v0.7.0 - Pre-flight launch validation (Test button on every model card)

validate.py:
- Builds the same args list a real swap would pass to 'vllm serve'
- SSHes into Spark 1 and runs vLLM's own argparse layer inside the running vllm_node container, WITHOUT initializing the engine
- Uses FlexibleArgumentParser (from vllm.utils.argparse_utils, with fallback to engine.arg_utils) + make_arg_parser — the exact same parser the 'vllm serve' CLI uses. Earlier attempt with bare argparse.ArgumentParser was too strict (rejected '--moe_backend' with underscore that the real CLI accepts via FlexibleArgumentParser's normalization)
- Returns structured {ok, stage, error, cmd_args, launch_cmd} so the UI can surface the exact failure cause

Endpoint: POST /api/swap/{key}/validate. Cheap (~5s), no engine init, no disruption to the currently-loaded model.

Frontend: 'Test' button on every model card, inline result below the action row (green check or red detailed error). Result stays visible until the user reloads or clicks Test again.

Catches: typos in flag names, deprecated/removed flags after a vLLM upgrade, type mismatches. Does NOT catch runtime-only failures (Mamba block-size assertion, OOM at load, kernel-compat). Ok=true is necessary-but-not-sufficient; ok=false is definitive 'don't bother running it'.

README.md

@@ -84,6 +84,24 @@ Other services on your LAN can hit `GET /api/endpoints` to learn where the curre
 
 `base_url` is filled in whenever Configure Sparks has been completed (even if the underlying service isn't currently up). Pair the URL with `ready: true` to safely route traffic.
 
+## Reporting failures from external apps
+
+Spark Control polls every 5 s, so a brief blip in Parakeet/Magpie/vLLM availability can slip between polls and never make it into the connectivity log. To capture short failures, an external app (e.g. Open WebUI) can POST whenever a call fails (or succeeds):
+
+```bash
+curl -X POST http://<dashboard-url>/api/health-event \
+  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
+  -d '{
+    "service": "parakeet",
+    "ok": false,
+    "source": "open-webui",
+    "error": "HTTP 503",
+    "ms": 420
+  }'
+```
+
+Fields: `service` (required), `ok` (required), `source` (optional, free-form), `error` (optional), `ms` (optional latency). Each POST appends a `report` event to the connectivity log alongside the polling-based transition events.
+
 ## Status
 
 **v0.2.3** — installed and verified on a Start9 server. Five bundled LLMs in the catalog (qwen3-vl, gemma4, qwen36, qwen3-235b-fp8, qwen2.5-72b), plus any custom models added through the UI.

image/app/config.py

@@ -42,6 +42,8 @@ class Settings:
     parakeet_port: int
     magpie_port: int
     bind_port: int
+    open_webui_url: str
+    ngc_api_key: str
 
     @classmethod
     def from_env(cls) -> "Settings":
@@ -55,10 +57,10 @@ class Settings:
             spark2_user=spark2_user,
             parakeet_host=_env("PARAKEET_HOST") or spark2_host,
             parakeet_user=_env("PARAKEET_USER") or spark2_user,
-            parakeet_container=_env("PARAKEET_CONTAINER", "parakeet-asr"),
+            parakeet_container=_env("PARAKEET_CONTAINER") or "parakeet-asr",
             magpie_host=_env("MAGPIE_HOST") or spark2_host,
             magpie_user=_env("MAGPIE_USER") or spark2_user,
-            magpie_container=_env("MAGPIE_CONTAINER", "magpie-tts"),
+            magpie_container=_env("MAGPIE_CONTAINER") or "magpie-tts",
             ssh_key_path=_env("SSH_KEY_PATH"),
             ssh_known_hosts=_env("SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS"),
             models_yaml=_resolve_models_yaml(),
@@ -66,6 +68,8 @@ class Settings:
             parakeet_port=int(_env("PARAKEET_PORT", "8000")),
             magpie_port=int(_env("MAGPIE_PORT", "9000")),
             bind_port=int(_env("BIND_PORT", "9999")),
+            open_webui_url=_env("OPEN_WEBUI_URL", ""),
+            ngc_api_key=_env("NGC_API_KEY", ""),
         )
 
     @property

image/app/connectivity.py

@@ -0,0 +1,190 @@
+"""Track up/down transitions for any subject (Sparks AND services) and cache MACs.
+
+Persisted to /data/connectivity.json. Schema:
+
+    {
+      "macs": { "spark1": "aa:bb:..", "spark2": "11:22:.." },
+      "current": { "spark1": "up", "parakeet": "up", "magpie": "down", ... },
+      "last_change": { ... },
+      "events": [
+        # Active-probe transition (logged when state flips during polling)
+        { "subject": "spark2", "at": "...", "kind": "transition",
+          "transition": "down" },
+        { "subject": "spark2", "at": "...", "kind": "transition",
+          "transition": "up", "down_seconds": 4500 },
+
+        # Passive report (logged whenever an external app POSTs to
+        # /api/health-event regardless of state change)
+        { "subject": "parakeet", "at": "...", "kind": "report",
+          "ok": false, "source": "open-webui",
+          "detail": "Connection refused", "latency_ms": 320 },
+      ]
+    }
+
+Legacy events from v0.5 with `spark` instead of `subject` and no `kind` field
+are read transparently as kind="transition".
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+import json
+import os
+import threading
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Optional
+
+
+MAX_EVENTS = 200  # rolling window — plenty for showing recent history
+
+
+def _path() -> str:
+    return os.environ.get("CONNECTIVITY_LOG", "/data/connectivity.json")
+
+
+_lock = threading.Lock()
+
+
+def _read() -> dict:
+    try:
+        with open(_path()) as f:
+            return json.load(f) or {}
+    except (FileNotFoundError, json.JSONDecodeError):
+        return {}
+
+
+def _write(data: dict) -> None:
+    p = _path()
+    Path(p).parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    tmp = p + ".tmp"
+    with open(tmp, "w") as f:
+        json.dump(data, f, indent=2, sort_keys=False)
+    os.replace(tmp, p)
+
+
+def load() -> dict:
+    with _lock:
+        d = _read()
+        d.setdefault("macs", {})
+        d.setdefault("current", {})
+        d.setdefault("last_change", {})
+        d.setdefault("events", [])
+        return d
+
+
+def record_mac(subject: str, mac: Optional[str]) -> None:
+    if not mac:
+        return
+    with _lock:
+        d = _read()
+        d.setdefault("macs", {})
+        if d["macs"].get(subject) != mac:
+            d["macs"][subject] = mac
+            _write(d)
+
+
+def record_state(subject: str, reachable: bool) -> Optional[dict]:
+    """Update current state for `subject`. If it differs from the last seen
+    state, append a transition event. Returns the event dict if a transition
+    was recorded, else None.
+
+    `subject` can be a Spark host key (spark1/spark2) or a service name
+    (parakeet/magpie/vllm).
+    """
+    new_state = "up" if reachable else "down"
+    now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z")
+    with _lock:
+        d = _read()
+        d.setdefault("macs", {})
+        d.setdefault("current", {})
+        d.setdefault("last_change", {})
+        d.setdefault("events", [])
+        prev = d["current"].get(subject)
+        if prev == new_state:
+            return None
+        event: dict = {
+            "subject": subject,
+            "at": now,
+            "kind": "transition",
+            "transition": new_state,
+        }
+        # When we have a previous state and timestamp, compute duration
+        last_change = d["last_change"].get(subject)
+        if prev and last_change:
+            try:
+                prev_dt = datetime.fromisoformat(last_change.replace("Z", "+00:00"))
+                duration = (datetime.now(timezone.utc) - prev_dt).total_seconds()
+                if prev == "down" and new_state == "up":
+                    event["down_seconds"] = round(duration)
+                if prev == "up" and new_state == "down":
+                    event["up_seconds"] = round(duration)
+            except ValueError:
+                pass
+        d["current"][subject] = new_state
+        d["last_change"][subject] = now
+        d["events"].append(event)
+        if len(d["events"]) > MAX_EVENTS:
+            d["events"] = d["events"][-MAX_EVENTS:]
+        _write(d)
+        return event
+
+
+def record_report(
+    subject: str,
+    *,
+    ok: bool,
+    source: str = "external",
+    detail: str = "",
+    latency_ms: Optional[int] = None,
+) -> dict:
+    """Record a passive report from an external caller (e.g. Open WebUI got a
+    503 calling Parakeet). Always appended to the events list; does NOT change
+    the active-probe state (which only the polling probe is authoritative on).
+    """
+    now = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat().replace("+00:00", "Z")
+    with _lock:
+        d = _read()
+        d.setdefault("events", [])
+        event: dict = {
+            "subject": subject,
+            "at": now,
+            "kind": "report",
+            "ok": bool(ok),
+            "source": source or "external",
+        }
+        if detail:
+            event["detail"] = detail
+        if latency_ms is not None:
+            event["latency_ms"] = int(latency_ms)
+        d["events"].append(event)
+        if len(d["events"]) > MAX_EVENTS:
+            d["events"] = d["events"][-MAX_EVENTS:]
+        _write(d)
+        return event
+
+
+def get_mac(subject: str) -> Optional[str]:
+    d = load()
+    return d.get("macs", {}).get(subject)
+
+
+def _normalize_event(e: dict) -> dict:
+    """Promote legacy v0.5 events to the v0.6 shape so the UI sees one schema."""
+    if "subject" in e:
+        e.setdefault("kind", "transition")
+        return e
+    # Legacy: had "spark" + "transition" only
+    if "spark" in e:
+        e["subject"] = e.pop("spark")
+        e.setdefault("kind", "transition")
+    return e
+
+
+def summary() -> dict:
+    """Compact summary for the UI: known MACs, current state, recent events."""
+    d = load()
+    events = [_normalize_event(dict(e)) for e in d.get("events", [])]
+    return {
+        "macs": d.get("macs", {}),
+        "current": d.get("current", {}),
+        "last_change": d.get("last_change", {}),
+        "events": events[-80:],
+    }

