Server Agents

Learn how to add, install, and manage Buddy Agents on servers and endpoints.

Available platforms

Buddy agent (bdy) daemon is available for:

• Linux x64 / ARM64
• macOS ARM64
• Windows x64

How to add an agent

1. From the left-hand menu in the Buddy dashboard, select Server Agents.
2. Click Add Agent.
3. Select a platform. Image loading...
4. After selecting the platform, you will see an interface with three installation method tabs.
   • APT (Linux x64/ARM64)
   • Homebrew (macOS ARM64)
   • Chocolatey (Windows x64)
   • Download (curl)
   • NPM (requires Node.js ≥ v20)
5. Navigate to the appropriate tab and copy the displayed installation command.
6. Paste the copied command into your server and run it.

Bdy Installation

Linux

Install bdy from the APT repository:

bash
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common
sudo gpg --homedir /tmp --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/buddy.gpg --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys eb39332e766364ca6220e8dc631c5a16310cc0ad
echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/buddy.gpg] https://es.buddy.works/bdy/apt-repo prod main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/buddy.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y bdy
$$$$

Alternatively, download the bdy package directly or use NPM.

MacOS

Install bdy via Homebrew:

bash
brew tap buddy/bdy
brew install bdy
$$

Alternatively download the package or use NPM.

Windows

Install bdy via Chocolatey:

bash
choco install bdy --version=1.9.37-prod --pre
$

Alternatively download the package or use NPM.

Agent Installation

When adding an agent, an on-site token is generated. You can use that token to install the agent using:

bash
bdy agent install -s -t <TOKEN> --target
$

Replace with the actual token provided in your dashboard.

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After the Agent is installed, a window for the created agent will appear in the Dashboard where you will find information such as:

• Agent Name - editable name (e.g., mike-laptop, prod-api) to help identify the agent.

• IP - public IP used by the agent, useful for firewall rules or debugging.

• Hostname - system hostname of the machine running the agent.

• Last Seen - last time the agent communicated with the server.

• Version - installed bdy agent version.

• Uptime - how long the agent has been running since the last start.

• Started - timestamp when the agent was last started.

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In this panel, you can also:

• Start/Stop the agent
• Delete the agent
• Restart the tunnel if it is not functioning properly
• Delete the tunnel

You will also see active tunnels listed, including:

• Public URL - the externally accessible address of the tunnel.
• Forwards To - the local address on the agent's machine that traffic is forwarded to (e.g., http://localhost:4000).
• Auth - authentication method used for the tunnel, if configured (e.g., HTTP BA).
• Status - the tunnel's current state (e.g., ONLINE , OFFLINE).

Additionally, you will be able to configure a persistent tunnel from this interface.

Expose as Target

Select the Expose this server agent as a target option to make this agent available as an SSH target.

Once enabled, the agent will appear in the list of available targets and can be used, for example, in SSH actions.