Linux Command Reference — Esquire Embroidery

1

SSH from Terminal

Connect to the EC2 server from any Mac/Linux terminal or Windows PowerShell.

Basic Connection

Connect to EC2

ssh -i ~/.ssh/your-key.pem ec2-user@esqserver.com

Replace your-key.pem with your actual AWS key pair file name.

Fix key permissions (first time only)

chmod 400 ~/.ssh/your-key.pem

Required if SSH gives "WARNING: UNPROTECTED PRIVATE KEY FILE" error.

SSH Config Shortcut (Recommended)

Add this to ~/.ssh/config on your local machine so you can type ssh esquire instead of the full command:

~/.ssh/config entry

Host esquire HostName esqserver.com User ec2-user IdentityFile ~/.ssh/your-key.pem

After saving, connect with just: ssh esquire

ℹ️

On Windows, use PowerShell or Windows Terminal — SSH is built in. The key file goes in C:\Users\YourName\.ssh\ and permissions are set automatically.

2

VS Code + Claude Code

Use VS Code's Remote SSH extension to edit server files and run Claude Code directly on the EC2.

One-Time Setup

1

Open VS Code → Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X) → search "Remote - SSH" → Install (by Microsoft)

2

Add the SSH config entry above to ~/.ssh/config on your local machine

3

Press F1 → type Remote-SSH: Connect to Host → select esquire

4

VS Code opens a new window connected to the EC2. You can now open folders, edit files, and use the integrated terminal as if you were on the server.

5

Open the integrated terminal (Ctrl+`) and run claude to start Claude Code on the server.

Reconnecting

Reconnect via Command Palette

F1 → Remote-SSH: Connect to Host → esquire

Or use the green >< button in the bottom-left corner of VS Code.

Running Claude Code on EC2

Start Claude Code

claude

Run in the VS Code integrated terminal while connected to the EC2. Claude Code opens in the current directory.

Start in a specific project folder

cd /home/ec2-user/project-folder && claude

⚠️

Keep the VS Code window open while Claude Code is running. Closing it or losing the SSH connection will interrupt Claude mid-task.

3

PM2 — Process Manager

PM2 keeps Node.js apps running in the background and restarts them automatically after a server reboot.

View Running Processes

List all processes

pm2 list

Shows all processes with their status, CPU, memory, and uptime. All should show online.

Current processes on this server

# ID Name Port Purpose 0 server 3000 Excel Upload (filemaker-node-uploader) 1 pdf-print 3001 PDF Print Server

Restart / Stop / Start

Restart a process

pm2 restart server pm2 restart pdf-print pm2 restart all # restart everything

Stop a process

pm2 stop server

Stops the process but keeps it in the list. Use pm2 start server to bring it back.

Start a new process

pm2 start app.js --name my-app

Remove a process from PM2

pm2 delete my-app

Logs

View live logs (all processes)

pm2 logs

Streams all output in real time. Press Ctrl+C to exit.

View logs for one process

pm2 logs server pm2 logs pdf-print

Show last 100 log lines

pm2 logs --lines 100

After Server Reboot

Save current process list (run once after adding new processes)

pm2 save

Saves the list so PM2 restores everything after a reboot. Already configured on this server.

4

Nginx — Web Server

Nginx acts as the front door — it handles HTTPS, routes /excel-upload/ to port 3000, /print/ to port 3001, and serves static files like the portal and spec docs.

Common Commands

Check config for errors (always run before reloading)

sudo nginx -t

Must show "syntax is ok" and "test is successful" before proceeding.

Reload nginx (apply config changes, no downtime)

sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx

The && means reload only runs if the test passes. Safe to use in production.

Restart nginx (full restart, brief interruption)

sudo systemctl restart nginx

Use reload instead unless nginx is unresponsive.

Check nginx status

sudo systemctl status nginx

Shows whether nginx is running, its PID, and recent log entries.

Config File Location

Edit the tools.esquireembroidery.com config

sudo nano /etc/nginx/conf.d/tools.esquireembroidery.com.conf

After editing, always run sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx.

Static files location

# Portal homepage and spec docs /var/www/portal/ index.html # → / spec/ index.html # → /spec/ filemaker_n8n_project_spec.html # → /spec/filemaker... excel_upload_spec.html # → /spec/excel... pdf_print_spec.html # → /spec/pdf... linux_commands.html # → /spec/linux...

