Vast.ai Deployment Improvements (February 2026)

This document describes the comprehensive improvements made to Vast.ai deployment for GPU-accelerated streaming and duel hosting.

Overview

The Vast.ai deployment has been significantly enhanced with better reliability, audio capture, database persistence, and diagnostic capabilities. These changes ensure stable 24/7 streaming with automatic recovery.

Major Improvements

1. PulseAudio Audio Capture

What: Capture game audio (music and sound effects) for streaming. Implementation:

User-mode PulseAudio (more reliable than system mode)
Virtual sink (chrome_audio) for audio routing
Automatic fallback to silent audio if PulseAudio fails
XDG runtime directory at /tmp/pulse-runtime

Configuration:

# Automatic in deploy-vast.sh
export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/tmp/pulse-runtime
export PULSE_SERVER=unix:/tmp/pulse-runtime/pulse/native

See: docs/streaming-audio-capture.md

2. DATABASE_URL Persistence

Problem: DATABASE_URL was lost during git reset operations in deployment. Solution: Write secrets to /tmp before git reset, restore after:

# Before git reset
cp /tmp/hyperscape-secrets.env /root/hyperscape/packages/server/.env

# After git reset
if [ -f "/tmp/hyperscape-secrets.env" ]; then
    cp /tmp/hyperscape-secrets.env /root/hyperscape/packages/server/.env
fi

Impact: Database connection survives deployment updates.

3. Database Warmup

Problem: Cold start issues with PostgreSQL connection pool. Solution: Warmup step after schema push with 3 retry attempts:

# Warmup database connection
for i in 1 2 3; do
    if bun -e "
        const { Pool } = require('pg');
        const pool = new Pool({ connectionString: process.env.DATABASE_URL });
        pool.query('SELECT 1').then(() => { 
            console.log('DB warmup successful'); 
            pool.end(); 
        });
    "; then
        break
    fi
    sleep 3
done

Impact: Eliminates cold start connection failures.

4. Stream Key Management

Problem: Stale stream keys in environment overrode correct values from secrets. Solution: Explicit unset and re-export before PM2 start:

# Clear stale keys
unset TWITCH_STREAM_KEY X_STREAM_KEY X_RTMP_URL KICK_STREAM_KEY KICK_RTMP_URL
unset YOUTUBE_STREAM_KEY  # Explicitly disable

# Re-source from .env
source /root/hyperscape/packages/server/.env

# Verify (masked)
echo "TWITCH_STREAM_KEY: ${TWITCH_STREAM_KEY:+***configured***}"

Impact: Correct stream keys always used, no more wrong-platform streaming.

5. YouTube Removal

What: YouTube streaming explicitly disabled from default destinations. Why: Focusing on Twitch, Kick, and X for lower latency and better live betting experience. Implementation:

# Explicitly unset YouTube keys
unset YOUTUBE_STREAM_KEY YOUTUBE_RTMP_STREAM_KEY
export YOUTUBE_STREAM_KEY=""

To re-enable:

# packages/server/.env
YOUTUBE_STREAM_KEY=your-youtube-key
YOUTUBE_RTMP_URL=rtmp://a.rtmp.youtube.com/live2

6. Streaming Diagnostics

What: Comprehensive diagnostic output after deployment. Includes:

Streaming API state
Game client status (port 3333)
RTMP status file
FFmpeg processes
PM2 logs (filtered for streaming keywords)

Example Output:

[deploy] ═══ STREAMING DIAGNOSTICS ═══
[deploy] Streaming state: {"active":true,"destinations":["twitch","kick","x"]}
[deploy] Game client status: 200
[deploy] RTMP status: {"twitch":"connected","kick":"connected","x":"connected"}
[deploy] FFmpeg processes: 3 running
[deploy] ═══ END DIAGNOSTICS ═══

Impact: Faster troubleshooting of streaming issues.

7. Solana Keypair Setup

What: Automated Solana keypair configuration from environment variable. Implementation:

# Setup keypair from SOLANA_DEPLOYER_PRIVATE_KEY
if [ -n "$SOLANA_DEPLOYER_PRIVATE_KEY" ]; then
    bun run scripts/decode-key.ts
fi

Output: Keypair written to ~/.config/solana/id.json Impact: Keeper bot and Anchor tools work without manual keypair setup.

8. Health Checking

What: Wait for server health before considering deployment successful. Implementation:

# Wait up to 120 seconds for health check
while [ $WAITED -lt 120 ]; do
    HTTP_STATUS=$(curl -s -o /dev/null -w "%{http_code}" \
        "http://localhost:5555/health" --max-time 5)
    
    if [ "$HTTP_STATUS" = "200" ]; then
        echo "Server is healthy!"
        break
    fi
    
    sleep 5
    WAITED=$((WAITED + 5))
done

Impact: Deployment only succeeds if server is actually running and healthy.

