claudetools/clients/cascades-tucson/session-logs/2026-06/2026-06-25-howard-synology-skill-verify-fixes.md

User

• User: Howard Enos (howard)
• Machine: Howard-Home
• Role: tech

Session Summary

Worked on the synology skill end-to-end, taking it from [PLUMBED] (coded to spec, never run against the device) to fully live-verified against the Cascades NAS (cascadesDS, DS718+, 192.168.0.120) with the site VPN up. The session began with a single test call to confirm the Web API client could authenticate and discover the device, then expanded to exercising the complete command surface and proving the write path.

First exercised the full read surface via both backends. All Web API read commands (test, apis, sysinfo, util, storage, shares, users, groups, packages, services, connections, ls share-roots, call) and the SSH backend (info, df, run including privileged sudo/synowebapi) were confirmed working. This surfaced four bugs that were fixed in place.

After confirming reads, the focus moved to the write/setter path — the last unverified capability and the one the user explicitly wanted proven ("full control so you can make the needed changes when needed"). A safe, self-reverting round-trip was chosen: create a hidden throwaway shared folder, verify it appears, delete it, verify it is gone. Both mutating calls passed CSRF (synotoken) end-to-end and the device was left pristine, proving the write path works for create and delete (directly relevant to the user's migration goal which centers on shares/permissions/users).

Documentation was updated throughout: SKILL.md status moved from PLUMBED to VERIFIED with per-command results and the write-path confirmation; the Cascades wiki gained the NAS device specs (resolving the model/RAM/DSM TODO in the network-logging plan). Work was committed in four commits as it progressed.

The user clarified the larger migration (Drive<->CS-SERVER 2-way sync, migrate domain users to CS-SERVER shares, retire the Synology sync) is NOT being executed now — this session was solely about verifying the skill has the capability to do that work when called upon. That capability is now confirmed.

Key Decisions

• Placed the session log under clients/cascades-tucson/ (not general skill logs) because all verification ran against cascadesDS and the work serves the Cascades migration.
• Chose a share create+delete round-trip to prove the write path rather than re-setting an existing setting: creating a new throwaway share cannot harm production config, whereas read-modify-write on an existing share risks dropping a field. Also the most relevant capability to the user's stated shares/permissions migration goal.
• Used the on-box synowebapi --exec (via SSH, golden rule #5) as the authority to diagnose the FileStation list failure rather than guessing param encodings from the Web API.
• Did NOT execute the actual migration — user confirmed this was a capability test only.

Problems Encountered

• services returned error 103 (SYNO.Core.Service.list method does not exist on DSM 7.2.1). Probed methods; correct method is get (returns {"service":[...]}). Fixed.
• apis | head raised a BrokenPipeError traceback. Added top-level BrokenPipeError handler that closes stdout and exits cleanly.
• ls <folder> (FileStation list) returns 400 via Web API / 407 on-box. Confirmed on-box as SYSTEM_ADMIN that the built-in admin account lacks FileStation file privileges — a device permission state, not a skill bug. list_share (share roots) works. Made ls catch the 400/407 and print an SSH file-browse hint; real file browsing goes through the SSH backend (run "ls -la /volume1/<share>/<subpath>").
• --confirm/--vault after the subcommand were rejected by argparse — meaning every documented gated-write example (call X set k=v --confirm, pkg-start <id> --confirm) would have failed. Moved both flags to a shared parent parser with SUPPRESS defaults so they work before AND after the subcommand. This was the most impactful fix — without it no write command worked as documented.
• MSYS path-mangling rewrote a bare ls /Public argument to /Public -> C:/Program Files/Git/Public before Python saw it (Windows friction). Logged to errorlog (--friction, ref feedback_tmp_path_windows). The call ... folder_path=/x form is not mangled; FileStation 407 denial blocks the path regardless.

Configuration Changes

Modified:

• .claude/skills/synology/scripts/syno_client.py — services method list->get; BrokenPipeError handler; ls <folder> 400/407 graceful SSH hint; argparse refactor (shared parent parser for --confirm/--vault, works in either position).
• .claude/skills/synology/SKILL.md — status PLUMBED -> VERIFIED; per-command results; SSH backend results; FileStation ls limitation; write-path VERIFIED with share-create signature; list of live fixes.
• wiki/clients/cascades-tucson.md — added NAS device-specs line to the Synology section; resolved the "Confirm Synology model/RAM/DSM before build" TODO in the network-logging plan.
• errorlog.md — auto-appended API 103 entries during method probing + one --friction entry for the MSYS ls path-mangling.

No changes left to the device: the test share synowritetest_del was created and deleted; cascadesDS config is unchanged.

Credentials & Secrets

No new credentials discovered or created. Used the existing vaulted admin credential at clients/cascades-tucson/synology-cascadesds.sops.yaml (fields host / port / credentials.username / credentials.password) for both Web API and SSH auth. Not displayed.

