AI Coding Tools on PMSS

Every Pulsed Media seedbox running a current PMSS has three AI coding assistants installed system-wide: claude (Claude Code, Anthropic), codex (Codex CLI, OpenAI) and gemini (Gemini CLI, Google). They live outside your home directory, so they take none of your disk quota, and they run as your own user with no root access. Each one needs your own account or API key with the company that makes it. The tools connect from the seedbox straight to that vendor, and you pay the vendor for the usage.

What is installed

Command	Tool	Vendor	What you need
`claude`	Claude Code	Anthropic	API key or subscription
`codex`	Codex CLI	OpenAI	API key or subscription
`gemini`	Gemini CLI	Google	Gemini API key, or Google Cloud organisation access

Each tool keeps its settings and login in its own hidden folder in your home directory. PMSS updates install these copies. Claude Code is held at a fixed version, because some newer releases hang on startup on Pulsed Media servers. Google ended personal Google-account sign-in for Gemini CLI (Google AI Pro, Ultra and the free individual tier) on 18 June 2026, so Gemini CLI on a seedbox needs an API key or organisation access.

Personal copies (optional)

Your home directory also holds install-ai-tools.sh, which installs personal copies of all three tools into ~/bin and ~/.local:

bash ~/install-ai-tools.sh

It asks before installing, uses about 1 GB of your quota, and checks downloads against published checksums where one exists. Personal copies are the latest upstream releases, not the versions PMSS pins. Because the system directories come first in your PATH, typing claude still starts the system copy; run a personal copy by its path, for example ~/bin/claude. Most people never need this.

Starting a tool

You need a shell on the seedbox. Two ways in:

SSH from your own computer, see How to connect via SSH.
The Console tab in the seedbox dashboard, on servers where it is available. It opens a shell in the browser as your own account, with no SSH client needed. Only one console window can be connected at a time. The info tab also has a Persistent (tmux) button: that session keeps running after you close the panel, which suits long agent runs.

Then set your key and start the tool. Put export lines in ~/.bashrc.user, not ~/.bashrc, which PMSS replaces on updates (Shell customization on PMSS explains why):

# ~/.bashrc.user
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="your-key"
export GEMINI_API_KEY="your-key"
export OPENAI_API_KEY="your-key"

Codex reads the key through its own login step:

printf '%s' "$OPENAI_API_KEY" | codex login --with-api-key

After that, claude, codex or gemini opens an interactive session. Start it from the directory you want it to work in.

Who these tools suit

A coding agent with a shell can write scripts, sort and rename files, edit app configs, read logs and chase down why something stopped working. It does that with your account's permissions, on your files, and the model usage behind it is paid to the vendor through your own key or subscription. The seedbox price does not include it.

That makes the tools a good fit for people who already use a terminal and want to automate their seedbox, and a poor first step for someone setting up a seedbox for the first time. If an agent proposes a command you cannot read, you cannot judge whether to approve it. A new user is better served by the dashboard and the Install Media Stack button on its welcome tab, which sets up Radarr, Sonarr, Prowlarr, Jellyfin, SABnzbd, Autobrr and Cloudplow without a shell (see Install Media Stack). The AI tools can come later, once the box is familiar.

For an agent that keeps running between sessions and that you reach from a browser or a chat app instead of a terminal, PMSS has a separate opt-in installer: see OpenClaw on PMSS.

Your keys and your data

PMSS ships no credentials. Each account brings its own key or subscription, and PMSS sets no proxy or alternative endpoint for these tools, so they talk to the vendor you chose under that vendor's terms.

Your prompts, and whatever the agent reads while answering them (file contents, command output), go to that vendor. Point the agent at the directories it needs and keep it away from the rest.

On the seedbox itself, the managed shell profile sets umask 077. Files you create, including the tools' settings and login files, are readable only by your account unless you change their permissions.

These are your tools, separate from Väinämöinen, the AI system Pulsed Media runs for its own server operations and support.

Using them safely

Back up first. The agent can delete or overwrite anything your account can, so keep copies of data you cannot replace (3-2-1 Backup Strategy).
Leave the tools in their ask-before-running mode and read each command before approving it. Avoid full-auto modes while the agent works on downloaded files or web pages: text inside them can carry instructions aimed at the agent (prompt injection).
On servers with a Linux kernel older than 5.13, Codex cannot sandbox its own commands. Review its approvals there with extra care.
Never put a key in your web folders, in a torrent or in a file you share. If the vendor's console offers a spending limit, set one.
Other accounts on the same server can connect to a port you open. A test web server or API an agent starts needs a password, or should be stopped when you are done.
Run long sessions inside tmux (the Persistent console, or tmux over SSH) so a dropped connection does not kill them. Agent processes count against your account's memory limit, the same budget your torrent client runs in.

Troubleshooting

command not found: Usually the server has not yet received the PMSS update that installs the tools. Ask support.
A personal copy of Claude Code crashes with "Illegal instruction": The personal installer detects this on older CPUs and falls back to a build that runs on them. Re-run bash ~/install-ai-tools.sh.
Codex authentication errors: Check that OPENAI_API_KEY is set in the current shell, then repeat the codex login step.
Gemini refuses a Google account sign-in: Personal Google-account sign-in no longer works for Gemini CLI. Use a Gemini API key.

The installers are open source: AI CLI tools in the PMSS repository.

Claude Code, Codex and Gemini CLI are included with every Pulsed Media seedbox at no extra charge, alongside SSH access to run them from. See the seedbox plans.