image/app/custom_services.py

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+"""User-installed services persist in /data/services-overrides.yaml.
+
+Format:
+    custom:
+      - key: my-riva
+        kind: stt
+        host: <spark-2-ip>
+        user: <spark-user>
+        container: riva-asr
+        port: 8001
+        health_path: /health
+        image: nvcr.io/nim/nvidia/riva-multilingual:latest
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+import yaml
+
+
+def _path() -> str:
+    return os.environ.get("SERVICES_OVERRIDES", "/data/services-overrides.yaml")
+
+
+def load_custom_services() -> list[dict]:
+    try:
+        with open(_path()) as f:
+            data = yaml.safe_load(f) or {}
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        return []
+    return data.get("custom") or []
+
+
+def add_custom_service(entry: dict) -> None:
+    p = _path()
+    Path(p).parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    data: dict = {}
+    try:
+        with open(p) as f:
+            data = yaml.safe_load(f) or {}
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        pass
+    custom = data.get("custom") or []
+    custom = [c for c in custom if c.get("key") != entry["key"]]
+    custom.append(entry)
+    data["custom"] = custom
+    with open(p, "w") as f:
+        yaml.safe_dump(data, f, sort_keys=False)
+
+
+def delete_custom_service(key: str) -> None:
+    p = _path()
+    try:
+        with open(p) as f:
+            data = yaml.safe_load(f) or {}
+    except FileNotFoundError:
+        return
+    data["custom"] = [c for c in (data.get("custom") or []) if c.get("key") != key]
+    with open(p, "w") as f:
+        yaml.safe_dump(data, f, sort_keys=False)

image/app/download.py

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ from .config import Settings
 from .ssh import ssh_stream, StreamHandle
 
 
-Mode = Literal["solo", "cluster"]
+Mode = Literal["spark1", "spark2", "cluster"]
 
 
 _TQDM_RE = re.compile(
@@ -113,17 +113,26 @@ class DownloadManager:
 
     async def _do(self, job: DownloadJob) -> None:
         s = self.settings
-        if not s.spark1_host or not s.spark1_user:
-            raise RuntimeError("spark1 not configured")
+        # Pick the SSH target and hf-download flags from the mode.
+        if job.mode == "spark2":
+            target_host, target_user = s.spark2_host, s.spark2_user
+            flags = ""
+        elif job.mode == "cluster":
+            target_host, target_user = s.spark1_host, s.spark1_user
+            flags = "-c --copy-parallel"
+        else:  # spark1
+            target_host, target_user = s.spark1_host, s.spark1_user
+            flags = ""
+        if not target_host or not target_user:
+            raise RuntimeError(f"{job.mode} host not configured")
 
-        flags = "-c --copy-parallel" if job.mode == "cluster" else ""
         cmd = f"cd ~/spark-vllm-docker && ./hf-download.sh {job.repo} {flags}".strip()
         job.append(f"$ {cmd}")
         job.state = "downloading"
         job.progress.phase = "Connecting to Hugging Face…"
 
         handle = StreamHandle()
-        async for line in ssh_stream(s.spark1_host, s.spark1_user, cmd, s, handle=handle):
+        async for line in ssh_stream(target_host, target_user, cmd, s, handle=handle):
             job.append(line)
             self._update_progress(job, line)
 

image/app/hardware.py

@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+"""Per-Spark hardware snapshots: RAM, disk, GPU memory + utilization, CPU load, uptime.
+
+Drives via a single SSH command per Spark that runs `free`, `df`, `nvidia-smi`,
+`/proc/loadavg`, and `uptime -p` and prints labeled lines back. We parse those
+labels in `_parse`.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+import asyncio
+import time
+from typing import Any
+
+from .config import Settings
+from .connectivity import record_mac, record_state
+from .ssh import ssh_run
+
+
+_PROBE = r"""
+set -e
+echo HOSTNAME=$(hostname)
+echo UPTIME=$(uptime -p 2>/dev/null || uptime)
+echo LOAD=$(awk '{print $1, $2, $3}' /proc/loadavg)
+echo CORES=$(nproc 2>/dev/null || echo 0)
+echo MEMORY=$(free -b 2>/dev/null | awk '/^Mem:/ {print $2, $3}')
+echo DISK=$(df -B1 / 2>/dev/null | awk 'NR==2 {print $2, $3}')
+echo GPU=$(nvidia-smi --query-gpu=name,utilization.gpu,temperature.gpu,power.draw,memory.total --format=csv,noheader,nounits 2>/dev/null | head -1)
+echo GPU_MEM_USED_MIB=$(nvidia-smi --query-compute-apps=used_gpu_memory --format=csv,noheader,nounits 2>/dev/null | awk '{s+=$1} END {print s+0}')
+DEFIF=$(ip route show default 2>/dev/null | awk '{print $5; exit}')
+echo MAC=$(cat /sys/class/net/$DEFIF/address 2>/dev/null)
+""".strip()
+
+
+def _parse_int(s: str) -> int | None:
+    try: return int(s)
+    except (TypeError, ValueError): return None
+
+
+def _parse(out: str) -> dict:
+    info: dict[str, Any] = {}
+    for raw in out.splitlines():
+        if "=" not in raw:
+            continue
+        k, v = raw.split("=", 1)
+        info[k.strip().lower()] = v.strip()
+    parsed: dict[str, Any] = {}
+    parsed["hostname"] = info.get("hostname")
+    parsed["uptime"] = info.get("uptime")
+    parsed["cores"] = _parse_int(info.get("cores", ""))
+    # Load average -> (1m, 5m, 15m)
+    if info.get("load"):
+        loads = info["load"].split()
+        try:
+            parsed["load"] = [float(x) for x in loads[:3]]
+        except ValueError:
+            parsed["load"] = None
+    # Memory: total used in bytes
+    if info.get("memory"):
+        mem = info["memory"].split()
+        if len(mem) == 2:
+            tot, used = _parse_int(mem[0]), _parse_int(mem[1])
+            parsed["ram_total_bytes"] = tot
+            parsed["ram_used_bytes"] = used
+    # Disk: total used in bytes
+    if info.get("disk"):
+        dk = info["disk"].split()
+        if len(dk) == 2:
+            parsed["disk_total_bytes"] = _parse_int(dk[0])
+            parsed["disk_used_bytes"] = _parse_int(dk[1])
+    # GPU: "name, util_gpu, temp_C, power_W, memory_total_MiB"
+    if info.get("gpu"):
+        parts = [p.strip() for p in info["gpu"].split(",")]
+        if len(parts) >= 5:
+            name, ug, temp, power, mt = parts[0], parts[1], parts[2], parts[3], parts[4]
+            parsed["gpu_name"] = name
+            parsed["gpu_util_pct"] = _parse_int(ug)
+            parsed["gpu_temp_c"] = _parse_int(temp)
+            try: parsed["gpu_power_w"] = float(power)
+            except ValueError: parsed["gpu_power_w"] = None
+            # memory.total may be "[N/A]" on unified-memory systems (DGX Spark)
+            parsed["gpu_mem_total_mib"] = _parse_int(mt)
+            parsed["gpu_unified_memory"] = parsed["gpu_mem_total_mib"] is None
+    # Sum per-process compute memory (works even on unified-memory systems)
+    if info.get("gpu_mem_used_mib"):
+        parsed["gpu_mem_used_mib"] = _parse_int(info["gpu_mem_used_mib"])
+    # MAC address on the default-route interface (for Wake-on-LAN)
+    if info.get("mac"):
+        parsed["mac"] = info["mac"].lower()
+    return parsed
+
+
+class HardwareProbe:
+    """Caches results briefly to avoid hammering the Sparks."""
+
+    def __init__(self, settings: Settings, ttl_sec: float = 4.0, fail_ttl_sec: float = 25.0) -> None:
+        self.settings = settings
+        self.ttl_sec = ttl_sec
+        self.fail_ttl_sec = fail_ttl_sec
+        self._cache: dict[str, tuple[float, dict]] = {}
+        self._locks: dict[str, asyncio.Lock] = {}
+
+    def _ttl_for(self, value: dict) -> float:
+        return self.ttl_sec if value.get("reachable") else self.fail_ttl_sec
+
+    def _lock(self, key: str) -> asyncio.Lock:
+        if key not in self._locks:
+            self._locks[key] = asyncio.Lock()
+        return self._locks[key]
+
+    async def fetch(self) -> dict:
+        s1, s2 = await asyncio.gather(
+            self._one("spark1", self.settings.spark1_host, self.settings.spark1_user),
+            self._one("spark2", self.settings.spark2_host, self.settings.spark2_user),
+        )
+        return {"spark1": s1, "spark2": s2}
+
+    async def _one(self, key: str, host: str, user: str) -> dict:
+        if not host or not user:
+            return {"reachable": False, "configured": False}
+        async with self._lock(key):
+            now = time.monotonic()
+            cached = self._cache.get(key)
+            if cached and (now - cached[0] < self._ttl_for(cached[1])):
+                return cached[1]
+            # Use a shorter timeout for the connect phase; if a previous probe
+            # marked this host unreachable, return the cached failure immediately.
+            rc, out, err = await ssh_run(host, user, _PROBE, self.settings, timeout=6)
+            if rc != 0:
+                result = {"reachable": False, "configured": True, "host": host, "error": err.strip() or out.strip() or f"rc={rc}"}
+                self._cache[key] = (now, result)
+                record_state(key, False)
+                return result
+            parsed = _parse(out)
+            result = {"reachable": True, "configured": True, "host": host, **parsed}
+            self._cache[key] = (now, result)
+            record_state(key, True)
+            if parsed.get("mac"):
+                record_mac(key, parsed["mac"])
+            return result

