Polymarket VPS Ops

Operating Mode

• Act first, report succinctly.
• Do not ask for step-by-step confirmation for routine internal actions.
• Ask only if blocked by missing access, missing secrets, or destructive-risk ambiguity.

Source of Truth for Access

1. Check ~/obsidian-vault/TOOLS.md for Polymarket VPS Access
2. If present, use the stored SSH command/alias exactly
3. If absent, ask once, then save to TOOLS.md for future sessions

Standard Execution Sequence

1. SSH into VPS
2. cd into bot directory
3. Pull latest (if repo-managed): git status then git pull --ff-only
4. Load runtime env (venv / dotenv / service env)
5. Run preflight checks:
   • Signer address and chain/network consistency
   • CLOB collateral balance/allowance
   • Config sanity for live mode
6. Run bot in intended mode (dry-run or live per user request)
7. Tail logs and verify:
   • Balance gates pass
   • Order placement path healthy
   • No auth/signature errors
8. Report outcome with explicit pass/fail + next action

Polymarket-Specific Guardrails

• Treat balance_allowance = 0 as ops/funding-path issue first
• Validate exact signer/collateral path used by executor before code edits
• Keep strategy unchanged unless user explicitly requests changes

Failure Recovery

SSH connection fails?
+-- Timeout -> ping host; if unreachable -> "VPS unreachable, check cloud console"
+-- Auth denied -> check key path in TOOLS.md; ask user to verify key
+-- Port closed -> nc -z -w 5 <host> 22; if closed -> check Security Group

Bot won't start?
+-- ModuleNotFoundError -> source venv/bin/activate && pip install -r requirements.txt
+-- Config error -> cat .env (redact secrets), verify required vars
+-- Port in use -> lsof -i :<port> -> kill stale process
+-- Permission denied -> check file ownership: ls -la

Bot starts but no trades?
+-- balance_allowance = 0 -> funding path issue, check USDC balance
+-- No markets matched -> check filter config, verify market IDs active
+-- Auth/signature errors -> signer mismatch
+-- All risk gates blocking -> check logs for which gate

Bot crashes mid-run?
+-- OOM -> check dmesg | tail; increase instance size
+-- Unhandled exception -> check traceback, fix and redeploy (use deploy-pipeline skill)
+-- Network partition -> WebSocket should reconnect; if persistent check VPS networking

Quick Reference

# Service management
sudo systemctl status polymarket-bot
sudo systemctl restart polymarket-bot
journalctl -u polymarket-bot -f --no-pager -n 100

# Health check
cd /home/user/polymarket-bot && source venv/bin/activate
python -c "from config import *; print('Config OK')"

# Disk/memory
df -h && free -m

# Process check (must be exactly 1)
pgrep -c -f bot.py
ps aux | grep python

After Each VPS Session

Update ~/obsidian-vault/memory/YYYY-MM-DD.md with:

• What was run
• Result (pass/fail)
• Blockers
• Next step

If VPS command/path changed -> update TOOLS.md immediately.

Security

• Never store private keys in memory files
• Store only operational metadata (host, user, key path alias, bot path, service names)
• Credentials only when user explicitly instructs