unattended-brev-agent-bootstrap

A single idempotent bash script that turns a fresh Linux host into a ready-to-use Claude Code agent environment. Built for Brev VMs but works on any Ubuntu/Debian or Fedora/RHEL host.

What it sets up

1. Claude Code — installed via the official native installer, then configured for unattended use:
   • bypassPermissions default mode, skipDangerousModePermissionPrompt, sandboxed
   • Model pinned to claude-opus-4-7 at max effort
   • Onboarding wizard skipped (no theme / color-scheme prompt on first launch)
   • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY pre-approved if provided (no first-run approval prompt)
   • claude aliased to claude --dangerously-skip-permissions in interactive shells
2. gh CLI — latest release from the official cli.github.com apt/dnf repo (the distro-shipped gh predates gh auth token / gh auth git-credential).
3. git — user.name / user.email set from env, and gh registered as the github.com credential helper so git clone / git push reuse the gh-stored token with no interactive prompt.

Quick start

From a Brev VM or any Linux host — fill in (or drop) any of the four env vars, then paste:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=<your-anthropic-api-key>
export GH_TOKEN=<your-github-token>
export GIT_AUTHOR_NAME=<your-name>
export GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL=<your@email>
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/brycelelbach/unattended-brev-agent-bootstrap/main/bootstrap.bash | bash
source ~/.bashrc

Then run claude. If you didn't pass GH_TOKEN, sign in to gh (gh auth login) before using GitHub.

Environment variables

All optional. Anything unset is simply skipped.

Variable	Effect
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Last 20 characters written to ~/.claude.json under customApiKeyResponses.approved so Claude Code doesn't prompt for approval. Also exported from the ~/.bashrc managed block for future interactive shells.
GH_TOKEN	Exported from the ~/.bashrc managed block. gh reads it from the environment directly, and since gh auth git-credential is registered as the github.com credential helper, git clone / git push reuse it automatically.
GIT_AUTHOR_NAME	git config --global user.name
GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL	git config --global user.email

What the script touches

Path	How
~/.local/bin/claude (+ ~/.local/bin/env)	Written by the Claude Code native installer.
~/.claude/settings.json	Overwritten with unattended-mode defaults. Existing file backed up to settings.json.bak.<timestamp>.
~/.claude.json	Merged — hasCompletedOnboarding=true and optional customApiKeyResponses.approved entry. Existing file backed up to .claude.json.bak.<timestamp>.
~/.bashrc	Managed block between # >>> unattended-claude-code bootstrap >>> and # <<< unattended-claude-code bootstrap <<<. Rewritten wholesale on every run.
~/.gitconfig	user.name, user.email, and credential.https://github.com.helper.
System-wide	gh package, its apt/dnf source + signing keyring (requires sudo; script skips with a warning if passwordless sudo isn't available).

Re-running

Safe to re-run. Each run matches the current environment:

• The ~/.bashrc managed block is replaced, not appended — so re-running without ANTHROPIC_API_KEY / GH_TOKEN set drops a previously-written export. If you want an export to persist across re-runs, keep the env var set when you re-run.
• settings.json and .claude.json are backed up (timestamped .bak) before being rewritten.
• gh and claude are skipped if already installed.
• git config --global is only touched for variables that are set.