image/app/nim.py

@@ -0,0 +1,202 @@
+"""NVIDIA NIM container install / lifecycle.
+
+Two pieces:
+  * A small curated catalog of NIM images (so users don't have to copy/paste
+    huge nvcr.io URLs).
+  * An installer that SSHes into the target Spark, runs `docker pull` then
+    `docker run -d --gpus all -p PORT:PORT -v VOLUME:/opt/nim/.cache
+    -e NGC_API_KEY=... IMAGE` and streams output.
+
+Custom services also persist via `overrides.add_custom_service()` so the
+Services panel can show them.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+import asyncio
+import uuid
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from datetime import datetime, timezone
+from typing import Optional
+
+from .config import Settings
+from .ssh import ssh_stream, StreamHandle
+
+
+# Curated list. These are the most useful NIM containers for a dual-Spark
+# audio-and-LLM setup. Browse the full catalog at
+# https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nim/teams/nvidia
+CATALOG_URL = "https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nim/teams/nvidia/containers"
+
+
+SUGGESTED_NIMS: list[dict] = [
+    {
+        "key": "parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v3",
+        "name": "Parakeet TDT 0.6B v3",
+        "image": "nvcr.io/nim/nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0-6b-v3:latest",
+        "default_container": "parakeet-asr",
+        "default_port": 8000,
+        "kind": "stt",
+        "description": "Streaming speech-to-text (English). Used by Open WebUI for voice input. ~1 GB.",
+        "homepage": "https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nim/teams/nvidia/containers/parakeet-tdt-0-6b-v3",
+    },
+    {
+        "key": "magpie-tts-multilingual",
+        "name": "Magpie TTS Multilingual",
+        "image": "nvcr.io/nim/nvidia/magpie-tts-multilingual:latest",
+        "default_container": "magpie-tts",
+        "default_port": 9000,
+        "kind": "tts",
+        "description": "Multilingual text-to-speech. Counterpart to Parakeet for 'read aloud'. ~3 GB.",
+        "homepage": "https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nim/teams/nvidia/containers/magpie-tts-multilingual",
+    },
+    {
+        "key": "riva-multilingual",
+        "name": "Riva Multilingual ASR",
+        "image": "nvcr.io/nim/nvidia/riva-multilingual:latest",
+        "default_container": "riva-asr",
+        "default_port": 8001,
+        "kind": "stt",
+        "description": "NVIDIA Riva speech-recognition multi-language model. Larger and more accurate than Parakeet.",
+        "homepage": "https://catalog.ngc.nvidia.com/orgs/nim/teams/nvidia",
+    },
+]
+
+
+@dataclass
+class NimInstallJob:
+    id: str
+    image: str
+    container: str
+    port: int
+    host: str
+    user: str
+    volume: Optional[str]
+    started_at: str
+    state: str = "starting"   # starting | pulling | running | done | failed
+    phase: str = "Starting…"
+    lines: list[str] = field(default_factory=list)
+    returncode: Optional[int] = None
+    finished_at: Optional[str] = None
+
+    def append(self, line: str) -> None:
+        self.lines.append(line)
+        if len(self.lines) > 1000:
+            del self.lines[: len(self.lines) - 1000]
+
+
+class NimManager:
+    def __init__(self, settings: Settings) -> None:
+        self.settings = settings
+        self.lock = asyncio.Lock()
+        self.jobs: dict[str, NimInstallJob] = {}
+        self.current_job_id: Optional[str] = None
+
+    def get(self, job_id: str) -> NimInstallJob | None:
+        return self.jobs.get(job_id)
+
+    async def trigger(
+        self,
+        *,
+        image: str,
+        container: str,
+        port: int,
+        host: str,
+        user: str,
+        volume: str | None = None,
+        extra_env: dict[str, str] | None = None,
+    ) -> NimInstallJob:
+        if self.lock.locked():
+            raise RuntimeError("Another NIM install is already in progress")
+        if not host or not user:
+            raise RuntimeError("target host not configured")
+        if not self.settings.ngc_api_key:
+            raise RuntimeError(
+                "NGC_API_KEY is not set. Open Configure Sparks in StartOS and paste your NGC personal API key (free at https://ngc.nvidia.com/setup/personal-key)."
+            )
+
+        job = NimInstallJob(
+            id=uuid.uuid4().hex[:8],
+            image=image,
+            container=container,
+            port=port,
+            host=host,
+            user=user,
+            volume=volume or f"{container}-cache",
+            started_at=datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat(),
+        )
+        self.jobs[job.id] = job
+        self.current_job_id = job.id
+        asyncio.create_task(self._run(job, extra_env or {}))
+        return job
+
+    async def _run(self, job: NimInstallJob, extra_env: dict[str, str]) -> None:
+        async with self.lock:
+            try:
+                await self._do(job, extra_env)
+                if job.state != "failed":
+                    job.state = "done"
+                    job.returncode = 0
+                    job.phase = "Done"
+            except Exception as e:
+                job.append(f"[error] {type(e).__name__}: {e}")
+                job.state = "failed"
+                if job.returncode is None:
+                    job.returncode = 1
+            finally:
+                job.finished_at = datetime.now(timezone.utc).isoformat()
+                if self.current_job_id == job.id:
+                    self.current_job_id = None
+
+    async def _do(self, job: NimInstallJob, extra_env: dict[str, str]) -> None:
+        # Build the bash one-liner. We use docker login non-interactively with the NGC API key.
+        env_parts = [f'-e NGC_API_KEY=$NGC_API_KEY']
+        for k, v in extra_env.items():
+            env_parts.append(f"-e {k}={v}")
+        env_str = " ".join(env_parts)
+        cmd = (
+            f"set -e; "
+            f"export NGC_API_KEY='{self.settings.ngc_api_key}'; "
+            f"echo '=== docker login nvcr.io ==='; "
+            f"echo \"$NGC_API_KEY\" | docker login nvcr.io -u '$oauthtoken' --password-stdin; "
+            f"echo '=== docker pull {job.image} (this can be 1-10 GB) ==='; "
+            f"docker pull {job.image}; "
+            f"echo '=== remove any prior container with the same name ==='; "
+            f"docker rm -f {job.container} 2>/dev/null || true; "
+            f"echo '=== docker run -d --gpus all -p {job.port}:{job.port} -v {job.volume}:/opt/nim/.cache {env_str} --name {job.container} --restart unless-stopped {job.image} ==='; "
+            f"docker run -d --gpus all "
+            f"-p {job.port}:{job.port} "
+            f"-v {job.volume}:/opt/nim/.cache "
+            f"{env_str} "
+            f"--name {job.container} "
+            f"--restart unless-stopped "
+            f"{job.image}; "
+            f"echo '=== ensuring cache volume is writable by uid 1000 (riva-server) ==='; "
+            f"docker run --rm -v {job.volume}:/cache alpine chown -R 1000:1000 /cache && "
+            f"docker restart {job.container}; "
+            f"echo '=== install complete; container is starting up and will download its model on first boot ==='"
+        )
+        job.append(f"$ <install command for {job.image} on {job.host}>")
+        job.state = "pulling"
+        job.phase = "Pulling image from nvcr.io (this can take a few minutes)…"
+
+        handle = StreamHandle()
+        async for line in ssh_stream(job.host, job.user, cmd, self.settings, handle=handle):
+            # Don't log lines containing the api key
+            if self.settings.ngc_api_key and self.settings.ngc_api_key in line:
+                continue
+            job.append(line)
+            if "docker pull" in line:
+                job.phase = "Pulling image from nvcr.io…"
+            elif "Login Succeeded" in line:
+                job.phase = "Logged in to NGC; pulling image…"
+            elif "Pull complete" in line:
+                job.phase = "Pulling layers…"
+            elif "Status: Downloaded newer image" in line or "Image is up to date" in line:
+                job.phase = "Image ready; starting container…"
+            elif "docker run -d" in line:
+                job.state = "running"
+                job.phase = "Container starting; downloading model on first boot…"
+
+        rc = handle.returncode or 0
+        if rc != 0:
+            job.state = "failed"
+            job.returncode = rc

image/app/server.py

@@ -10,14 +10,20 @@ from pydantic import BaseModel
 from typing import Literal
 
 from .config import Settings
+from .connectivity import get_mac, record_report, record_state, summary as connectivity_summary
+from .custom_services import add_custom_service, delete_custom_service
 from .download import DownloadManager
+from .hardware import HardwareProbe
 from .health import check_magpie, check_parakeet, check_vllm
 from .models import load_catalog
+from .nim import SUGGESTED_NIMS, CATALOG_URL, NimManager
 from .overrides import add_custom, delete_custom, extract_knobs_from_args, load_overrides, set_knobs
 from .services import docker_state, run_action, services_from_settings
 from .ssh import ssh_run
 from .swap import SwapManager
 from .updates import UpdateManager, get_update_status
+from .validate import validate_launch
+from .wol import send_local_broadcast, send_via_peer
 
 
 settings = Settings.from_env()
@@ -25,6 +31,8 @@ catalog = load_catalog(settings.models_yaml)
 swap_manager = SwapManager(settings, catalog)
 download_manager = DownloadManager(settings)
 update_manager = UpdateManager(settings)
+hardware_probe = HardwareProbe(settings)
+nim_manager = NimManager(settings)
 
 app = FastAPI(title="spark-control", version="0.1.0")
 
@@ -44,6 +52,7 @@ async def get_config() -> dict:
         "spark1_host": settings.spark1_host,
         "spark2_host": settings.spark2_host,
         "vllm_port": settings.vllm_port,
+        "open_webui_url": settings.open_webui_url or None,
     }
 
 
@@ -116,6 +125,87 @@ async def del_model(key: str) -> dict:
     return {"ok": True, "key": key}
 
