Fased on Raspberry Pi

Goal

Run a persistent, always-on Fased Gateway on a Raspberry Pi. Perfect for:

24/7 Fased Agent host
Home automation hub
Low-power, always-available Telegram/WhatsApp agent

Hardware requirements

Pi model	RAM	Fit	Notes
Pi 5	4GB/8GB	Best	Fastest path
Pi 4	4GB	Good	Practical for most users
Pi 4	2GB	OK	Works with swap
Pi 4	1GB	Tight	Minimal config only
Pi 3B+	1GB	Slow	Works but sluggish
Pi Zero 2 W	512MB	Too small	Not a good Gateway host

Minimum specs: 1GB RAM, 1 core, 500MB disk
Recommended: 2GB+ RAM, 64-bit OS, 16GB+ SD card (or USB SSD)

What You’ll Need

Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 (2GB+ recommended)
MicroSD card (16GB+) or USB SSD (better performance)
Power supply (official Pi PSU recommended)
Network connection (Ethernet or WiFi)
~30 minutes

1) Flash the OS

Use Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit) — no desktop needed for a headless server.

Download Raspberry Pi Imager
Choose OS: Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bit)
Click the gear icon (⚙️) to pre-configure:
- Set hostname: gateway-host
- Enable SSH
- Set username/password
- Configure WiFi (if not using Ethernet)
Flash to your SD card / USB drive
Insert and boot the Pi

2) Connect via SSH

ssh user@gateway-host
# or use the IP address
ssh [email protected]

3) Prepare the OS

# Update system
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

# Install the small bootstrap prerequisites
sudo apt install -y curl ca-certificates

# Set timezone (important for cron/reminders)
sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Chicago  # Change to your timezone

The Fased installer installs and verifies the supported Node runtime. Do not run a separate remote NodeSource setup script for the normal path.

5) Add Swap (Important for 2GB or less)

Swap prevents out-of-memory crashes:

# Create 2GB swap file
sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile

# Make permanent
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab

# Optimize for low RAM (reduce swappiness)
echo 'vm.swappiness=10' | sudo tee -a /etc/sysctl.conf
sudo sysctl -p

6) Install Fased

For the normal always-on Pi path, enter a root shell:

sudo -i

Then run the exact fresh Hosting command. Its small streamed bootstrap verifies the tagged ARM64 runtime before persistent Fased setup, starts Tailscale through signed OS packages, separates the app operator from the Gateway service account, and runs onboarding.

Advanced: hackable source checkout

Contributors who intentionally need a source tree can use:

git clone https://github.com/fased-ai/fased.git fased
cd fased
pnpm install
pnpm build:app
./install.sh --no-onboard

This is a contributor/debug path, not the normal Pi installation.

7) Private access before onboarding

The Hosting installer handles Tailscale login and private access checks. Open the printed login URL on your own computer and confirm the requested private SSH test before allowing public SSH hardening. Do not run an app-owned checkout with sudo.

8) Run Onboarding

The installer runs onboarding automatically. If it was interrupted, reconnect as app and resume:

fased onboard --install-daemon

After the Gateway is online, use the browser Control UI from the selected Agent: Agent > Models for API keys/OAuth and model roles, Agent > Channels for Telegram/WhatsApp/Discord routing, Agent > Services for web/search and API connectors, and Agent > Skills for skill setup.

9) Verify Installation

# Check status
fased status

# Check service
fased gateway status

# View logs
journalctl --user -u fased-gateway.service -f

10) Access the Control UI

Since the Pi is headless, use an SSH tunnel:

# From your laptop/desktop
ssh -L 18789:localhost:18789 user@gateway-host

# Then open in browser
open http://localhost:18789

Use Dashboard for overview, Chat to test the Agent, Agents for models, channels, skills, tools, memory, services, and tasks, and Advanced > Nodes for paired device status. Or use Tailscale Serve for always-on private access:

sudo tailscale serve --bg 443 http://127.0.0.1:18789

This keeps the Gateway loopback-only and gives you HTTPS on your tailnet access path.

Performance Optimizations

Use a USB SSD

SD cards are slow and wear out. A USB SSD improves performance and durability:

# Check if booting from USB
lsblk

See Pi USB boot guide for setup.

Reduce Memory Usage

# Disable GPU memory allocation (headless)
echo 'gpu_mem=16' | sudo tee -a /boot/config.txt

# Disable Bluetooth if not needed
sudo systemctl disable bluetooth

Monitor Resources

# Check memory
free -h

# Check CPU temperature
vcgencmd measure_temp

# Live monitoring
htop

ARM-Specific Notes

Binary Compatibility

Most Fased features work on ARM64, but some external binaries may need ARM builds:

Tool	ARM64 Status	Notes
Node.js	✅	Works great
WhatsApp channel	✅	Pure JS, no issues
Telegram	✅	Pure JS, no issues
gog (Gmail CLI)	⚠️	Check for ARM release
Chromium (browser)	✅	`sudo apt install chromium-browser`

If a skill fails, check if its binary has an ARM build. Many Go/Rust tools do; some don’t.

