Contabo Infrastructure

CRITICAL: Secrets and .env

NEVER store live .env files or credentials inside any skill folder.
.env.template files belong only in assets/ within a skill.
Store live secrets in ~/.admin/.env and reference from there.

Status: Production Ready | Dependencies: cntb CLI, SSH key pair

Navigation

Operations, troubleshooting, config, and cost snapshot: references/OPERATIONS.md

Step 0: Gather Required Information (MANDATORY)

STOP. Before ANY deployment commands, collect ALL parameters from the user.

Copy this checklist and confirm each item:

Required Parameters:
- [ ] SERVER_NAME        - Unique name for this server
- [ ] CONTABO_REGION     - Region (EU, US-central, US-east, US-west, SIN, JPN, AUS)
- [ ] CONTABO_PRODUCT_ID - Product/plan ID (see profiles below)
- [ ] SSH_KEY_PATH       - Path to SSH private key (default: ~/.ssh/id_rsa)

Deployment Purpose (determines recommended profile):
- [ ] Purpose: coolify / kasm / both / custom
      coolify → V39 (Cloud VPS 10 SP, €5/mo)
      kasm    → V45 (Cloud VPS 20 SP, €8/mo)
      both    → V46 (Cloud VPS 30, €14/mo)
      custom  → Ask for specific product ID

Recommended profiles by purpose:

| Purpose | Product ID | Plan | vCPU | RAM | Monthly | |---------|-----------|------|------|-----|---------| | coolify | V39 | Cloud VPS 10 SP | 4 | 8GB | €5 | | kasm | V45 | Cloud VPS 20 SP | 6 | 18GB | €8 | | both | V46 | Cloud VPS 30 | 8 | 24GB | €14 |

DO NOT proceed to Prerequisites until ALL parameters are confirmed.

Prerequisites

Before using this skill, verify the following:

1. Contabo CLI Installed

cntb version

Note: The CLI uses cntb version (no --). cntb --version is not a valid flag.

If missing, install with:

# Linux / WSL
curl -sL https://github.com/contabo/cntb/releases/latest/download/cntb_linux_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv cntb /usr/local/bin/

# macOS
curl -sL https://github.com/contabo/cntb/releases/latest/download/cntb_darwin_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv cntb /usr/local/bin/

# Windows (cmd / Git Bash)
curl -L -o "%TEMP%\cntb.zip" "https://github.com/contabo/cntb/releases/latest/download/cntb_windows_amd64.zip"
unzip -o "%TEMP%\cntb.zip" -d "%TEMP%\cntb-extract"
copy "%TEMP%\cntb-extract\cntb.exe" "%USERPROFILE%\.local\bin\cntb.exe"

Windows note: Ensure the target directory (e.g. %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin) is on your PATH. The PowerShell Invoke-WebRequest / Expand-Archive approach may fail due to execution policies.

2. Contabo Account & API Credentials

If you don't have a Contabo account:

Disclosure: This is a referral link from the CJ Affiliate program. The skill author may receive $25-$250 commission. Using this link helps support the development of these skills.

Get API Credentials: https://my.contabo.com/api/details

You need:

Client ID (OAuth2)
Client Secret (OAuth2)
API User (your email)
API Password (your account password or generated one)

3. cntb CLI Configured

cntb get instances

If it shows an error, configure with set-credentials (writes to ~/.cntb.yaml):

cntb config set-credentials \
  --oauth2-clientid "your_client_id" \
  --oauth2-client-secret "your_client_secret" \
  --oauth2-user "your_email" \
  --oauth2-password 'your_password'

Important: Use cntb config set-credentials, not environment variables. The CNTB_OAUTH2_* env vars documented elsewhere are unreliable and may produce clientId is empty errors. The config file approach (~/.cntb.yaml on Linux, %USERPROFILE%\.cntb.yaml on Windows) is the only reliable method.

Special characters in password: If your password contains *, ^, !, or other shell metacharacters, wrap it in single quotes to prevent shell expansion.