 
+@app.get("/api/hardware")
+async def get_hardware() -> dict:
+    """Per-Spark hardware snapshot — RAM, disk, GPU mem + util, CPU load, uptime."""
+    return await hardware_probe.fetch()
+
+
+@app.get("/api/connectivity")
+async def get_connectivity() -> dict:
+    """Up/down transition log per Spark + cached MACs."""
+    return connectivity_summary()
+
+
+class HealthEventBody(BaseModel):
+    service: str                 # e.g. "parakeet", "magpie", "vllm"
+    ok: bool                     # true on success, false on failure
+    source: str | None = None    # what app reported (e.g. "open-webui")
+    error: str | None = None     # optional detail
+    ms: int | None = None        # optional latency
+
+
+@app.post("/api/health-event")
+async def post_health_event(body: HealthEventBody) -> dict:
+    """Passive endpoint: any LAN app can POST here when its call to one of our
+    services succeeds or (more usefully) fails. We log the report into the
+    connectivity history so a brief blip that polling misses still surfaces.
+
+    Example:
+        curl -X POST http://<dashboard>/api/health-event \\
+          -H 'content-type: application/json' \\
+          -d '{"service":"parakeet","ok":false,"error":"503","source":"open-webui","ms":420}'
+    """
+    if not body.service.strip():
+        raise HTTPException(400, "service is required")
+    event = record_report(
+        body.service.strip(),
+        ok=body.ok,
+        source=(body.source or "external").strip(),
+        detail=(body.error or "").strip(),
+        latency_ms=body.ms,
+    )
+    return {"ok": True, "recorded": event}
+
+
+@app.post("/api/spark/{name}/wake")
+async def wake_spark(name: str) -> dict:
+    """Send a Wake-on-LAN magic packet for the named Spark.
+
+    Tries the OTHER Spark (if reachable) first because the packet has to
+    originate on the target's LAN segment to be reliable. Falls back to a
+    direct UDP broadcast from this container.
+    """
+    if name not in ("spark1", "spark2"):
+        raise HTTPException(404, f"unknown spark: {name}")
+    mac = get_mac(name)
+    if not mac:
+        raise HTTPException(400, f"MAC for {name} not yet known; bring it up once so we can probe it, then this will work next time it sleeps")
+
+    # Find the peer's connectivity to decide the path.
+    other = "spark2" if name == "spark1" else "spark1"
+    other_host = settings.spark1_host if other == "spark1" else settings.spark2_host
+    other_user = settings.spark1_user if other == "spark1" else settings.spark2_user
+
+    delivered_via = None
+    via_peer_ok = False
+    via_peer_err = ""
+    if other_host and other_user:
+        via_peer_ok, via_peer_err = await send_via_peer(other_host, other_user, mac, settings)
+        if via_peer_ok:
+            delivered_via = other
+
+    if not via_peer_ok:
+        # Fall back to direct from this container
+        try:
+            send_local_broadcast(mac)
+            delivered_via = "container"
+        except Exception as e:
+            raise HTTPException(500, f"WoL failed: peer={via_peer_err!r} container={e!r}")
+
+    return {"ok": True, "spark": name, "mac": mac, "delivered_via": delivered_via}
+
+
 @app.get("/api/services")
 async def get_services() -> dict:
     """Lifecycle state of always-on support services (Parakeet, Magpie, …).
@@ -158,9 +248,113 @@ async def get_services() -> dict:
     results = await asyncio.gather(*[one(n) for n in services.keys()])
     for name, info in results:
         out[name] = info
+        # Feed http reachability into the connectivity log (transition-only)
+        record_state(name, bool(info.get("http_ready")))
     return out
 
 
+@app.get("/api/nim/catalog")
+async def get_nim_catalog() -> dict:
+    return {
+        "catalog_url": CATALOG_URL,
+        "ngc_key_configured": bool(settings.ngc_api_key),
+        "suggested": SUGGESTED_NIMS,
+    }
+
+
+class NimInstallBody(BaseModel):
+    image: str
+    container: str
+    port: int
+    host: Literal["spark1", "spark2"] = "spark2"
+    kind: str = ""
+    register: bool = True   # write to custom services overrides after install
+
+
+@app.post("/api/nim/install")
+async def post_nim_install(body: NimInstallBody) -> dict:
+    target_host = settings.spark1_host if body.host == "spark1" else settings.spark2_host
+    target_user = settings.spark1_user if body.host == "spark1" else settings.spark2_user
+    try:
+        job = await nim_manager.trigger(
+            image=body.image,
+            container=body.container,
+            port=body.port,
+            host=target_host,
+            user=target_user,
+        )
+    except RuntimeError as e:
+        raise HTTPException(409 if "in progress" in str(e) else 400, str(e))
+
+    if body.register:
+        # Persist in custom services so the panel shows it after install.
+        add_custom_service({
+            "key": body.container,
+            "kind": body.kind or "nim",
+            "host": target_host,
+            "user": target_user,
+            "container": body.container,
+            "port": body.port,
+            "image": body.image,
+        })
+    return {"job_id": job.id, "image": job.image, "container": job.container, "state": job.state}
+
+
+@app.get("/api/nim/install/{job_id}")
+async def get_nim_install(job_id: str) -> dict:
+    job = nim_manager.get(job_id)
+    if job is None:
+        raise HTTPException(404, "no such job")
+    return {
+        "id": job.id,
+        "image": job.image,
+        "container": job.container,
+        "port": job.port,
+        "host": job.host,
+        "state": job.state,
+        "phase": job.phase,
+        "started_at": job.started_at,
+        "finished_at": job.finished_at,
+        "returncode": job.returncode,
+        "lines": job.lines,
+    }
+
+
+@app.get("/api/nim/install/{job_id}/stream")
+async def stream_nim_install(job_id: str):
+    job = nim_manager.get(job_id)
+    if job is None:
+        raise HTTPException(404, "no such job")
+
+    async def gen():
+        sent = 0
+        last_phase = None
+        while True:
+            n = len(job.lines)
+            if n > sent:
+                for line in job.lines[sent:n]:
+                    yield f"data: {json.dumps({'line': line})}\n\n"
+                sent = n
+            if job.phase != last_phase:
+                yield f"event: phase\ndata: {json.dumps({'state': job.state, 'phase': job.phase})}\n\n"
+                last_phase = job.phase
+            if job.returncode is not None and sent >= len(job.lines):
+                yield f"event: done\ndata: {json.dumps({'state': job.state, 'returncode': job.returncode})}\n\n"
+                return
+            await asyncio.sleep(0.5)
+
+    return StreamingResponse(gen(), media_type="text/event-stream")
+
+
+@app.delete("/api/services/{name}")
+async def del_service(name: str) -> dict:
+    # Only allow deleting custom services (not the bundled parakeet/magpie keys)
+    if name in ("parakeet", "magpie"):
+        raise HTTPException(400, "built-in service; cannot delete (use Configure Sparks to point at a different host)")
+    delete_custom_service(name)
+    return {"ok": True, "name": name}
+
+
 @app.post("/api/services/{name}/{action}")
 async def service_action(name: str, action: str) -> dict:
     services = services_from_settings(settings)
@@ -212,6 +406,10 @@ async def get_status() -> dict:
         check_parakeet(settings),
         check_magpie(settings),
     )
+    # Feed health into the connectivity log (deduped — only logs on transition)
+    record_state("vllm", bool(vllm.get("ok")))
+    record_state("parakeet", bool(parakeet.get("ok")))
+    record_state("magpie", bool(magpie.get("ok")))
     current_key = _identify_current_model(vllm.get("current_model"))
     return {
         "configured": settings.configured,
@@ -237,6 +435,15 @@ class SwapRequest(BaseModel):
     dry_run: bool = False
 
 
+@app.post("/api/swap/{key}/validate")
+async def validate_swap(key: str) -> dict:
+    """Pre-flight check: run vLLM's argparse layer against the proposed launch
+    command WITHOUT starting an engine. Cheap (~5 s) and doesn't disturb the
+    currently-loaded model.
+    """
+    return await validate_launch(key, catalog, settings)
+
+
 @app.post("/api/swap")
 async def post_swap(req: SwapRequest) -> dict:
     if not settings.configured and not req.dry_run:
@@ -297,7 +504,7 @@ async def stream_swap(job_id: str):
 
 class DownloadRequest(BaseModel):
     repo: str
-    mode: Literal["solo", "cluster"] = "solo"
+    mode: Literal["spark1", "spark2", "cluster"] = "spark1"
 
 
 @app.post("/api/download")
@@ -376,6 +583,81 @@ async def get_updates() -> dict:
     return await get_update_status(settings)
 
 
+@app.get("/api/explain-updates")
+async def explain_updates():
+    """Stream a layman's explanation of the pending commits from the currently-loaded vLLM model."""
+    import httpx
+    info = await get_update_status(settings)
+    if not info.get("ok"):
+        async def err_gen():
+            yield f"event: done\ndata: {json.dumps({'error': info.get('error', 'unknown')})}\n\n"
+        return StreamingResponse(err_gen(), media_type="text/event-stream")
+
+    vllm = await check_vllm(settings)
+    if not vllm.get("ok") or not vllm.get("current_model"):
+        async def err_gen():
+            yield f"event: done\ndata: {json.dumps({'error': 'no vLLM model loaded — swap to a model first'})}\n\n"
+        return StreamingResponse(err_gen(), media_type="text/event-stream")
+
+    commits = "\n".join(info.get("log", []))
+    if not commits.strip():
+        async def empty_gen():
+            yield f"event: done\ndata: {json.dumps({'error': 'no pending commits'})}\n\n"
+        return StreamingResponse(empty_gen(), media_type="text/event-stream")
+
+    prompt = (
+        "You are reviewing pending git commits to `eugr/spark-vllm-docker`, an upstream community project that "
+        "orchestrates vLLM on dual NVIDIA DGX Spark hardware (Blackwell GPUs, cluster via Ray, recipes per model). "
+        "The reader has a setup running models like Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4 (daily driver, solo), Qwen3-VL 235B (cluster), "
+        "and Gemma 4 31B. The reader is technically literate but is NOT a vLLM expert.\n\n"
+        "For the commit list below: give a short overall verdict (Apply / Optional / Skip and why), then a brief "
+        "bullet per commit grouping similar ones. Call out anything that would break a working setup or that "
+        "requires re-downloading models. Avoid jargon. ~250 words max.\n\n"
+        f"Pending commits:\n{commits}"
+    )
+
+    async def gen():
+        try:
+            async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=httpx.Timeout(300.0, connect=5.0)) as c:
+                async with c.stream(
+                    "POST",
+                    f"{vllm['base_url']}/chat/completions",
+                    json={
+                        "model": vllm["current_model"],
+                        "stream": True,
+                        "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": prompt}],
+                        "max_tokens": 600,
+                        "temperature": 0.4,
+                    },
+                ) as r:
+                    r.raise_for_status()
+                    async for line in r.aiter_lines():
+                        if not line.startswith("data: "):
+                            continue
+                        data = line[6:].strip()
+                        if data == "[DONE]":
+                            break
+                        try:
+                            chunk = json.loads(data)
+                            choices = chunk.get("choices") or []
+                            if not choices:
+                                continue
+                            delta = choices[0].get("delta") or {}
+                            text = delta.get("content")
+                            reasoning = delta.get("reasoning")
+                            if text:
+                                yield f"data: {json.dumps({'content': text})}\n\n"
+                            elif reasoning:
+                                yield f"data: {json.dumps({'reasoning': reasoning})}\n\n"
+                        except json.JSONDecodeError:
+                            continue
+        except Exception as e:
+            yield f"data: {json.dumps({'error': f'{type(e).__name__}: {e}'})}\n\n"
+        yield f"event: done\ndata: {json.dumps({'ok': True})}\n\n"
+
+    return StreamingResponse(gen(), media_type="text/event-stream")
+
+
 class UpdateRequest(BaseModel):
     mode: Literal["solo", "cluster"] = "cluster"
 

image/app/services.py

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ machinery. We just run `docker start|stop|restart <container>` via SSH on the
 appropriate host.
 """
 from __future__ import annotations
+import time
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from typing import Literal, Optional
 