View Nginx Logs

Live access log

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/access.log

Live error log

sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log

Check here first when a page returns 404, 502, or 500.

5

Server Health

Memory & CPU

RAM usage summary

free -h

Shows total, used, free, and available RAM. On t3.medium: ~4GB total.

Live CPU + memory by process

top

Press q to quit. Press M to sort by memory, P for CPU.

One-line snapshot (CPU, RAM, load)

echo "RAM:" && free -h | grep Mem && echo "Disk:" && df -h / | tail -1 && echo "Load:" && uptime

Disk

Disk usage

df -h /

Shows total, used, and available disk space on the main volume. Warning if above 80%.

Find what's using disk space

du -sh /home/ec2-user/* | sort -h

Shows size of each folder in the home directory, sorted smallest to largest.

Network & Ports

What ports are listening

ss -tlnp

Expected: 22 (SSH), 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), 3000 (server), 3001 (pdf-print), 5678 (n8n after install).

Check if a domain resolves correctly

curl -I https://tools.esquireembroidery.com/

Should return HTTP/2 200. Any other code indicates a problem.

Uptime & Reboots

How long the server has been running

uptime

Safe server reboot

sudo reboot

PM2 and nginx start automatically on reboot. Allow ~60 seconds before reconnecting.

6

Files & Logs

Navigation

List files in current directory

ls -la

Go to home directory

cd ~ # same as: cd /home/ec2-user

Show current directory path

pwd

Project Folders

Key directories on this server

# Node.js apps /home/ec2-user/filemaker-node-uploader/ # Excel Upload /home/ec2-user/pdf-print-server/ # PDF Print /home/ec2-user/portal/ # Portal source # Web files (served by nginx) /var/www/portal/ # Live portal + spec docs # Config /etc/nginx/conf.d/ # Nginx site configs

Viewing Files

View a file (scrollable)

less /path/to/file

Arrow keys to scroll, q to quit, / to search.

Follow a log file live

tail -f /path/to/logfile

Shows new lines as they're written. Ctrl+C to stop.

Search for text in a file

grep -r "search term" /home/ec2-user/

7

Git & GitHub

Version control commands for managing code changes and pushing to GitHub repositories.

One-Time Setup

Set your identity

git config --global user.name "Your Name" git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Required once per machine. Used in every commit you make.

Check current config

git config --list

Everyday Workflow

Check what has changed

git status

Shows modified, new, and deleted files. Run this before staging anything.

See the actual changes

git diff # unstaged changes git diff --staged # changes already staged

Stage files

git add filename # specific file git add . # everything in current folder

Commit staged changes

git commit -m "describe what changed and why"

Keep messages short and descriptive. Present tense works well: "Add nginx spec route".

Push to GitHub

git push

Sends your commits to the remote repository on GitHub.

Pull latest changes from GitHub

git pull

Fetches and merges the latest changes. Run before starting new work.

Branches

List all branches

git branch

The current branch is marked with *.

Create a new branch and switch to it

git checkout -b feature-name

Switch to an existing branch

git checkout main

Merge a branch into current branch

# Switch to main first, then merge git checkout main git merge feature-name

History

View compact commit history

git log --oneline -10

Shows the last 10 commits as one line each. Remove -10 for full history.

See what changed in a specific commit

git show abc1234

Replace abc1234 with the short commit hash from git log --oneline.

Undo Changes

Discard changes to a file (not yet staged)

git restore filename

Reverts the file to its last committed state. Cannot be undone.

Unstage a file (keep changes)

git restore --staged filename

Removes the file from the staging area but keeps your edits in the working directory.

Undo last commit (keep changes in working directory)

git reset --soft HEAD~1

Un-commits but keeps all your file changes so you can recommit differently.

Safely undo a commit that was already pushed

git revert HEAD

Creates a new commit that reverses the last one. Safe to use on shared branches.

Remote & Cloning

Clone a repository from GitHub

git clone https://github.com/org/repo.git

Check remote URL

git remote -v

Shows where git push and git pull point to.

Fetch without merging

git fetch

Downloads latest from GitHub but does not change your local files. Use git pull to also merge.

Push a new branch to GitHub for the first time

git push -u origin feature-name

The -u sets the upstream so future git push commands work without arguments.