Deployment Flow

Complete Deployment Sequence

Pull latest code from main
Restore DATABASE_URL from /tmp
Install system dependencies (PulseAudio, FFmpeg, Chrome Dev, etc.)
Setup PulseAudio virtual sink
Install Playwright and dependencies
Install Bun dependencies
Build core packages (physx, decimation, impostors, procgen, asset-forge, shared)
Load database configuration
Setup Solana keypair
Push database schema (with warmup)
Tear down existing processes
Start port proxies (socat)
Export stream keys
Start duel stack via PM2
Save PM2 process list
Wait for server health
Show PM2 status
Run streaming diagnostics

Port Mappings

Internal	External	Service
5555	35143	HTTP API
5555	35079	WebSocket
8080	35144	CDN

Configuration

GitHub Secrets

Required secrets for Vast.ai deployment:

VAST_SSH_KEY=your-ssh-private-key
VAST_HOST=your-vast-instance-ip
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://...
TWITCH_STREAM_KEY=live_...
KICK_STREAM_KEY=sk_...
KICK_RTMP_URL=rtmps://...
X_STREAM_KEY=...
X_RTMP_URL=rtmp://...
SOLANA_DEPLOYER_PRIVATE_KEY=[1,2,3,...]

Workflow Triggers

# .github/workflows/deploy-vast.yml

# Automatic after CI passes
on:
  workflow_run:
    workflows: ["CI"]
    types: [completed]
    branches: [main]

# Manual trigger
on:
  workflow_dispatch:

Environment Variables

# ecosystem.config.cjs
env: {
  NODE_ENV: "production",
  DATABASE_URL: process.env.DATABASE_URL,
  PUBLIC_CDN_URL: "https://assets.hyperscape.club",
  
  # Audio
  STREAM_AUDIO_ENABLED: "true",
  PULSE_AUDIO_DEVICE: "chrome_audio.monitor",
  PULSE_SERVER: "unix:/tmp/pulse-runtime/pulse/native",
  XDG_RUNTIME_DIR: "/tmp/pulse-runtime",
  
  # Streaming
  STREAMING_CANONICAL_PLATFORM: "twitch",
  STREAMING_PUBLIC_DELAY_MS: "0",
  
  # Capture
  STREAM_CAPTURE_MODE: "cdp",
  STREAM_CAPTURE_HEADLESS: "false",
  STREAM_CAPTURE_CHANNEL: "chrome-dev",
  STREAM_CAPTURE_ANGLE: "vulkan",
  DUEL_CAPTURE_USE_XVFB: "true",
}

Monitoring

PM2 Commands

# View logs
bunx pm2 logs hyperscape-duel

# Check status
bunx pm2 status

# Restart
bunx pm2 restart hyperscape-duel

# Stop
bunx pm2 stop hyperscape-duel

Health Checks

# Server health
curl http://localhost:5555/health

# Streaming state
curl http://localhost:5555/api/streaming/state

# RTMP status
cat /root/hyperscape/packages/server/public/live/rtmp-status.json

Diagnostic Logs

# Streaming-specific logs
bunx pm2 logs hyperscape-duel --nostream --lines 200 | \
  grep -iE "rtmp|ffmpeg|stream|capture|destination|twitch|kick"

# Error logs
bunx pm2 logs hyperscape-duel --err --lines 50

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails

Check:

SSH connection to Vast instance
GitHub secrets are set
Vast instance has enough disk space

Fix:

# SSH to Vast instance
ssh root@your-vast-ip

# Check disk space
df -h

# Check deployment logs
tail -f /root/hyperscape/logs/deploy.log

Database Connection Fails

Check:

DATABASE_URL is set in /tmp/hyperscape-secrets.env
Database is accessible from Vast instance
Warmup step completed successfully

Fix:

# Verify DATABASE_URL
cat /tmp/hyperscape-secrets.env | grep DATABASE_URL

# Test connection
psql $DATABASE_URL -c "SELECT 1"

# Re-run warmup
cd /root/hyperscape/packages/server
bunx drizzle-kit push --force

PulseAudio Not Working

Check:

PulseAudio is running
chrome_audio sink exists
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR is set

Fix:

# Check PulseAudio
pulseaudio --check

# Restart PulseAudio
pulseaudio --kill
pulseaudio --start --exit-idle-time=-1 --daemonize=yes

# Verify sink
pactl list short sinks | grep chrome_audio

Stream Not Appearing

Check:

Stream keys are configured
FFmpeg is running
RTMP connection is established

Fix:

# Check stream keys
echo ${TWITCH_STREAM_KEY:+configured}

# Check FFmpeg
ps aux | grep ffmpeg

# Check RTMP status
cat /root/hyperscape/packages/server/public/live/rtmp-status.json

# Restart streaming
bunx pm2 restart hyperscape-duel

Health Check Timeout

Check:

Server is actually starting
No port conflicts
Database connection works

Fix:

# Check server logs
bunx pm2 logs hyperscape-duel --err

# Check port
lsof -i:5555

# Manual health check
curl http://localhost:5555/health

Performance

Resource Usage

Resource	Idle	Streaming	Peak
CPU	10-15%	30-40%	60%
RAM	2GB	3GB	4GB
GPU	5%	20-30%	50%
Network	1Mbps	5Mbps	10Mbps

Optimization Tips

Reduce video bitrate for lower bandwidth:
STREAM_VIDEO_BITRATE=3000
Disable audio if not needed:
STREAM_AUDIO_ENABLED=false
Use lower resolution:
STREAM_WIDTH=1024 STREAM_HEIGHT=576
Disable model agents for lower CPU:
SPAWN_MODEL_AGENTS=false

Best Practices

1. Monitor Logs

Always monitor logs after deployment:

bunx pm2 logs hyperscape-duel --lines 100

2. Verify Health

Check health endpoint before considering deployment successful:

curl http://localhost:5555/health

3. Test Streaming

Verify stream is live on all platforms:

# Check Twitch
# Visit: https://twitch.tv/your-channel

# Check Kick
# Visit: https://kick.com/your-channel

# Check X
# Visit: https://x.com/your-account

4. Backup Secrets

Keep backup of secrets file:

# Backup
cp /tmp/hyperscape-secrets.env /root/hyperscape-secrets.backup

# Restore if needed
cp /root/hyperscape-secrets.backup /tmp/hyperscape-secrets.env

docs/streaming-audio-capture.md - PulseAudio setup
docs/streaming-improvements-feb-2026.md - Streaming changes
docs/duel-stack.md - Duel system architecture
scripts/deploy-vast.sh - Deployment script
ecosystem.config.cjs - PM2 configuration

Configuration

Operations

Vast deployment improvements

Vast.ai Deployment Improvements (February 2026)

Overview

Major Improvements

1. PulseAudio Audio Capture

2. DATABASE_URL Persistence

3. Database Warmup

4. Stream Key Management

5. YouTube Removal

6. Streaming Diagnostics

7. Solana Keypair Setup

8. Health Checking

Deployment Flow

Complete Deployment Sequence

Port Mappings

Configuration

GitHub Secrets

Workflow Triggers

Environment Variables

Monitoring

PM2 Commands

Health Checks

Diagnostic Logs

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails

Database Connection Fails

PulseAudio Not Working

Stream Not Appearing

Health Check Timeout

Performance

Resource Usage

Optimization Tips

Best Practices

1. Monitor Logs

2. Verify Health

3. Test Streaming

4. Backup Secrets

References

​Vast.ai Deployment Improvements (February 2026)

​Overview

​Major Improvements

​1. PulseAudio Audio Capture

​2. DATABASE_URL Persistence

​3. Database Warmup

​4. Stream Key Management

​5. YouTube Removal

​6. Streaming Diagnostics

​7. Solana Keypair Setup

​8. Health Checking

​Deployment Flow

​Complete Deployment Sequence

​Port Mappings

​Configuration

​GitHub Secrets

​Workflow Triggers

​Environment Variables

​Monitoring

​PM2 Commands

​Health Checks

​Diagnostic Logs

​Troubleshooting

​Deployment Fails

​Database Connection Fails

​PulseAudio Not Working

​Stream Not Appearing

​Health Check Timeout

​Performance

​Resource Usage

​Optimization Tips

​Best Practices

​1. Monitor Logs

​2. Verify Health

​3. Test Streaming

​4. Backup Secrets

​Related Documentation

​References

Vast.ai Deployment Improvements (February 2026)

Overview

Major Improvements

1. PulseAudio Audio Capture

2. DATABASE_URL Persistence

3. Database Warmup

4. Stream Key Management

5. YouTube Removal

6. Streaming Diagnostics

7. Solana Keypair Setup

8. Health Checking

Deployment Flow

Complete Deployment Sequence

Port Mappings

Configuration

GitHub Secrets

Workflow Triggers

Environment Variables

Monitoring

PM2 Commands

Health Checks

Diagnostic Logs

Troubleshooting

Deployment Fails

Database Connection Fails

PulseAudio Not Working

Stream Not Appearing

Health Check Timeout

Performance

Resource Usage

Optimization Tips

Best Practices

1. Monitor Logs

2. Verify Health

3. Test Streaming

4. Backup Secrets

Related Documentation

References