@@ -12,6 +13,25 @@ from .config import Settings
 from .ssh import ssh_run
 
 
+# Cache the "unreachable" verdict per (host, user) for a short period so that a
+# repeated docker_state call doesn't re-pay the 6 s SSH connect timeout each time.
+_UNREACHABLE_TTL = 25.0
+_unreachable_cache: dict[tuple[str, str], float] = {}
+
+
+def _is_recently_unreachable(host: str, user: str) -> bool:
+    ts = _unreachable_cache.get((host, user))
+    return bool(ts and time.monotonic() - ts < _UNREACHABLE_TTL)
+
+
+def _mark_unreachable(host: str, user: str) -> None:
+    _unreachable_cache[(host, user)] = time.monotonic()
+
+
+def _clear_unreachable(host: str, user: str) -> None:
+    _unreachable_cache.pop((host, user), None)
+
+
 ServiceName = Literal["parakeet", "magpie"]
 ServiceAction = Literal["start", "stop", "restart"]
 
@@ -27,7 +47,8 @@ class ServiceDef:
 
 
 def services_from_settings(s: Settings) -> dict[str, ServiceDef]:
-    return {
+    from .custom_services import load_custom_services
+    out: dict[str, ServiceDef] = {
         "parakeet": ServiceDef(
             name="parakeet",
             kind="stt",
@@ -45,19 +66,38 @@ def services_from_settings(s: Settings) -> dict[str, ServiceDef]:
             port=s.magpie_port,
         ),
     }
+    for entry in load_custom_services():
+        key = entry.get("key")
+        if not key or key in out:
+            continue
+        out[key] = ServiceDef(
+            name=key,
+            kind=entry.get("kind", ""),
+            host=entry.get("host", ""),
+            user=entry.get("user", ""),
+            container=entry.get("container", key),
+            port=int(entry.get("port", 0)),
+        )
+    return out
 
 
 async def docker_state(settings: Settings, svc: ServiceDef) -> dict:
     """Get docker state (running, exited, restarting, etc.) + restart count."""
     if not svc.host or not svc.user:
         return {"state": "unconfigured", "restart_count": None, "uptime": None}
+    if _is_recently_unreachable(svc.host, svc.user):
+        return {"state": "unreachable", "host_unreachable": True, "restart_count": None, "uptime": None}
     cmd = (
         f"docker inspect {svc.container} "
         f"--format '{{{{.State.Status}}}}|{{{{.State.StartedAt}}}}|{{{{.RestartCount}}}}|{{{{.State.ExitCode}}}}|{{{{.State.Error}}}}' "
         f"2>&1 || echo 'NOT_FOUND'"
     )
-    rc, out, _ = await ssh_run(svc.host, svc.user, cmd, settings, timeout=10)
+    rc, out, _ = await ssh_run(svc.host, svc.user, cmd, settings, timeout=6)
     out = out.strip()
+    if rc == 124 or "timeout after" in out.lower():
+        _mark_unreachable(svc.host, svc.user)
+        return {"state": "unreachable", "host_unreachable": True, "restart_count": None, "uptime": None}
+    _clear_unreachable(svc.host, svc.user)
     if rc != 0 or out.startswith("NOT_FOUND") or "Error" in out and "no such object" in out.lower():
         return {"state": "missing", "restart_count": None, "uptime": None, "raw": out}
     parts = out.split("|")

image/app/static/app.js

@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ const state = {
   swap_progress: 0,        // 0–1
   services: {},
   service_action_in_flight: null,  // e.g. "parakeet:restart"
+  hardware: {},
+  config: {},
   configured: true,
   timer_handle: null,
 };
@@ -63,14 +65,18 @@ function renderCards() {
         ${(m.capabilities || []).map(c => `<span class="tag cap">${escapeHtml(c)}</span>`).join('')}
       </div>
       ${desc}
-      <div class="muted small repo">${escapeHtml(m.repo)}</div>
+      <div class="muted small repo">
+        <a href="https://huggingface.co/${encodeURIComponent(m.repo)}" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="View on Hugging Face">${escapeHtml(m.repo)} <span class="hf-icon">↗</span></a>
+      </div>
       <div class="spacer"></div>
       <div class="card-actions">
         <button class="btn ${isActive ? '' : 'primary'}" data-swap-key="${key}" ${isActive || isSwapping ? 'disabled' : ''}>
           ${isActive ? 'Current' : 'Switch to this'}
         </button>
+        <button class="btn test-btn" data-test-key="${key}" title="Pre-flight check the launch command without starting the engine">Test</button>
         <button class="btn adv-btn" data-adv-key="${key}" title="Advanced settings">Advanced</button>
       </div>
+      <div class="test-result hidden" data-test-result-for="${key}"></div>
     `;
     root.appendChild(card);
   }
@@ -80,6 +86,37 @@ function renderCards() {
   for (const btn of root.querySelectorAll('[data-adv-key]')) {
     btn.addEventListener('click', () => openAdvanced(btn.dataset.advKey));
   }
+  for (const btn of root.querySelectorAll('[data-test-key]')) {
+    btn.addEventListener('click', () => testLaunch(btn.dataset.testKey, btn));
+  }
+}
+
+async function testLaunch(key, btn) {
+  const resultEl = document.querySelector(`[data-test-result-for="${key}"]`);
+  if (!resultEl) return;
+  const originalText = btn.textContent;
+  btn.disabled = true;
+  btn.textContent = 'Testing…';
+  resultEl.classList.remove('hidden', 'ok', 'fail');
+  resultEl.innerHTML = '<span class="muted small">Checking launch args against vLLM\'s parser…</span>';
+  try {
+    const r = await fetchJSON(`/api/swap/${encodeURIComponent(key)}/validate`, { method: 'POST' });
+    if (r.ok) {
+      resultEl.classList.add('ok');
+      resultEl.innerHTML = `<span class="ok-mark">✓</span> Launch args parse OK. <span class="muted small">(Doesn't guarantee runtime success — only catches argparse-level issues.)</span>`;
+    } else {
+      resultEl.classList.add('fail');
+      const err = escapeHtml(r.error || 'unknown error');
+      const stage = r.stage ? ` <span class="muted small">(${escapeHtml(r.stage)})</span>` : '';
+      resultEl.innerHTML = `<span class="fail-mark">✗</span> Would fail: ${err}${stage}`;
+    }
+  } catch (e) {
+    resultEl.classList.add('fail');
+    resultEl.innerHTML = `<span class="fail-mark">✗</span> Test failed: ${escapeHtml(e.message)}`;
+  } finally {
+    btn.disabled = false;
+    btn.textContent = originalText;
+  }
 }
 
 function renderCurrent(status) {
@@ -93,6 +130,225 @@ function renderCurrent(status) {
   c.innerHTML = `<strong>${label}</strong>`;
 }
 
