables dynamically linked binaries
  • Dotfiles: chezmoi init eblume && chezmoi apply

Deployment

mise run provision-ringtail

This locks new flake inputs via Dagger, verifies the current commit is pushed to forge, then deploys the exact commit via ansible. If the lockfile changed, it stages the file and exits so you can commit and re-run. To update all inputs to latest versions, see manage-lockfile.

K3s Cluster

Ringtail runs a single-node k3s cluster for native amd64 workloads, registered in ArgoCD on indri as k3s-ringtail.

  • Disabled components: Traefik, ServiceLB, metrics-server (minimal footprint)
  • TLS SAN: ringtail.tail8d86e.ts.net (ArgoCD connects via Tailscale)
  • Registry mirrors: Containerd pulls through Zot on indri (registry.ops.eblu.me)
  • Token: /etc/k3s/token (generated on first provision)
  • Kubeconfig: /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml (world-readable via --write-kubeconfig-mode=644)

Secrets Management

1Password Connect + External Secrets Operator syncs secrets from 1Password to k8s, matching the indri pattern. Bootstrap credentials (op-credentials, onepassword-token) are provisioned by Ansible; ArgoCD manages the operator stack.

Sync order: 1password-connect-ringtail → external-secrets-crds-ringtail → external-secrets-ringtail → external-secrets-config-ringtail

Workloads

WorkloadNamespaceNotes
frigatefrigateNVR with GPU-accelerated detection (RTX 4080)
frigate-notifyfrigateWebapi-to-ntfy alert bridge
authentikauthentikOIDC identity provider
ntfyntfyPush notification server
ollamaollamaLLM inference with GPU (RTX 4080)
nvidia-device-pluginnvidia-device-pluginExposes GPU to pods via CDI + nvidia RuntimeClass

Manual Cluster Registration

After first provision, register the cluster in ArgoCD:

ssh ringtail 'sudo cat /etc/rancher/k3s/k3s.yaml' | \
  sed 's|127.0.0.1|ringtail.tail8d86e.ts.net|' > /tmp/k3s-ringtail.yaml
set -x KUBECONFIG /tmp/k3s-ringtail.yaml
kubectl get nodes  # verify access
argocd cluster add default --name k3s-ringtail

Systemd Services

Snowflake Proxy

A Tor snowflake-proxy that helps censored users reach the Tor network. Runs as a simple systemd service using the snowflake nixpkgs package. The proxy is not a Tor exit node — it only bridges encrypted WebRTC connections to Tor relays.

PropertyValue
Service unitsnowflake-proxy.service
Metricslocalhost:9999/metrics (Prometheus)

Forgejo Actions Runner

A native Forgejo Actions runner (ringtail-nix-builder) runs as a systemd service via the NixOS services.gitea-actions-runner module. It builds containers using nix-build and pushes them to Zot via skopeo.

PropertyValue
Labelnix-container-builder
ExecutionHost (no containers)
Token/etc/forgejo-runner/token.env (provisioned by Ansible)
Service unitgitea-runner-nix_container_builder.service

The runner resolves <nixpkgs> from the flake registry at build time. Container trust policy (/etc/containers/policy.json) and registry search order (/etc/containers/registries.conf) are configured minimally in configuration.nix for skopeo — no full virtualisation.containers module needed.

Pinned Service Versions

Versioned services (forgejo-runner, snowflake, k3s) are pinned via a nixpkgs-services overlay in flake.nix, separate from the rolling nixpkgs input. This prevents nix flake update from silently upgrading them. The Dagger flake-update pipeline excludes nixpkgs-services automatically. See review-services for the upgrade procedure.

Maintenance Notes

1Password: Desktop app must be running for op CLI. Use $mod+Shift+minus to send to scratchpad.

NVIDIA: Proprietary drivers. Sway launched with --unsupported-gpu via greetd.

No TPM: systemd.tpm2.enable = false prevents 90s boot delay.

RAM speed: Running at 3200 MT/s via DOCP 1 (BIOS 8902+).

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