32-bit vs 64-bit

Always use 64-bit OS. Node.js and many modern tools require it. Check with:

uname -m
# Should show: aarch64 (64-bit) not armv7l (32-bit)

Recommended model setup

Since the Pi is just the Gateway (models run in the cloud), use API-based models. Configure this in Agent > Models. If you need a raw config example:

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "model": {
        "primary": "openai/gpt-5.5",
        "fallbacks": ["openai/gpt-5.4-mini"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Use API-based models for the Pi. Local LLMs are usually too slow for a small always-on Gateway host.

Auto-Start on Boot

Onboarding with --install-daemon sets this up, but to verify:

# Check service is enabled
systemctl --user is-enabled fased-gateway.service

# Enable if not
systemctl --user enable fased-gateway.service

# Start on boot
systemctl --user start fased-gateway.service

Troubleshooting

Out of Memory (OOM)

# Check memory
free -h

# Add more swap (see Step 5)
# Or reduce services running on the Pi

Slow Performance

Use USB SSD instead of SD card
Disable unused services: sudo systemctl disable cups bluetooth avahi-daemon
Check CPU throttling: vcgencmd get_throttled (should return 0x0)

Service Won’t Start

# Check logs
journalctl --user -u fased-gateway.service --no-pager -n 100

# Common fix: rebuild
cd ~/fased  # if using hackable install
pnpm build:app
systemctl --user restart fased-gateway.service

ARM Binary Issues

If a skill fails with “exec format error”:

Check if the binary has an ARM64 build
Try building from source
Or use a Docker container with ARM support

WiFi Drops

For headless Pis on WiFi:

# Disable WiFi power management
sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off

# Make permanent
echo 'wireless-power off' | sudo tee -a /etc/network/interfaces

Cost planning

Actual cost depends on hardware, storage, power, and whether you already own the device. Compare current Pi kit prices against a small VPS before buying hardware only for Fased.

Overview

Desktop

Mobile nodes

Always-on hosts

macOS app operation

macOS app features

macOS developer reference

Raspberry Pi

Fased on Raspberry Pi

Goal

Hardware requirements

What You’ll Need

1) Flash the OS

2) Connect via SSH

3) Prepare the OS

5) Add Swap (Important for 2GB or less)

6) Install Fased

7) Private access before onboarding

8) Run Onboarding

9) Verify Installation

10) Access the Control UI

Performance Optimizations

Use a USB SSD

Reduce Memory Usage

Monitor Resources

ARM-Specific Notes

Binary Compatibility

32-bit vs 64-bit

Recommended model setup

Auto-Start on Boot

Troubleshooting

Out of Memory (OOM)

Slow Performance

Service Won’t Start

ARM Binary Issues

WiFi Drops

Cost planning

See Also

​Fased on Raspberry Pi

​Goal

​Hardware requirements

​What You’ll Need

​1) Flash the OS

​2) Connect via SSH

​3) Prepare the OS

​5) Add Swap (Important for 2GB or less)

​6) Install Fased

​7) Private access before onboarding

​8) Run Onboarding

​9) Verify Installation

​10) Access the Control UI

​Performance Optimizations

​Use a USB SSD

​Reduce Memory Usage

​Monitor Resources

​ARM-Specific Notes

​Binary Compatibility

​32-bit vs 64-bit

​Recommended model setup

​Auto-Start on Boot

​Troubleshooting

​Out of Memory (OOM)

​Slow Performance

​Service Won’t Start

​ARM Binary Issues

​WiFi Drops

​Cost planning

​See Also

Fased on Raspberry Pi

Goal

Hardware requirements

What You’ll Need

1) Flash the OS

2) Connect via SSH

3) Prepare the OS

5) Add Swap (Important for 2GB or less)

6) Install Fased

7) Private access before onboarding

8) Run Onboarding

9) Verify Installation

10) Access the Control UI

Performance Optimizations

Use a USB SSD

Reduce Memory Usage

Monitor Resources

ARM-Specific Notes

Binary Compatibility

32-bit vs 64-bit

Recommended model setup

Auto-Start on Boot

Troubleshooting

Out of Memory (OOM)

Slow Performance

Service Won’t Start

ARM Binary Issues

WiFi Drops

Cost planning

See Also