+// ===================== hardware dashboard =====================
+
+function fmtBytes(n) {
+  if (!n && n !== 0) return '—';
+  const u = ['B', 'KB', 'MB', 'GB', 'TB'];
+  let i = 0; let v = n;
+  while (v >= 1024 && i < u.length - 1) { v /= 1024; i++; }
+  return v < 10 ? `${v.toFixed(1)} ${u[i]}` : `${Math.round(v)} ${u[i]}`;
+}
+function fmtMiB(n) {
+  if (!n && n !== 0) return null;
+  // n is in MiB; render in GB
+  const gb = n / 1024;
+  return gb < 10 ? gb.toFixed(1) : Math.round(gb).toString();
+}
+
+function bar(usedPct, warn) {
+  const pct = Math.max(2, Math.min(100, usedPct));
+  return `<div class="bar ${warn ? 'warn' : ''}"><span style="width:${pct}%"></span></div>`;
+}
+
+async function pollHardware() {
+  try {
+    state.hardware = await fetchJSON('/api/hardware');
+    try { state.connectivity = await fetchJSON('/api/connectivity'); } catch {}
+    renderHardware();
+  } catch (e) { console.warn('hardware poll failed', e); }
+}
+
+function fmtDuration(sec) {
+  if (sec == null) return '';
+  if (sec < 60) return `${Math.round(sec)}s`;
+  if (sec < 3600) return `${Math.round(sec / 60)}m`;
+  if (sec < 86400) {
+    const h = Math.floor(sec / 3600);
+    const m = Math.round((sec % 3600) / 60);
+    return m ? `${h}h ${m}m` : `${h}h`;
+  }
+  const d = Math.floor(sec / 86400);
+  const h = Math.round((sec % 86400) / 3600);
+  return h ? `${d}d ${h}h` : `${d}d`;
+}
+
+function openConnectivityDialog() {
+  const dlg = el('#connectivity-dialog');
+  const content = el('#connectivity-content');
+  const c = state.connectivity || {};
+  const events = c.events || [];
+  if (events.length === 0) {
+    content.innerHTML = '<div class="muted small">No events recorded yet. Once a Spark or service goes down and back up (or an external app reports a failure), entries appear here.</div>';
+    dlg.showModal();
+    return;
+  }
+  const bySubject = {};
+  for (const e of events) {
+    const subj = e.subject || e.spark || 'unknown';  // legacy fallback
+    (bySubject[subj] = bySubject[subj] || []).push(e);
+  }
+  // Sort subjects: hosts first, then services, alphabetical
+  const hostOrder = ['spark1', 'spark2'];
+  const subjects = Object.keys(bySubject).sort((a, b) => {
+    const ia = hostOrder.indexOf(a);
+    const ib = hostOrder.indexOf(b);
+    if (ia >= 0 && ib >= 0) return ia - ib;
+    if (ia >= 0) return -1;
+    if (ib >= 0) return 1;
+    return a.localeCompare(b);
+  });
+
+  const html = subjects.map((subj) => {
+    const evs = bySubject[subj];
+    const transitions = evs.filter(e => (e.kind || 'transition') === 'transition');
+    const reports = evs.filter(e => e.kind === 'report');
+    const downs = transitions.filter(e => e.transition === 'down').length;
+    const failedReports = reports.filter(e => !e.ok).length;
+    const mac = c.macs?.[subj];
+    const summaryParts = [];
+    if (transitions.length) summaryParts.push(`${transitions.length} probe transition${transitions.length===1?'':'s'} (${downs} down)`);
+    if (reports.length) summaryParts.push(`${reports.length} app report${reports.length===1?'':'s'} (${failedReports} failed)`);
+    const isHost = hostOrder.includes(subj);
+    return `
+      <div class="conn-spark">
+        <h4>${escapeHtml(subj)}${isHost ? ' <span class="muted small">[host]</span>' : ' <span class="muted small">[service]</span>'}${mac ? ` <span class="muted small">${escapeHtml(mac)}</span>` : ''}</h4>
+        <div class="conn-summary">${summaryParts.join(' · ') || 'no events'}</div>
+        ${evs.slice(-30).reverse().map(e => renderConnEvent(e)).join('')}
+      </div>
+    `;
+  }).join('');
+  content.innerHTML = html;
+  dlg.showModal();
+}
+
+function renderConnEvent(e) {
+  const when = escapeHtml((e.at || '').replace('T', ' ').replace('Z', ''));
+  const kind = e.kind || 'transition';
+  if (kind === 'report') {
+    const ok = !!e.ok;
+    const source = escapeHtml(e.source || 'external');
+    const detail = e.detail ? ` — ${escapeHtml(e.detail)}` : '';
+    const latency = e.latency_ms != null ? ` (${e.latency_ms} ms)` : '';
+    return `
+      <div class="conn-event ${ok ? 'up' : 'down'} report">
+        <span class="when">${when}</span>
+        <span class="what">${ok ? '◷ report: ok' : '◷ report: failed'} <span class="muted">from</span> ${source}${detail}</span>
+        <span class="dur">${latency}</span>
+      </div>
+    `;
+  }
+  const down = e.down_seconds != null ? `was down ${fmtDuration(e.down_seconds)}` : '';
+  const up = e.up_seconds != null ? `was up ${fmtDuration(e.up_seconds)}` : '';
+  return `
+    <div class="conn-event ${e.transition}">
+      <span class="when">${when}</span>
+      <span class="what">${e.transition === 'up' ? '↑ came back online' : '↓ dropped offline'}</span>
+      <span class="dur">${down}${up}</span>
+    </div>
+  `;
+}
+
+async function wakeSpark(name) {
+  try {
+    const r = await fetchJSON(`/api/spark/${name}/wake`, { method: 'POST' });
+    alert(`Wake-on-LAN sent to ${name} (MAC ${r.mac}, via ${r.delivered_via}). Give it ~30 seconds to wake; the card will go green when it comes back.`);
+  } catch (e) {
+    alert(`Wake failed: ${e.message}`);
+  }
+}
+
+function renderHardware() {
+  const panel = el('#hardware-panel');
+  const grid = el('#hardware-grid');
+  const hw = state.hardware || {};
+  const keys = Object.keys(hw).filter(k => hw[k] && (hw[k].configured !== false));
+  if (keys.length === 0) { panel.classList.add('hidden'); return; }
+  panel.classList.remove('hidden');
+  grid.innerHTML = '';
+  for (const key of keys) {
+    const s = hw[key];
+    const card = document.createElement('div');
+    if (!s.reachable) {
+      card.className = 'hw-card unreachable';
+      const mac = state.connectivity?.macs?.[key];
+      const wolRow = mac
+        ? `<div class="wol-row">
+             <span class="mac-display">${escapeHtml(mac)}</span>
+             <span class="spacer"></span>
+             <button class="btn" data-wake="${escapeHtml(key)}">Wake (WoL)</button>
+           </div>`
+        : `<div class="muted small">MAC not yet known — once it's been up once with this dashboard installed, "Wake" will appear here.</div>`;
+      card.innerHTML = `
+        <div class="head">
+          <span class="name">${escapeHtml(key)}</span>
+          <span class="meta">unreachable</span>
+        </div>
+        <div class="muted small">${escapeHtml(s.host || '')} — ${escapeHtml(s.error || 'no response')}</div>
+        ${wolRow}
+        <div class="muted small" style="line-height:1.5">
+          If Wake-on-LAN doesn't bring it back, manual steps:
+          <ol style="margin: 6px 0 0 18px; padding: 0;">
+            <li>Verify it's powered on (check the front LED).</li>
+            <li>Ping it from another LAN device.</li>
+            <li>Power-cycle it physically.</li>
+            <li>If it boots, this card will go green again automatically.</li>
+          </ol>
+        </div>
+      `;
+      grid.appendChild(card);
+      continue;
+    }
+    const ramPct = s.ram_used_bytes && s.ram_total_bytes ? (s.ram_used_bytes / s.ram_total_bytes) * 100 : 0;
+    const diskPct = s.disk_used_bytes && s.disk_total_bytes ? (s.disk_used_bytes / s.disk_total_bytes) * 100 : 0;
+    const loadPct = (s.load && s.cores) ? Math.min(100, (s.load[0] / s.cores) * 100) : 0;
+    // GPU memory: on unified-memory systems (DGX Spark) total is N/A, so use system RAM as the pool.
+    const gpuMemTotalMiB = s.gpu_mem_total_mib || (s.gpu_unified_memory ? (s.ram_total_bytes / (1024 * 1024)) : null);
+    const gpuMemUsedMiB = s.gpu_mem_used_mib ?? null;
+    const gpuMemPct = (gpuMemTotalMiB && gpuMemUsedMiB != null) ? (gpuMemUsedMiB / gpuMemTotalMiB) * 100 : 0;
+    const gpuMemNote = s.gpu_unified_memory ? ' <span class="muted">(unified)</span>' : '';
+    const gpuExtras = [];
+    if (s.gpu_temp_c != null) gpuExtras.push(`${s.gpu_temp_c}°C`);
+    if (s.gpu_power_w != null) gpuExtras.push(`${s.gpu_power_w.toFixed(0)}W`);
+    const gpuExtrasStr = gpuExtras.length ? ` · ${gpuExtras.join(' · ')}` : '';
+    card.className = 'hw-card';
+    card.innerHTML = `
+      <div class="head">
+        <span class="name">${escapeHtml(s.hostname || key)}</span>
+        <span class="meta">${escapeHtml(key)} · ${escapeHtml(s.gpu_name || '')} · ${escapeHtml(s.uptime || '')}</span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="hw-metric">
+        <span class="label">CPU</span>
+        ${bar(loadPct, loadPct > 80)}
+        <span class="val">${s.load ? s.load[0].toFixed(2) : '—'} / ${s.cores || '?'} cores</span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="hw-metric">
+        <span class="label">RAM</span>
+        ${bar(ramPct, ramPct > 85)}
+        <span class="val">${fmtBytes(s.ram_used_bytes)} / ${fmtBytes(s.ram_total_bytes)}</span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="hw-metric">
+        <span class="label">GPU mem${gpuMemNote}</span>
+        ${bar(gpuMemPct, gpuMemPct > 90)}
+        <span class="val">${fmtMiB(gpuMemUsedMiB) || '—'} / ${fmtMiB(gpuMemTotalMiB) || '?'} GB</span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="hw-metric">
+        <span class="label">GPU util</span>
+        ${bar(s.gpu_util_pct || 0, (s.gpu_util_pct || 0) > 90)}
+        <span class="val">${s.gpu_util_pct ?? 0}%${gpuExtrasStr}</span>
+      </div>
+      <div class="hw-metric">
+        <span class="label">Disk</span>
+        ${bar(diskPct, diskPct > 85)}
+        <span class="val">${fmtBytes(s.disk_used_bytes)} / ${fmtBytes(s.disk_total_bytes)}</span>
+      </div>
+    `;
+    grid.appendChild(card);
+  }
+}
+
+// ===================== service classification =====================
+
 function classifyService(s) {
   // returns one of: running | unhealthy | missing | unconfigured | starting
   if (!s.host) return 'unconfigured';
@@ -143,11 +399,16 @@ async function renderServices() {
       if (action === 'stop' && cls !== 'running' && cls !== 'starting' && cls !== 'unhealthy') return true;
       return false;
     };
+    const copyIcon = `<svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><rect x="9" y="9" width="13" height="13" rx="2"/><path d="M5 15H4a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V4a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h9a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v1"/></svg>`;
+    const hostStr = s.host ? `${s.host}:${s.port}` : '';
     const hostRow = s.host
-      ? `<div class="row"><span class="k">Host</span><span class="v">${escapeHtml(s.host)}:${s.port}</span></div>`
+      ? `<div class="row"><span class="k">Host</span><span class="v copyable" data-copy-self title="Click to copy">${escapeHtml(hostStr)}</span><button class="icon-btn" data-copy-text="${escapeHtml(hostStr)}" title="Copy host" aria-label="Copy">${copyIcon}</button></div>`
       : `<div class="row"><span class="k">Host</span><span class="v muted-v">not configured</span></div>`;
+    const urlRow = s.base_url
+      ? `<div class="row"><span class="k">URL</span><span class="v copyable" data-copy-self title="Click to copy">${escapeHtml(s.base_url)}</span><button class="icon-btn" data-copy-text="${escapeHtml(s.base_url)}" title="Copy URL" aria-label="Copy">${copyIcon}</button></div>`
+      : '';
     const modelRow = s.model
-      ? `<div class="row"><span class="k">Model</span><span class="v">${escapeHtml(s.model)}</span></div>`
+      ? `<div class="row"><span class="k">Model</span><span class="v copyable" data-copy-self title="Click to copy">${escapeHtml(s.model)}</span><button class="icon-btn" data-copy-text="${escapeHtml(s.model)}" title="Copy model" aria-label="Copy">${copyIcon}</button></div>`
       : '';
     const restartsRow = s.restart_count != null && s.restart_count > 1
       ? `<div class="row"><span class="k">Restarts</span><span class="v">${s.restart_count}</span></div>`
@@ -159,6 +420,7 @@ async function renderServices() {
         <span class="status">${statusLabel(cls)}</span>
       </div>
       ${hostRow}
+      ${urlRow}
       ${modelRow}
       ${restartsRow}
       <div class="service-actions">
@@ -212,31 +474,50 @@ function renderEndpoint(status) {
   el('#ep-curl-snippet').textContent = snippet;
 }
 