GitHub Authentication on EC2

Check if GitHub CLI is installed

gh --version

Authenticate with GitHub (one-time)

gh auth login

Follow the prompts. Choose HTTPS and paste a Personal Access Token from github.com/settings/tokens.

Use SSH key instead of password (recommended)

# Generate a key (if you don't have one) ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "you@example.com" # Copy the public key cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Paste the output into GitHub → Settings → SSH Keys. Then use SSH clone URLs (git@github.com:…).

8

Directory Map

Where each URL, PM2 process, and project folder lives on this server.

tools.esquireembroidery.com — Served by nginx only (static files)

URL	Directory on server
`tools.esquireembroidery.com/`	`/var/www/portal/index.html`
`tools.esquireembroidery.com/spec/`	`/var/www/portal/spec/`

tools.esquireembroidery.com — nginx → PM2 (needs both)

URL	PM2 process	Port	Directory
`/excel-upload/`	`server`	3000	`/home/ec2-user/filemaker-node-uploader/`
`/print/`	`pdf-print`	3001	`/home/ec2-user/pdf-print-server/`
`/fm-upload/`	`fm-order-uploader`	3002	`/home/ec2-user/fm-order-uploader/`
`/n8n/`	`n8n`	5678	(n8n internal)

gemba-it.org — Separate domain

URL	PM2 process	Port	Directory
`gemba-it.org/`	`gemba-demos`	3003	`/home/ec2-user/gemba-demos/`

GitHub Repos

Repo (Chibiroku/)	Live directory	Notes
`portal`	`/home/ec2-user/portal/`	Source for /var/www/portal/
`gemba-it-demos`	`/home/ec2-user/gemba-it-demos/`	Mirror of gemba-demos (server/) + /var/www/gemba/ (public/)
`fm-order-uploader`	`/home/ec2-user/fm-order-uploader/`
`filemaker-node-uploader`	`/home/ec2-user/filemaker-node-uploader/`
`pdf-print-server`	`/home/ec2-user/pdf-print-server/`
`n8n-backups`	`/home/ec2-user/n8n-backups/`	Auto-backed up daily at 7am via PM2

ℹ️

gemba-demos vs gemba-it-demos: PM2 runs the live server from gemba-demos/. The GitHub backup is gemba-it-demos/server/. When you update server code, keep both in sync.

9

Quick Reference

Task	Command
Connect via SSH	`ssh -i ~/.ssh/key.pem ec2-user@esqserver.com`
Check all PM2 processes	`pm2 list`
Restart Excel Upload	`pm2 restart server`
Restart PDF Print	`pm2 restart pdf-print`
View PM2 logs live	`pm2 logs`
Test nginx config	`sudo nginx -t`
Reload nginx (no downtime)	`sudo nginx -t && sudo systemctl reload nginx`
Check RAM	`free -h`
Check disk	`df -h /`
Check open ports	`ss -tlnp`
Test site is up	`curl -I https://tools.esquireembroidery.com/`
View nginx errors	`sudo tail -f /var/log/nginx/error.log`
Safe reboot	`sudo reboot`
Git & GitHub
Check status	`git status`
Stage all changes	`git add .`
Commit	`git commit -m "message"`
Push to GitHub	`git push`
Pull latest	`git pull`
View compact history	`git log --oneline -10`
Create & switch branch	`git checkout -b feature-name`
Discard file changes	`git restore filename`

📄 Linux Command Reference

SSH from Terminal

Basic Connection

SSH Config Shortcut (Recommended)

VS Code + Claude Code

One-Time Setup

Reconnecting

Running Claude Code on EC2

PM2 — Process Manager

View Running Processes

Restart / Stop / Start

Logs

After Server Reboot

Nginx — Web Server

Common Commands

Config File Location

View Nginx Logs

Server Health

Memory & CPU

Disk

Network & Ports

Uptime & Reboots

Files & Logs

Navigation

Project Folders

Viewing Files

Git & GitHub

One-Time Setup

Everyday Workflow

Branches

History

Undo Changes

Remote & Cloning

GitHub Authentication on EC2

Directory Map

tools.esquireembroidery.com — Served by nginx only (static files)

tools.esquireembroidery.com — nginx → PM2 (needs both)

gemba-it.org — Separate domain

GitHub Repos

Quick Reference