Unattended Installation and Upgrade¶

The installer and the upgrade script can run with no keyboard at all. Every question they would ask is answered from a small answers file (or from VA_* environment variables), which is what lets a deployment tool, a CI job, or a Verdikta agent install and maintain arbiters over SSH.

Interactive runs are unchanged: without --answers / --unattended the scripts prompt exactly as before.

Quick start¶

git clone https://github.com/verdikta/verdikta-arbiter.git
cd verdikta-arbiter/installer

cp config/unattended.env.example ~/arbiter-answers.env
chmod 600 ~/arbiter-answers.env
$EDITOR ~/arbiter-answers.env          # at minimum: VA_PRIVATE_KEY + RPC endpoints

./bin/install.sh --answers ~/arbiter-answers.env

The answers are validated before anything is installed (installer/bin/validate-answers.sh); a missing or malformed value stops the run with the key name to fix. Delete the answers file when the run finishes — it holds your private key and API keys.

Upgrades work the same way, and unset keys take the safe defaults (no job regeneration, no funding):

cd verdikta-arbiter && git pull
./installer/bin/upgrade-arbiter.sh --answers ~/arbiter-answers.env
# or, with no file at all:
./installer/bin/upgrade-arbiter.sh --unattended --target-dir ~/verdikta-arbiter-node

How it works¶

installer/lib/prompts.sh provides ask_yes_no, prompt_value and prompt_secret. Interactively they behave like the read loops they replaced. When VERDIKTA_UNATTENDED=1 is exported they never touch stdin: each question is answered from its VA_* key, else from the default the call site declares, else the run fails fast (exit code 65) naming the missing key. Nothing ever blocks waiting for a terminal.
--answers FILE sources the file with every variable exported, so the answers reach all sub-scripts (setup-environment.sh, configure-node.sh, register-oracle-dispatcher.sh, …).
--unattended does the same without a file: put the VA_* variables in the environment instead.
A value the installer rejects (for example a private key that is not 64 hex characters) does not loop forever — the second attempt to read the same key aborts the run with "rejected by validation".
Piping answers into an interactive run (printf 'y\n' | ./bin/install.sh) still works, and exhausting stdin now aborts with a clear message instead of spinning on a yes/no loop.

Answer keys¶

The complete, commented list is installer/config/unattended.env.example. The keys that matter most:

Key	Meaning	Default
`VA_PRIVATE_KEY`	Deployment wallet private key (64 hex, `0x` tolerated). Required.	—
`VA_RPC_HTTP_URLS` + `VA_RPC_WS_URLS`	Semicolon-separated RPC lists (paired). One of these or `VA_INFURA_API_KEY` is required.	—
`VA_INFURA_API_KEY`	Infura key; endpoints are generated for the network	—
`VA_NETWORK`	`base_sepolia` or `base_mainnet`	`base_sepolia`
`VA_INSTALL_DIR`	Installation directory	`~/verdikta-arbiter-node`
`VA_OPENAI_API_KEY`, `VA_ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `VA_HYPERBOLIC_API_KEY`, `VA_XAI_API_KEY`, `VA_OPENROUTER_API_KEY`	Provider keys (blank = skip)	blank
`VA_PINATA_JWT`	Pinata JWT for IPFS uploads	blank
`VA_JUSTIFICATION_MODEL`	Menu number 1-10	recommended for your keys
`VA_ARBITER_COUNT`	Jobs to create (1-10)	`1`
`VA_REGISTER_ORACLE` / `VA_AGGREGATOR_ADDRESS` / `VA_CLASS_IDS`	Dispatcher registration	`n` / — / `128`
`VA_INSTALL_CRON`, `VA_STATUS_PAGE_REPORTING`	Watchdog cron + status-page reporting	`y` / `y`
`VA_FUND_KEYS` / `VA_FUND_AMOUNT`	Fund the Chainlink keys at the end	`n` / recommended
`VA_START_SERVICES`	Start the arbiter when done	`y`
`VA_UPGRADE_BACKUP`	(upgrade) copy the install aside first	`y`
`VA_UPGRADE_REGENERATE_JOBS`	(upgrade) regenerate job specs + re-register on-chain	`n`

Yes/no keys accept y/n, yes/no, true/false, 1/0.

Standalone tools¶

The operator tools copied into the install root accept the same flags:

~/verdikta-arbiter-node/register-oracle.sh --answers ~/arbiter-answers.env   # VA_AGGREGATOR_ADDRESS, VA_CLASS_IDS
~/verdikta-arbiter-node/update-rpc-endpoints.sh --unattended                 # VA_RPC_HTTP_URLS, VA_RPC_WS_URLS
~/verdikta-arbiter-node/arbiter-doctor.sh --fix --yes                        # already non-interactive

Exit codes¶

Code	Meaning
`0`	Success
`1`	A step failed (see the log)
`65`	An unattended answer is missing or was rejected; nothing further was run

Running over SSH¶

The scripts install Node.js and Docker with sudo on Ubuntu/Debian, so the SSH user must be root or have passwordless sudo. Long-running installs should be detached so an SSH drop does not kill them:

nohup ./bin/install.sh --answers ~/arbiter-answers.env > ~/arbiter-install.log 2>&1 &
tail -f ~/arbiter-install.log