-function setupCopyButtons() {
-  document.body.addEventListener('click', async (e) => {
-    const btn = e.target.closest('.copy-btn');
-    if (!btn) return;
-    const targetSel = btn.dataset.copy;
-    if (!targetSel) return;
-    const target = el(targetSel);
-    if (!target) return;
-    const text = target.textContent;
+async function copyText(text, indicatorEl) {
   try {
     await navigator.clipboard.writeText(text);
-      const original = btn.textContent;
-      btn.classList.add('copied');
-      btn.textContent = 'Copied';
-      setTimeout(() => {
-        btn.classList.remove('copied');
-        btn.textContent = original;
-      }, 1400);
+    if (indicatorEl) {
+      indicatorEl.classList.add('copied');
+      setTimeout(() => indicatorEl.classList.remove('copied'), 1200);
+    }
+    return true;
   } catch {
-      // Clipboard API may fail over plain HTTP; fall back to selection
+    // Plain HTTP fallback: select the text so the user can ⌘C
+    if (indicatorEl) {
       const range = document.createRange();
-      range.selectNode(target);
+      range.selectNode(indicatorEl);
       window.getSelection().removeAllRanges();
       window.getSelection().addRange(range);
     }
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
+function setupCopyButtons() {
+  document.body.addEventListener('click', async (e) => {
+    // Inline icon copy with literal text (used for dynamically-rendered service rows)
+    const litBtn = e.target.closest('[data-copy-text]');
+    if (litBtn) {
+      await copyText(litBtn.dataset.copyText, litBtn);
+      return;
+    }
+    // Copy buttons (with svg icon) referenced by data-copy="selector"
+    const btn = e.target.closest('[data-copy]');
+    if (btn) {
+      const target = el(btn.dataset.copy);
+      if (target) {
+        await copyText(target.textContent, btn);
+        target.classList.add('copied');
+        setTimeout(() => target.classList.remove('copied'), 1200);
+      }
+      return;
+    }
+    // Self-copy: clicking the text itself
+    const selfCopy = e.target.closest('[data-copy-self]');
+    if (selfCopy) {
+      await copyText(selfCopy.textContent, selfCopy);
+    }
   });
 }
 
@@ -380,6 +661,10 @@ async function pollStatus() {
     renderCurrent(status);
     renderEndpoint(status);
     renderHealth(status);
+    // If models hasn't loaded yet (init may have hit a transient proxy timeout), retry.
+    if (!state.models || Object.keys(state.models).length === 0) {
+      try { await loadModels(); } catch {}
+    }
     // Refresh services state lazily — every 5s poll triggers this too.
     try {
       state.services = await fetchJSON('/api/services');
@@ -518,6 +803,18 @@ function openDownloadForm() {
   el('#download-form').classList.remove('hidden');
   el('#download-progress').classList.add('hidden');
   el('#dl-repo').focus();
+  updateDlHfLink();
+}
+
+function updateDlHfLink() {
+  const repo = el('#dl-repo').value.trim();
+  const link = el('#dl-hf-link');
+  if (repo.includes('/')) {
+    link.href = `https://huggingface.co/${encodeURIComponent(repo)}`;
+    link.classList.remove('hidden');
+  } else {
+    link.classList.add('hidden');
+  }
 }
 
 function closeDownloadPanel() {
@@ -647,6 +944,47 @@ function handleDownloadDone(d) {
 
 // ===================== Advanced / Add to catalog =====================
 
+function gpuTotalGB(modelMode) {
+  // Solo uses Spark 1's GPU only. Cluster shares across both — but loading is per-Spark.
+  const s1 = state.hardware?.spark1;
+  const s2 = state.hardware?.spark2;
+  const g1 = s1?.gpu_mem_total_mib ? s1.gpu_mem_total_mib / 1024 : null;
+  const g2 = s2?.gpu_mem_total_mib ? s2.gpu_mem_total_mib / 1024 : null;
+  if (modelMode === 'cluster' && g1 && g2) return Math.min(g1, g2);  // bottleneck
+  return g1 || g2 || null;
+}
+
+function knobContextHint(field, value, mode) {
+  if (field === 'gpu_memory_utilization') {
+    const gb = gpuTotalGB(mode);
+    if (!gb) return '';
+    const used = (value * gb).toFixed(0);
+    const free = (gb - value * gb).toFixed(0);
+    return `~${used} GB allocated to model + KV cache · ~${free} GB left for OS, buffers, other GPU workloads.`;
+  }
+  if (field === 'max_model_len') {
+    if (!value) return '';
+    const pages = Math.round(value / 350);  // ~350 tokens per page
+    const kvBytes = (value * 2 * 4 * 32 * 128);  // rough fp16 KV cache size for typical 32-layer model
+    return `~${pages.toLocaleString()} pages of text (very rough). Larger context = more GPU memory reserved for KV cache.`;
+  }
+  if (field === 'fastsafetensors') return value ? 'Faster cold-start weight loading.' : 'Standard safetensors loading.';
+  if (field === 'prefix_caching') return value ? 'Reuses GPU state for repeated prompt prefixes (e.g. long system prompts).' : 'Off — every request re-processes the full prompt.';
+  if (field === 'kv_cache_dtype') return value === 'fp8' ? 'Halves KV cache memory (fits ~2× more context). Quality cost is usually imperceptible.' : 'Default precision.';
+  return '';
+}
+
+function ensureKnobHint(rowEl, id) {
+  let h = rowEl.querySelector(`.knob-hint[data-for="${id}"]`);
+  if (!h) {
+    h = document.createElement('div');
+    h.className = 'knob-hint muted small';
+    h.dataset.for = id;
+    rowEl.appendChild(h);
+  }
+  return h;
+}
+
 function openAdvanced(key) {
   const m = state.models[key];
   if (!m) return;
@@ -659,6 +997,23 @@ function openAdvanced(key) {
   el('#adv-fst').checked = !!k.fastsafetensors;
   el('#adv-pcache').checked = !!k.prefix_caching;
   el('#adv-fp8').checked = k.kv_cache_dtype === 'fp8';
+
+  // Wire up live knob hints
+  const updateHints = () => {
+    const mml = parseInt(el('#adv-mml').value, 10);
+    const gmu = parseFloat(el('#adv-gmu').value);
+    ensureKnobHint(el('#adv-mml').parentElement, 'mml').textContent = knobContextHint('max_model_len', mml, m.mode);
+    ensureKnobHint(el('#adv-gmu').parentElement, 'gmu').textContent = knobContextHint('gpu_memory_utilization', gmu, m.mode);
+    ensureKnobHint(el('#adv-fst').parentElement, 'fst').textContent = knobContextHint('fastsafetensors', el('#adv-fst').checked, m.mode);
+    ensureKnobHint(el('#adv-pcache').parentElement, 'pcache').textContent = knobContextHint('prefix_caching', el('#adv-pcache').checked, m.mode);
+    ensureKnobHint(el('#adv-fp8').parentElement, 'fp8').textContent = knobContextHint('kv_cache_dtype', el('#adv-fp8').checked ? 'fp8' : 'auto', m.mode);
+  };
+  updateHints();
+  el('#adv-mml').oninput = updateHints;
+  el('#adv-gmu').oninput = (e) => { el('#adv-gmu-out').value = parseFloat(e.target.value).toFixed(2); updateHints(); };
+  el('#adv-fst').onchange = updateHints;
+  el('#adv-pcache').onchange = updateHints;
+  el('#adv-fp8').onchange = updateHints;
   const del = el('#adv-delete');
   del.classList.toggle('hidden', !m.custom);
   del.onclick = async () => {
@@ -753,6 +1108,197 @@ function setupAdvancedDialog() {
   el('#adv-gmu').addEventListener('input', (e) => { el('#adv-gmu-out').value = parseFloat(e.target.value).toFixed(2); });
 }
 
