feat(box): land interactive SSH/login shells in /workspace

[madarco]

Problem

Adding a box as a remote host (Codex app, VS Code Remote-SSH, or plain ssh <box>) opened the session in /home/vscode instead of the project at /workspace, forcing the user to navigate there every time.

SSH config has no start-directory directive. The only client-side option — RemoteCommand cd /workspace && exec $SHELL -l — would break the shared agentbox Host block for scp/sftp (agentbox open sshfs) and VS Code's remote bootstrap (agentbox code). So the fix is server-side.

Change

Make interactive login shells cd /workspace via the existing /etc/profile.d/agentbox.sh shim every box already installs:

case $- in
  *i*)
    if [ "$PWD" = "$HOME" ] && [ -d /workspace ]; then
      cd /workspace
    fi
    ;;
esac

Guarded so it's safe:

• interactive-only (case $- in *i*) → scp/sftp and ssh box <cmd> are untouched
• only when at $HOME → never overrides a caller-chosen dir (agentbox's own tmux -c /workspace stays a no-op)
• -d /workspace → never cd into a missing dir

Applied to all provider login-shell shims for consistency: hetzner (install-box.sh), vercel (provision.sh), e2b (build-template.sh), and the canonical docker Dockerfile.box (regenerated runtime copy follows on build).

E2E results (live Hetzner)

Re-baked the Hetzner snapshot with the updated install-box.sh, created a real box (sshdir), and verified against the live VPS:

#	Check	Result
1	Interactive login shell (Codex-app / VS Code Remote-SSH / plain ssh sshdir)	Lands in /workspace — prompt vscode@...:/workspace$, pwd -> /workspace
2	Non-interactive ssh sshdir pwd	Stays in /home/vscode — guard skips ($- = hBc, no i)
3	scp file sshdir:/workspace/ (sftp subsystem)	Succeeds; file read back

Box destroyed and Hetzner VPS/firewall/SSH-alias cleanup confirmed (no orphans). Also syntax-checked the generated shim under both bash -n and sh -n.

https://claude.ai/code/session_01An9tT8HqjQoGKKVWuYg4bb

---

Note

Low Risk
Shell startup-only change with explicit interactive and PWD guards; no auth or application logic touched. Effect is limited to new image/template bakes until providers are refreshed.

Overview
Interactive login shells now cd /workspace when the session still starts in $HOME, so Remote-SSH, Codex remote hosts, and plain ssh <box> open in the project tree instead of /home/vscode.

The behavior is added to the existing /etc/profile.d/agentbox.sh shim across docker, hetzner, vercel, and e2b bake/install paths. Guards keep it interactive-only (case $- in *i*)), require PWD = $HOME, and [ -d /workspace ] so scp/sftp, ssh box <cmd>, and callers that already pick a working directory are unchanged.

Existing boxes need a re-bake/rebuild of the base image or template for the shim update to apply.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit e8c64f4. Configure here.}

[vercel]

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1 Skipped Deployment

Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
agentbox-web	Skipped		Jun 27, 2026 2:48pm