For IT providers · install
Install and support checklist for IT providers
Short answer: about an hour per unit (the install guide's estimate; not timed on a customer site), most of it downloads. Nothing is installed until the client's 30-quote score passes.
Putting a Mac mini with an AI worker on a client network makes you answerable for it. No customer unit exists yet, so there is no measured install to copy. Ask for the draft partner terms below; a person on our team replies with the terms and this checklist's open items.
Updated 13 October 2026
Nothing goes on the client network until the 30-quote score passes
An install only happens after the client's 30-quote score passes. Until then nothing sits on their network. The score runs on Staffbox's own Mac mini in Atlanta, the client grades 10 answers blind, and the files are deleted within 14 days of sending your results (per our draft data policy). If you have not run that step, start with the MSP AI offer and the pilot guide. Collect four things in writing before you book the visit:
- Written pass bar from the client, dated before the test.
- The folders and mailbox the worker may read, listed in writing. In a quote pilot that is forwarded quote requests and one price-list file.
- A named person at the client who sends the drafts.
- Your own contact for remote sessions, agreed in advance.
The guide's install takes about an hour in three stages, most of it downloads
The public install guide splits the work into three stages. At the Mac, 15 minutes: Setup Assistant with no personal Apple ID, a local account the client will own, Remote Login if you will finish from your desk, and FileVault with the recovery key kept in the client's password vault. One command, 40 minutes, from anywhere: the Apple developer tools (about 10 minutes of that) and then scripts/install.sh, which prints nine numbered steps and stops with a plain-English fix if anything is wrong; run it again and it carries on. Hand-over, 5 minutes: show the client the unit card, decide whether Remote Login goes off or stays on with keys only, and give each user their own SSH key.
We do not have an install time measured on a customer site, because no customer unit exists. The hour is the guide's estimate (docs/install.md), not a measured customer install. The first installs will time each step and we will publish the numbers here.
Each control has a command, and its output goes in the install record
Items marked "set at install" are done per site by a person and written in the install record. They are not yet automatic in the installer, except FileVault: the installer stops if it is off. Firewall and key-only SSH are set by you from this checklist (not yet automated in the installer; an opt-in hardening step is in review); we verified both on our demo unit 1 Oct 2026 (scripts/install.sh; see also docs/install.md).
| Step | Command or setting | Evidence to file |
|---|---|---|
| Turn on FileVault before any customer data is loaded | fdesetup status must say "FileVault is On." The installer stops if it is off. | Pasted output in the install record |
| Firewall and stealth mode on | /usr/libexec/ApplicationFirewall/socketfilterfw --getglobalstate and --getstealthmode | Both outputs |
| Model server listens on the machine only | lsof -nP -iTCP:11434 -sTCP:LISTEN should show 127.0.0.1, not * | Output |
| SSH keys only, password login off | sudo sshd -T | grep -i passwordauthentication should say "no" | Output and the list of key owners |
| No inbound ports except SSH | Your usual port scan from another host on the client network. Ollama (11434) and the Hermes dashboard (127.0.0.1:9119) listen on loopback only and should not appear | Scan result |
| Agent tools off | Default install turns off nine tool groups (terminal, code execution, browser, computer use, web, connections, delegation, cron jobs, text-to-speech) plus image generation. The file and skills tools stay on. Today a failed disable warns rather than stops the installer (fix in review), so check hermes -p zero tools list (default profile name). | Install record lists the setting |
| Mail limits written down | Which limits the mail platform enforces (no send, no delete) and which only the agent enforces | Letter to you and the client |
| Model and brain loaded | Models downloaded once by a person at install; the brain is the client's Markdown vault | Model name, size, install date |
| Test set re-run on site | Run the client's 30-quote test on the installed unit | Scorecard with date |
The commands above are standard macOS and Unix tools. We checked that the firewall and FileVault tools exist on macOS; the expected outputs are what a correct setup should print (a guess for any output we have not seen on a customer site, because no customer unit exists yet). Your own run is the proof.
After install you take first-line calls and apply monthly updates, through to exit
Once the unit is live, the work splits by who is closest to the client. You hold the relationship and the device; Staffbox holds the tests.
| Task | You | Staffbox |
|---|---|---|
| First-line calls from the client | Yes | Not first line. What comes to us after first line is not written down yet. |
| macOS, Ollama, agent and model updates | Apply them, monthly. In our view a critical security patch should not wait for the re-test; this is not yet in the written terms. | Manual today: re-runs your client's tests before and after each monthly update. A scripted update and rollback are in review. |
| Monthly re-test with the client | Join it | Re-run the test on the client's own quotes; corrections become tests |
| Remote sessions | Agree each one in advance and read the macOS login record | SSH with a named key |
| Changing what the worker can read | Approve in writing | Make the change |
Exit. The unit is returned or wiped in front of the client. Staffbox deletes its copies within 14 days and confirms in writing. Because the box and the brain are the client's to keep after the first paid month, agree at install who holds the brain's backup.
Nine operating answers still have to be written before the first install
Your reviewer will ask these. Each is listed as planned on the Trust Center, and we intend to publish each before the first install:
- How our remote session reaches the unit: direct, VPN or tunnel, and which ports.
- Where agent updates come from, and how they are pinned or verified.
- The mail platforms supported and exactly what the worker may do on each.
- The list of hosts and ports a default unit connects to, so you can deny everything else.
- How fast we tell you about an incident that touches a unit or our key.
- Where our SSH key is held, how often it rotates, and what happens to access if Staffbox stops operating.
- Which logs the unit keeps and how to forward them.
- Backup and replacement of a failed unit.
- Test results for hostile text in inbound email (prompt injection).
If a client needs one of these before the first install, ask partners@staffbox.ai. We would rather write it down for you than answer by phone.
Questions
Does the installer check disk encryption?
Yes. The installer stops if FileVault is off (scripts/install.sh in the public repo). A demo box with no customer data can override that with DEMO_UNIT=1; on a customer unit the status is checked with fdesetup status and written in the install record.
Can Staffbox reach into the client network?
Our practice is SSH with a named key, in sessions agreed with your IT contact. While our key is installed it can technically reach the unit, and you can remove it whenever you choose.
Who applies updates?
You do, monthly. It is manual today: we re-run the client's tests before and after each monthly update; a scripted update and rollback are in review. In our view a critical security patch should not wait for the re-test; that is not yet in the written terms.
Sources
- How we measured: two fictional companies (Fieldstone IT, Peachtree Cabinet Works), graded by code, Qwen3 8B on a 16 GB Mac mini M4 (Dell RTX 3090 for the 30 Sep runs), 30 Sep to 6 Oct 2026. No customer has run Staffbox yet.
- Staffbox Trust Center, controls and "for your IT provider" sections, checked 2 Oct 2026 and updated 13 Oct 2026.
- Staffbox-ai/staffbox, installer and CLI: FileVault stop in scripts/install.sh, install time and steps in docs/install.md, read 13 Oct 2026.
- Apple, macOS firewall and FileVault command-line tools (
socketfilterfw,fdesetup) as shipped with macOS.
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