← All use cases DevOps & Config

Edit configs, manage services, deploy with vim and systemctl

Your agent edits nginx configs in vim, reloads services, checks logs with less, and verifies the changes — exactly like an SRE would. Full-screen editors and interactive pagers are first-class citizens.

Illustrative workflow and output. Verify application compatibility and results in your own test environment.

devops & config
$ claude "add rate limiting to the API gateway"
 
> shell_exec("vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/api.conf", interactive=true)
 
limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr
zone=api:10m rate=100r/s;
~
~
-- INSERT --
 
> shell_send_raw("\x1b:wq\n")
> shell_exec("nginx -t")
nginx: configuration file test is successful
> shell_exec("systemctl reload nginx")
 
Rate limiting applied. Nginx reloaded.

The problem

DevOps work lives in the terminal. Editing config files means using vim or nano. Checking service status means systemctl. Reading logs means less, journalctl, or tail. These are all interactive, full-screen applications that no AI agent could operate — until now.

Configuration management tools like Ansible or Terraform handle the happy path, but troubleshooting, one-off fixes, and exploratory changes still require a human operator at a keyboard. The gap between "deploy the playbook" and "figure out why the config isn't working" is where the real time goes.

How agend solves it

agend gives your AI agent full interactive access to the terminal tools SREs use daily:

  • Edit files in vim/nano — the agent opens the editor, navigates to the right section, makes changes, saves and exits with the correct key sequences
  • Manage services — start, stop, restart, and check status with systemctl, reading the actual output
  • Read logs interactively — use less, journalctl, or tail with search, pagination, and filtering
  • Validate before applying — run nginx -t, apachectl configtest, or named-checkconf before reloading
  • Chain operations safely — edit config, test config, reload service, verify service health — all in one workflow

What you can automate

  • Nginx/Apache/HAProxy configuration changes
  • SSL certificate renewal and verification
  • Firewall rule management (iptables, ufw, nftables)
  • DNS configuration and zone file editing
  • Cron job management and scheduling
  • Docker/Podman container management
  • Kubernetes kubectl operations

Key MCP tools used

  • shell_exec — launch vim, systemctl, journalctl in interactive mode
  • shell_send_raw — send vim commands (:wq, /search, dd, etc.)
  • shell_raw_stdout — read the current editor/pager screen
  • shell_file_put — write config files directly when editing isn't needed

Who is this for

  • SRE and platform engineering teams
  • DevOps engineers managing infrastructure
  • System administrators with many servers
  • Anyone who edits config files in production

Give your agent SRE-level access to your infrastructure.

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