Infrastructure & Servers

• cascadesDS (Synology NAS): 192.168.0.120, DSM Web API on :5000 (http), SSH enabled. Model DS718+, DSM 7.2.1-69057 Update 11, 6 GB RAM (5924876 kB), serial 1920PEN537202, CPU Intel Celeron J3455 (4 cores @ 1.5GHz), sys temp ~40C, timezone Arizona, NTP server time.nist.gov. Hostname CascadesDS, model string synology_apollolake_718+.
• Filesystem: ext4 (NOT Btrfs). volume1 = /dev/mapper/cachedev_0, 913G total, 389G used, 525G avail (43%). 2x WD10EZEX 1 TB drives (sda WD-WCC3F4HXHDFF, sdb), both normal.
• Shares (10): homes, home, Public, SalesDept, Server, Management, plus hidden Activities, chat, pacs, Sandra Fish, web. Several in Windows-ACL mode (is_aclmode).
• Users: 41 local. Groups (4): administrators, http, MainOffice, users.
• Packages (30 running): incl. Active Backup for Business 3.1.0-24967 (running on ext4 — only ABB dedup/self-healing needs Btrfs), Synology Drive Server 3.5.0-26088, Synology Chat 2.4.6, VPN Server 1.4.9, Hybrid Share 1.4.1, File Station, SMB Service 4.15.13.
• Reachable only with the Cascades site VPN up.

Commands & Outputs

PY="$PWD/.claude/scripts/py.sh"; S=".claude/skills/synology/scripts/syno_client.py"
X=".claude/skills/synology/scripts/syno-ssh.sh"

# read verification
bash "$PY" "$S" test            # ok: DS718+, DSM 7.2.1-69057 U11, 6144 MB
bash "$PY" "$S" services        # FIXED: now uses `get` (was `list` -> 103)
bash "$PY" "$S" apis service    # confirmed SYNO.Core.Service maxVersion 3, method=get

# FileStation list diagnosis (denied for admin)
bash "$PY" "$S" call SYNO.FileStation.List list folder_path=/Public   # -> 400
# on-box authority:
bash "$X" run "echo '<pw>' | sudo -S -p '' /usr/syno/bin/synowebapi --exec \
  api=SYNO.FileStation.List method=list version=2 folder_path='\"/Public\"'" --confirm
  # -> {"error":{"code":407}}  (operation not permitted, even as SYSTEM_ADMIN)
bash "$X" run "ls -la /volume1/Public/Documents" --confirm   # SSH fallback works

# write-path round-trip (CSRF proven, device left pristine)
bash "$PY" "$S" call SYNO.Core.Share create name=synowritetest_del \
  'shareinfo:={"name":"synowritetest_del","vol_path":"/volume1","desc":"...","enable_recycle_bin":false,"hidden":true}' \
  --confirm                                  # -> {"name":"synowritetest_del"}
bash "$PY" "$S" call SYNO.Core.Share delete name=synowritetest_del --confirm  # -> {"success":true}

# argparse fix verification
bash "$PY" "$S" call SYNO.Core.Share create name=x   # gate: blocked w/o --confirm (correct)
bash "$PY" "$S" test --confirm                       # --confirm AFTER subcommand now accepted
bash "$PY" "$S" --confirm test                       # --confirm BEFORE subcommand still accepted

Pending / Incomplete Tasks

• Migration (NOT started — capability test only this session). End goal per Howard:
  1. map Synology Drive to CS-SERVER for 2-way sync, 2) migrate domain users onto CS-SERVER shares, 3) end the Synology sync so all users are on CS-SERVER. All required capabilities (share create/modify, share permissions, users/groups, package/service control) are now verified reachable + writable via the skill. Awaiting explicit go.
• Session-expiry re-login (106/119) not forced live (would need an expired SID); auth/ CSRF/setter plumbing otherwise proven.
• Log Center package not yet confirmed installed on cascadesDS — check apis logcenter before the network-logging-plan build.
• Optional: consider granting the admin account FileStation file privileges if Web API file browsing is ever wanted (currently SSH-only).

Reference Information

• Skill files: .claude/skills/synology/{SKILL.md,scripts/syno_client.py,scripts/syno-ssh.sh,references/dsm-api.md}
• Vault: clients/cascades-tucson/synology-cascadesds.sops.yaml
• Commits this session:
  • 7173f4d synology: live-verify against cascadesDS, fix services method + pipe handling
  • fc36f98 synology: full read-surface sweep + FileStation ls graceful fallback
  • 21ef1f2 synology: fix --confirm arg position + verify write path live
• On-box synowebapi path: /usr/syno/bin/synowebapi (root only, mode 0700)
• FileStation error codes seen: 400 (invalid param / web-api translation), 401 (unknown file op), 407 (operation not permitted), 408 (no such file).
• Wiki: wiki/clients/cascades-tucson.md (Synology NAS section + network-logging plan).