Install Profile: Saved Configuration for Consistency

Problem

After running install.sh, there’s no way to reproduce the exact same configuration on another machine or re-run the installer idempotently. Users in a fleet must manually answer the same prompts on every instance.

Goals

Save installer choices to a profile file after setup
Load a profile to pre-fill all prompts on new machines
Non-interactive mode (--yes) for automation — accept all profile defaults, only prompt for secrets
No secrets in profile — sensitive keys are always excluded
Custom naming — profiles can have names for fleet management (e.g., web-prod, agent-eu-01)

Profile File Format

File: .install-profile (default), .install-profile-<name> (named). Gitignored via .install-profile*.

# server-maintanence install profile
# name: prod-agent-web01
# created: 2026-04-04T14:30:00+0200
# hostname: web-prod-01
# installer_version: 1

# Environment
DJANGO_ENV=prod
DEPLOY_METHOD=bare
DJANGO_DEBUG=0
DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS=example.com,www.example.com

# Celery
CELERY_BROKER_URL=redis://redis:6379/0
CELERY_RESULT_BACKEND=redis://redis:6379/1
CELERY_TASK_ALWAYS_EAGER=0

# Cluster
CLUSTER_ROLE=agent
HUB_URL=https://hub.example.com
INSTANCE_ID=web-prod-01
CLUSTER_ENABLED=0

# Cron
CRON_SCHEDULE=*/5 * * * *
CRON_AUTO_UPDATE=1
CRON_PUSH_TO_HUB=1

# Aliases
ALIAS_PREFIX=sm

Excluded (secrets): DJANGO_SECRET_KEY, WEBHOOK_SECRET_CLUSTER

Included beyond .env: CRON_SCHEDULE, CRON_AUTO_UPDATE, CRON_PUSH_TO_HUB, ALIAS_PREFIX — installer choices not stored in .env.

CLI Interface

# Save after install
install.sh --save-profile [name]

# Load and apply
install.sh --profile .install-profile
install.sh --profile .install-profile --yes    # non-interactive, only prompt secrets
install.sh cluster --profile .install-profile   # single step, pre-filled

# Named profiles
install.sh --save-profile web-prod             # saves .install-profile-web-prod
install.sh --profile web-prod                   # loads .install-profile-web-prod (or literal path)

Behavior when profile loaded:

Profile values written to .env via dotenv_set before modules run
prompt_with_default picks up values naturally from .env
Secrets still prompted (never in profile)
Missing keys in profile → prompt as normal (additive, never blocks)

--yes mode:

If a default exists (from profile or .env), accept without prompting
Only stop for missing required values and secrets
Controlled by global INSTALL_AUTO_ACCEPT=1 flag

Implementation

New file: `bin/lib/profile.sh`

Functions:

profile_load FILE — sources profile, writes values to .env via dotenv_set
profile_save FILE [NAME] — reads .env + installer state vars, writes non-sensitive keys with metadata header
profile_metadata FILE KEY — reads metadata from comment header (e.g., name, created)

Sensitive keys list:

SENSITIVE_KEYS=(DJANGO_SECRET_KEY WEBHOOK_SECRET_CLUSTER)

On load: if profile contains a sensitive key, ignore it with a warning.

Changes to `bin/lib/prompt.sh`

prompt_with_default and prompt_choice check INSTALL_AUTO_ACCEPT:

If 1 and a default exists → return default without prompting
If 1 and no default → still prompt (required value)

prompt_yes_no in auto-accept mode returns the default without prompting.

Changes to `bin/install.sh`

Parse new flags before dispatcher:

--profile FILE      → call profile_load, set INSTALL_PROFILE_LOADED=1
--yes               → set INSTALL_AUTO_ACCEPT=1
--save-profile [N]  → set INSTALL_SAVE_PROFILE=1, INSTALL_PROFILE_NAME=N

After all steps complete: if --save-profile set or user accepts save prompt, call profile_save.

Changes to installer modules

Cron, aliases modules need to export their state variables (CRON_SCHEDULE, ALIAS_PREFIX, etc.) so profile_save can capture them. Currently these are local to the module — they need to be set in the shell environment after the user chooses.

Gitignore

Add .install-profile* to .gitignore.

Custom Profile Names

--save-profile web-prod → saves to .install-profile-web-prod --profile web-prod → looks for .install-profile-web-prod first, then tries as literal path

Edge Cases

Profile from older version missing new keys → modules prompt normally, profile is additive
Profile conflicts with .env → profile wins (values written to .env before modules run)
Secrets in profile file → ignored with warning on load