What happened (titogo, 2026-10-08). Vicky (Tito, product) needed one account to get a per-account config value: TITO_MAX_PROMO_BATCH=10000 for stripeyste.go.tito.io and its sb-stripeyste.go.tito.io sandbox. She did the half the CLI allows remotely, carlos env set --app titogo --account tito --environment stripeyste ..., using carlos 0.21.0. Then she had to ask an engineer to bind the routes, because the only verb that worked for these hosts was carlos route --host <h> --environment stripeyste, run on the box as root over SSM. It also needs AWS_REGION, CARLOS_DEPLOYMENT_BUCKET and CARLOS_RELEASE_PUBKEY exported there.
v0.25.1 has a remote verb for this, but it refused these hosts:
$ carlos instances set-environment --app titogo --account tito --host stripeyste.go.tito.io --environment stripeyste
instances set-environment: not found: check --account and --app, and that your token's address is a member
Account, app and membership were all correct. carlos routes --app titogo --account tito --match stripeyste lists both hosts. The real cause is that they are box-registry routes with no console instance record. They are titogo's legacy controld (titogo@) instances, mirrored into /data/registry.db by titogo's route-sync.
The ask, in two parts:
- Fix the error message (small, worth doing on its own). When
set-environment or set-channel names a host that carlos routes knows but that has no instance record, say that. Something like "<host> is a box route with no instance record; bind it on the box with carlos route --host <h> --environment <e>, or adopt it as an instance". The current message sends the reader to check their account and membership, which were fine. - Remote binding for these hosts comes from adoption, not from a new verb. Paul's direction (2026-10-08) is that every controld instance converts to platform-run, and that nothing new gets built for the old kind. Once #261 (schedule the adoption door) lands, stripeyste gets an instance record and
set-environment works with no further change. Please add this case to #261's acceptance: an adopted controld host keeps its route's environment binding (stripeyste→stripeyste, demo→demo, connect→relay, platform.ie→router), and carlos instances set-environment works on it afterwards.
Also worth knowing: carlos route -h says nothing about set-environment. Someone holding an older CLI (Vicky's 0.21.0) only finds the box-side verb. A line in carlos route -h pointing remote users to carlos instances set-environment would have answered her question ("can a newer carlos bind routes remotely?").
amadan