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Getting Started with obacht

1. Adding a Device​

Navigate to Devices in the sidebar and click + Add Device.

Devices list

Enter a name and select the device type (e.g. Raspberry Pi), then click Add Device.

Add New Device dialog

The device detail page opens. Status shows Not Setup. Click Start Setup to enter the setup wizard.

Device overview — setup required

2. Flashing the SD Card​

Select SD-card preparation script (recommended) and click Continue.

Pick installation method

Step 1 — Flash Raspberry Pi OS​

Open Raspberry Pi Imager (v2.x). Select your Raspberry Pi model.

Select device

Choose Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit).

Choose OS

Select your SD card as the storage device.

Select storage

In the Customisation screens, set a hostname, localisation, and user account.

Hostname

Localisation

User account

If the Pi will use Wi-Fi, enter your SSID and password. Under Remote access, enable SSH with password authentication.

Wi-Fi

SSH authentication

Leave Raspberry Pi Connect disabled.

Raspberry Pi Connect — disabled

Review the summary and click Write, then confirm the erase dialog.

Write summary

Erase confirmation

After flashing, keep the SD card inserted. A drive named bootfs appears on your computer.

Step 2 — Copy the obacht bundle to the SD card​

In the obacht wizard, click Download ZIP to get obacht-boot-fs-<devicename>.zip. Unzip it — four files appear: cmdline.txt, firstrun.sh, README.txt, and ssh.

Unzipped obacht bundle

Drag all four files onto the bootfs drive. Confirm overwriting cmdline.txt with Yes.

bootfs with obacht files copied

Step 3 — Boot the Pi​

Eject the SD card, insert it into the Pi, and power on. The wizard page updates live as setup completes.

SD card wizard overview

Setup in progress

3. Unlocking Power Mode​

Some templates require elevated system access (systemctl, iptables). By default the agent runs as an unprivileged user — Power Mode must be unlocked explicitly.

Once the device is online, go to the Settings tab and scroll to the Power Mode section. Current state shows Locked. Click Unlock Power Mode.

Device online

Settings — Power Mode locked

If your SSH key has a passphrase, a prompt appears. Then confirm the unlock dialog.

SSH key passphrase prompt

Unlock Power Mode confirmation

The settings page updates to show Unlocked and a plan execution log confirms the change. Lock Power Mode again when it is no longer needed.

Power Mode unlocked

4. Using Terminal​

Go to the Terminal tab and click Connect. The session opens over SSH tunnelled through the obacht WireGuard network — no local SSH client or open ports required.

Terminal — before connect

Terminal — connected

Sessions time out after 15 minutes of inactivity. Click Disconnect to close early.

5. Using Files​

The Files tab provides a browser-based SFTP file manager. Use the breadcrumb bar to navigate the filesystem (/home, /opt, /var, etc.). Files can be viewed, downloaded, uploaded, or deleted directly from the browser.

Files browser

6. Viewing Telemetry​

Go to the Telemetry tab to see live system metrics. The top row shows a summary: CPU usage, memory, disk, and temperature.

Telemetry — overview

Scroll down for detailed breakdowns of CPU, memory, disk usage, and networking — including the obacht network IP, local IP, and global IP.

Telemetry — detail