Verify config was saved:

cntb config view

4. SSH Key Pair

ls ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

If missing, generate with:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -f ~/.ssh/id_rsa -N ""

5. SSH Key Available

Unlike other providers, Contabo requires you to specify the SSH key during instance creation via the --sshKeys parameter with the actual public key content.

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

6. Test Authentication

cntb get datacenters

If this fails: Credentials may be incorrect. Verify at https://my.contabo.com/api/details

Server Profiles

Coolify/Kasm Deployments - BEST VALUE

| Profile | Plan | vCPU | RAM | Disk | Monthly Cost | |---------|------|------|-----|------|--------------| | coolify | Cloud VPS 10 SP | 4 | 8GB | 100GB | €5 | | kasm | Cloud VPS 20 SP | 6 | 18GB | 150GB | €8 | | both | Cloud VPS 30 | 8 | 24GB | 200GB | €14 |

Standard Plans (More Storage)

| Profile | Plan | vCPU | RAM | Disk | Monthly Cost | |---------|------|------|-----|------|--------------| | standard-small | Cloud VPS S | 4 | 8GB | 200GB SSD | €8 | | standard-medium | Cloud VPS M | 6 | 16GB | 400GB SSD | €14 | | standard-large | Cloud VPS L | 8 | 30GB | 800GB SSD | €26 | | standard-xl | Cloud VPS XL | 10 | 60GB | 1600GB SSD | €39 |

<details> <summary>Price Comparison - Why Contabo?</summary>

| Provider | 6 vCPU, 16-18GB RAM | Monthly Cost | |----------|---------------------|--------------| | Contabo VPS 20 SP | 6 vCPU, 18GB | €8 | | Hetzner CX42 | 8 vCPU, 16GB | €20 | | DigitalOcean | 8 vCPU, 16GB | $96 | | Vultr | 6 vCPU, 16GB | $96 | | Linode | 6 vCPU, 16GB | $96 |

Contabo offers 5-10x better value than most competitors.

</details>

Deployment Steps

Step 1: Set Environment Variables

export CONTABO_REGION="EU"                 # EU, US-central, US-east, US-west, SIN, JPN, AUS
export CONTABO_PRODUCT_ID="V48"            # See product IDs below (V48 verified working)
export SERVER_NAME="my-server"

<details> <summary>Region options</summary>

| Code | Location | Region | |------|----------|--------| | EU | Germany (Nuremberg) | Europe | | US-central | St. Louis, MO | US Central | | US-east | New York | US East | | US-west | Seattle | US West | | SIN | Singapore | Asia | | JPN | Tokyo | Japan | | AUS | Sydney | Australia |

Run cntb get datacenters for full list.

</details> <details> <summary>Product ID reference</summary>

| Product ID | Plan | vCPU | RAM | Disk | Price | Status | |------------|------|------|-----|------|-------|--------| | V12 | VPS S NVMe | 4 | 8GB | 100GB | €5 | ✅ Verified | | V48 | VPS M (Cloud VPS 2 SSD) | 6 | 16GB | 400GB | €14 | ✅ Verified | | V92 | Cloud VPS 10 SSD | 4 | 8GB | 150GB | ~€5 | ✅ Verified | | V101 | Cloud VPS 40 SSD | 12 | 48GB | 500GB | ~€20 | ✅ Verified | | V35 | Cloud VPS 1 | 4 | 6GB | 100GB | €4.50 | Untested | | V39 | Cloud VPS 10 SP | 4 | 8GB | 100GB NVMe | €5 | Untested | | V45 | Cloud VPS 20 SP | 6 | 18GB | 150GB NVMe | €8 | ⚠️ May not work | | V46 | Cloud VPS 30 | 8 | 24GB | 200GB | €14 | Untested | | V47 | Cloud VPS S | 4 | 8GB | 200GB SSD | €8 | Untested | | V49 | Cloud VPS L | 8 | 30GB | 800GB SSD | €26 | Untested | | V50 | Cloud VPS XL | 10 | 60GB | 1600GB SSD | €39 | Untested |

Important: Contabo frequently restructures product IDs. Run cntb get products --productType vps for the current list. Verified working (Feb 2026): V12, V48, V92, V101.

