Part 36: The Bootstrap Paradox — Stage 0 Bash, Then HomeLab Forever📋

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# bootstrap.sh — produce just enough GitLab to compile the first HomeLab binary.
# This script runs ONCE per machine. After it succeeds, HomeLab takes over.

# 1. Required tools
require() {
    command -v "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1 || { echo "missing: $1"; exit 1; }
}
require git
require vagrant
require curl
require jq
require dotnet

# 2. Configuration (env vars with sensible defaults)
ACME_NAME="${ACME_NAME:-frenchexdev}"
ACME_TLD="${ACME_TLD:-lab}"
GITLAB_HOST="${GITLAB_HOST:-gitlab.${ACME_NAME}.${ACME_TLD}}"
SUBNET="${SUBNET:-192.168.56}"
WORKDIR="${WORKDIR:-$HOME/.homelab/bootstrap}"
SOURCE_REPO="${SOURCE_REPO:-https://github.com/frenchexdev/homelab.git}"

mkdir -p "$WORKDIR"
cd "$WORKDIR"

# 3. Spin up a minimal Alpine VM with raw vagrant
cat > Vagrantfile <<EOF
Vagrant.configure("2") do |config|
  config.vm.box = "generic/alpine321"
  config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "${SUBNET}.10"
  config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |v|
    v.cpus = 4
    v.memory = 8192
  end
  config.vm.provision "shell", inline: <<-SHELL
    sed -i 's|^#\\(.*community\\)|\\1|' /etc/apk/repositories
    apk update
    apk add --no-cache docker docker-cli-compose curl
    rc-update add docker default
    service docker start
  SHELL
end
EOF
vagrant up

# 4. Add the GITLAB_HOST to /etc/hosts so we can curl it
sudo sh -c "echo '${SUBNET}.10 ${GITLAB_HOST}' >> /etc/hosts"

# 5. SSH in and run a minimal docker-compose for GitLab
vagrant ssh -c "cat > /home/vagrant/compose.yml" <<COMPOSE
services:
  gitlab:
    image: gitlab/gitlab-ce:16.11.0-ce.0
    hostname: ${GITLAB_HOST}
    environment:
      GITLAB_OMNIBUS_CONFIG: |
        external_url 'http://${GITLAB_HOST}'
        gitlab_rails['initial_root_password'] = 'changeme-bootstrap'
    ports:
      - "80:80"
      - "22:22"
    volumes:
      - gitlab_config:/etc/gitlab
      - gitlab_logs:/var/log/gitlab
      - gitlab_data:/var/opt/gitlab
volumes:
  gitlab_config: {}
  gitlab_logs: {}
  gitlab_data: {}
COMPOSE
vagrant ssh -c "cd /home/vagrant && sudo docker compose up -d"

# 6. Wait for GitLab to be ready (this takes ~5 minutes on first start)
echo "Waiting for GitLab to come up (this takes ~5 minutes)..."
for i in $(seq 1 60); do
    if curl -fs "http://${GITLAB_HOST}/api/v4/version" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
        echo "GitLab is up."
        break
    fi
    sleep 10
done

# 7. Create a personal access token via root login (using the seeded password)
TOKEN=$(curl -fs -X POST "http://${GITLAB_HOST}/oauth/token" \
    -d "grant_type=password" \
    -d "username=root" \
    -d "password=changeme-bootstrap" \
    | jq -r '.access_token')

# 8. Create the FrenchExDev/homelab project
curl -fs -X POST "http://${GITLAB_HOST}/api/v4/projects" \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${TOKEN}" \
    -d "name=homelab" \
    -d "namespace_id=1" \
    -d "visibility=private"

# 9. Clone HomeLab from the public mirror and push to the local GitLab
git clone "${SOURCE_REPO}" homelab-source
cd homelab-source
git remote add devlab "http://root:changeme-bootstrap@${GITLAB_HOST}/root/homelab.git"
git push -u devlab main
cd ..

# 10. Build the first HomeLab binary
cd homelab-source
dotnet build src/HomeLab.Cli -c Release
HOMELAB_BIN="$(pwd)/src/HomeLab.Cli/bin/Release/net10.0/homelab"

echo
echo "================================================================="
echo "Bootstrap complete."
echo
echo "Next steps:"
echo "  1. Add HomeLab to your PATH:"
echo "       export PATH=\"\$PATH:$(dirname "$HOMELAB_BIN")\""
echo
echo "  2. Initialize a HomeLab project from this bootstrap state:"
echo "       homelab init --from-bootstrap --workdir ${WORKDIR}"
echo
echo "  3. From now on, use 'homelab' for everything."
echo "     This bootstrap script will not be needed again."
echo "================================================================="

$ homelab init --from-bootstrap --workdir ~/.homelab/bootstrap
✓ detected bootstrap state at ~/.homelab/bootstrap
✓ found GitLab at http://gitlab.frenchexdev.lab
✓ project created at /Users/me/devlab
  - config-homelab.yaml
  - .vscode/settings.json
  - schemas/
✓ ready: run `homelab vos init && homelab vos up` to upgrade the bootstrap into a managed lab

[Saga]
public sealed class BootstrapHandoffSaga
{
    [SagaStep(Order = 1, Compensation = nameof(RestoreBootstrapMarker))]
    public async Task<Result> ImportTokensAsync(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }

    [SagaStep(Order = 2, Compensation = nameof(RemoveProject))]
    public async Task<Result> CreateLocalProjectAsync(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }

    [SagaStep(Order = 3, Compensation = nameof(StartBootstrapCompose))]
    public async Task<Result> StopBootstrapComposeAsync(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }

    [SagaStep(Order = 4, Compensation = nameof(RemoveHomeLabConfig))]
    public async Task<Result> WriteHomeLabConfigAsync(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }

    public async Task<Result> RestoreBootstrapMarker(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }
    public async Task<Result> RemoveProject(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }
    public async Task<Result> StartBootstrapCompose(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }
    public async Task<Result> RemoveHomeLabConfig(BootstrapHandoffContext ctx, CancellationToken ct) { /* ... */ }
}