</details>

Step 2: Create Instance

# Get the SSH public key content
SSH_KEY_CONTENT=$(cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub)

# Create instance
cntb create instance \
  --productId "$CONTABO_PRODUCT_ID" \
  --region "$CONTABO_REGION" \
  --displayName "$SERVER_NAME" \
  --imageId "ubuntu-22.04" \
  --sshKeys "$SSH_KEY_CONTENT"

Step 3: Get Instance Details

# List instances to get the ID
INSTANCE_ID=$(cntb get instances --output json | jq -r '.[] | select(.displayName=="'"$SERVER_NAME"'") | .instanceId')
echo "Instance ID: $INSTANCE_ID"

# Get instance details
cntb get instance "$INSTANCE_ID"

# Get IP address
SERVER_IP=$(cntb get instance "$INSTANCE_ID" --output json | jq -r '.ipConfig.v4.ip')
echo "SERVER_IP=$SERVER_IP"

Step 4: Wait for Server Ready

# Wait for instance to be running
echo "Waiting for instance to be running..."
while [ "$(cntb get instance "$INSTANCE_ID" --output json | jq -r '.status')" != "running" ]; do
  sleep 10
done
echo "Instance is running!"

# Wait for SSH to be available (typically 2-5 minutes for Contabo)
echo "Waiting for SSH to be available..."
until ssh -o ConnectTimeout=5 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no root@$SERVER_IP "echo connected" 2>/dev/null; do
  sleep 10
done
echo "Server is ready!"

Step 5: Verify Connection

ssh root@$SERVER_IP "uname -a && free -h && df -h /"

Step 6: Output for Downstream Skills

# Contabo only offers x86 architecture
SERVER_ARCH="amd64"

# Save to .env.local for downstream skills
echo "SERVER_IP=$SERVER_IP" >> .env.local
echo "SSH_USER=root" >> .env.local
echo "SSH_KEY_PATH=~/.ssh/id_rsa" >> .env.local
echo "SERVER_ARCH=$SERVER_ARCH" >> .env.local
echo "COOLIFY_SERVER_IP=$SERVER_IP" >> .env.local
echo "KASM_SERVER_IP=$SERVER_IP" >> .env.local

echo ""
echo "Instance deployed successfully!"
echo "  IP: $SERVER_IP"
echo "  Arch: $SERVER_ARCH"
echo "  SSH: ssh root@$SERVER_IP"

Verify Deployment

ssh root@$SERVER_IP "echo 'Contabo instance connected successfully'"

Object Storage Auto-Scaling

Contabo supports auto-scaling limits for object storage to control costs.

Create Object Storage with Auto-Scaling

# Create object storage bucket
cntb create objectStorage \
  --region "$CONTABO_REGION" \
  --displayName "my-storage" \
  --totalPurchasedSpaceTB 0.5 \
  --autoScaling.state enabled \
  --autoScaling.sizeLimitTB 2

This allows storage to automatically grow up to 2TB as needed.

Cleanup

Warning: This is destructive and cannot be undone.

# Cancel instance (Contabo uses "cancel" not "delete")
cntb cancel instance "$INSTANCE_ID"

# Note: Cancellation may take effect at end of billing period
# For immediate deletion, contact Contabo support

Operations

Troubleshooting, best practices, configuration variables, and cost snapshots are in references/OPERATIONS.md.

Logging Integration

When performing infrastructure operations, log to the centralized system:

# After provisioning
log_admin "SUCCESS" "operation" "Provisioned Contabo VPS" "id=$INSTANCE_ID provider=Contabo"

# After destroying
log_admin "SUCCESS" "operation" "Cancelled Contabo VPS" "id=$INSTANCE_ID"

# On error
log_admin "ERROR" "operation" "Contabo deployment failed" "error=$ERROR_MSG"

See admin skill's references/logging.md for full logging documentation.