+// ===================== NIM installer =====================
+
+const nimState = {
+  catalog: null,
+  job_id: null,
+  eventsource: null,
+  timer: null,
+  started_at: null,
+};
+
+async function loadNimCatalog() {
+  try {
+    nimState.catalog = await fetchJSON('/api/nim/catalog');
+    el('#nim-catalog-link').href = nimState.catalog.catalog_url;
+    const warn = el('#nim-key-warn');
+    if (!nimState.catalog.ngc_key_configured) {
+      warn.classList.add('nim-key-warn');
+      warn.innerHTML = '⚠️ NGC API key not set. Open <strong>Configure Sparks</strong> in StartOS and paste your NGC personal API key, otherwise installs will fail. <a href="https://ngc.nvidia.com/setup/personal-key" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Get a key</a>';
+    } else {
+      warn.classList.remove('nim-key-warn');
+      warn.textContent = '';
+    }
+    const grid = el('#nim-suggested');
+    grid.innerHTML = '';
+    for (const s of nimState.catalog.suggested || []) {
+      const card = document.createElement('div');
+      card.className = 'nim-card';
+      card.innerHTML = `
+        <div class="info">
+          <div class="name">${escapeHtml(s.name)} <span class="muted small">· ${escapeHtml(s.kind || 'nim')}</span></div>
+          <div class="desc">${escapeHtml(s.description || '')}</div>
+          <div class="img">${escapeHtml(s.image)}</div>
+          <div class="links">${s.homepage ? `<a href="${escapeHtml(s.homepage)}" target="_blank" rel="noopener">View on NGC ↗</a>` : ''}</div>
+        </div>
+        <button type="button" class="btn primary nim-pick" data-image="${escapeHtml(s.image)}" data-container="${escapeHtml(s.default_container)}" data-port="${s.default_port}" data-kind="${escapeHtml(s.kind)}">Pick</button>
+      `;
+      grid.appendChild(card);
+    }
+    grid.querySelectorAll('.nim-pick').forEach(btn => {
+      btn.addEventListener('click', () => {
+        el('#nim-image').value = btn.dataset.image;
+        el('#nim-container').value = btn.dataset.container;
+        el('#nim-port').value = btn.dataset.port;
+        el('#nim-kind').value = btn.dataset.kind || 'nim';
+      });
+    });
+  } catch (e) { console.warn('nim catalog failed', e); }
+}
+
+function openNimDialog() {
+  loadNimCatalog();
+  el('#nim-dialog').showModal();
+}
+
+async function submitNim(e) {
+  e.preventDefault();
+  const body = {
+    image: el('#nim-image').value.trim(),
+    container: el('#nim-container').value.trim(),
+    port: parseInt(el('#nim-port').value, 10),
+    host: el('#nim-host').value,
+    kind: el('#nim-kind').value,
+  };
+  if (!body.image || !body.container || !body.port) {
+    alert('Image, container name, and port are required.');
+    return;
+  }
+  try {
+    const r = await fetchJSON('/api/nim/install', {
+      method: 'POST',
+      headers: { 'content-type': 'application/json' },
+      body: JSON.stringify(body),
+    });
+    el('#nim-dialog').close();
+    attachNimProgress(r.job_id);
+  } catch (e) {
+    alert('Install failed: ' + e.message);
+  }
+}
+
+function nimTimerStart(at) {
+  nimState.started_at = at;
+  if (nimState.timer) clearInterval(nimState.timer);
+  const tick = () => {
+    if (!nimState.started_at) return;
+    const sec = Math.max(0, Math.floor((Date.now() - nimState.started_at) / 1000));
+    const m = Math.floor(sec / 60);
+    const s = sec % 60;
+    el('#nim-prog-elapsed').textContent = `${m}:${s.toString().padStart(2, '0')}`;
+  };
+  tick();
+  nimState.timer = setInterval(tick, 500);
+}
+
+async function attachNimProgress(jobId) {
+  nimState.job_id = jobId;
+  el('#nim-prog-log').textContent = '';
+  el('#nim-prog-title').textContent = 'Installing…';
+  el('#nim-progress-dialog').showModal();
+  try {
+    const snap = await fetchJSON(`/api/nim/install/${jobId}`);
+    nimTimerStart(Date.parse(snap.started_at));
+    el('#nim-prog-phase').textContent = snap.phase || 'Working…';
+    el('#nim-prog-log').textContent = (snap.lines || []).join('\n');
+    if (snap.returncode !== null) { onNimDone(snap); return; }
+  } catch { nimTimerStart(Date.now()); }
+  const es = new EventSource(`/api/nim/install/${jobId}/stream`);
+  nimState.eventsource = es;
+  es.onmessage = ev => {
+    try {
+      const d = JSON.parse(ev.data);
+      if (d.line !== undefined) {
+        const log = el('#nim-prog-log');
+        log.textContent += d.line + '\n';
+        log.scrollTop = log.scrollHeight;
+      }
+    } catch {}
+  };
+  es.addEventListener('phase', ev => {
+    try { el('#nim-prog-phase').textContent = JSON.parse(ev.data).phase; } catch {}
+  });
+  es.addEventListener('done', ev => {
+    let d = {}; try { d = JSON.parse(ev.data); } catch {}
+    onNimDone(d);
+  });
+  es.onerror = () => { es.close(); nimState.eventsource = null; };
+}
+
+function onNimDone(d) {
+  if (nimState.eventsource) { nimState.eventsource.close(); nimState.eventsource = null; }
+  if (nimState.timer) { clearInterval(nimState.timer); nimState.timer = null; }
+  if (d.state === 'failed') {
+    el('#nim-prog-title').textContent = `Failed (rc=${d.returncode})`;
+    el('#nim-prog-phase').textContent = 'Failed';
+  } else {
+    el('#nim-prog-title').textContent = 'Installed';
+    el('#nim-prog-phase').textContent = 'Done ✓ — service will appear when the container reports healthy.';
+  }
+  pollStatus();
+}
+
+// ===================== Explain context (LLM commit summary) =====================
+
+let explainEventSource = null;
+
+async function explainContext() {
+  if (explainEventSource) { explainEventSource.close(); explainEventSource = null; }
+  const section = el('#ub-explain-section');
+  const content = el('#ub-explain-content');
+  section.classList.remove('hidden');
+  section.open = true;
+  content.innerHTML = '<span class="muted">Asking the loaded model…</span>';
+  let text = '';
+  const es = new EventSource('/api/explain-updates');
+  explainEventSource = es;
+  let firstChunk = true;
+  es.onmessage = (ev) => {
+    try {
+      const d = JSON.parse(ev.data);
+      if (d.error) {
+        content.innerHTML = `<span class="muted">Couldn't get explanation: ${escapeHtml(d.error)}</span>`;
+        return;
+      }
+      if (firstChunk) { content.innerHTML = ''; firstChunk = false; }
+      if (d.content) {
+        text += d.content;
+        content.textContent = text;
+        content.scrollTop = content.scrollHeight;
+      } else if (d.reasoning) {
+        // Show reasoning tokens but de-emphasized
+        let r = content.querySelector('.reasoning-current');
+        if (!r) {
+          r = document.createElement('div');
+          r.className = 'reasoning reasoning-current';
+          r.textContent = '';
+          content.appendChild(r);
+        }
+        r.textContent += d.reasoning;
+      }
+    } catch {}
+  };
+  es.addEventListener('done', () => {
+    es.close();
+    explainEventSource = null;
+    // strip the reasoning-current marker
+    const r = content.querySelector('.reasoning-current');
+    if (r) r.classList.remove('reasoning-current');
+  });
+  es.onerror = () => { es.close(); explainEventSource = null; };
+}
+
 // ===================== updates (spark-vllm-docker) =====================
 
 const updState = {
@@ -792,19 +1338,23 @@ function renderUpdateBanner() {
   banner.classList.toggle('up-to-date', behind === 0 && !dirty);
   banner.classList.toggle('warn', !!dirty);
 
+  const explain = el('#ub-explain');
   if (dirty > 0) {
     text.textContent = `${dirty} local change${dirty === 1 ? '' : 's'} in ~/spark-vllm-docker. Resolve before updating.`;
     details.classList.add('hidden');
     apply.classList.add('hidden');
+    explain.classList.add('hidden');
   } else if (behind === 0) {
     text.textContent = `spark-vllm-docker is up to date (${info.current || ''})`;
     details.classList.add('hidden');
     apply.classList.add('hidden');
     list.classList.add('hidden');
+    explain.classList.add('hidden');
   } else {
     text.textContent = `${behind} commit${behind === 1 ? '' : 's'} behind upstream`;
     details.classList.remove('hidden');
     apply.classList.remove('hidden');
+    explain.classList.remove('hidden');
     log.textContent = (info.log || []).join('\n') || '(no log)';
   }
 }
@@ -893,13 +1443,37 @@ async function init() {
     list.open = !list.open;
   });
   el('#ub-apply').addEventListener('click', applyUpdate);
+  el('#ub-explain').addEventListener('click', explainContext);
+  el('#dl-repo').addEventListener('input', updateDlHfLink);
+  el('#open-nim').addEventListener('click', openNimDialog);
+  el('#nim-cancel').addEventListener('click', () => el('#nim-dialog').close());
+  el('#nim-form').addEventListener('submit', submitNim);
+  el('#nim-prog-close').addEventListener('click', () => el('#nim-progress-dialog').close());
+  el('#open-connectivity').addEventListener('click', openConnectivityDialog);
+  el('#connectivity-close').addEventListener('click', () => el('#connectivity-dialog').close());
+  // Wake-on-LAN buttons live on unreachable hardware cards; delegate.
+  el('#hardware-grid').addEventListener('click', (e) => {
+    const btn = e.target.closest('[data-wake]');
+    if (btn) wakeSpark(btn.dataset.wake);
+  });
   setupCatalogDialog();
   setupAdvancedDialog();
+  // Open WebUI link from /api/config
+  try {
+    state.config = await fetchJSON('/api/config');
+    if (state.config.open_webui_url) {
+      const a = el('#open-webui-link');
+      a.href = state.config.open_webui_url;
+      a.classList.remove('hidden');
+    }
+  } catch {}
   await loadModels();
   await pollStatus();
   await renderServices();
+  pollHardware();
   pollUpdates();
   setInterval(pollStatus, 5000);
+  setInterval(pollHardware, 8000);    // every 8s
   setInterval(pollUpdates, 300000);  // every 5 min
 }
 

image/app/static/index.html

@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
     <div class="current" id="current">
       <span class="muted">connecting…</span>
     </div>
+    <a id="open-webui-link" class="topbar-btn hidden" href="#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Open Open WebUI">Open chat ↗</a>
   </header>
 
   <main>
@@ -24,22 +25,47 @@
       <span>Run the <em>Configure Sparks</em> action in StartOS to set hostnames, then run <em>Test Connection</em>.</span>
     </section>
 
+    <section id="hardware-panel" class="hardware-panel hidden">
+      <div class="section-header">
+        <h2 class="section-title">Spark hardware</h2>
+        <button id="open-connectivity" class="btn small-btn">Connectivity log</button>
+      </div>
+      <div id="hardware-grid" class="hardware-grid"></div>
+
+      <dialog id="connectivity-dialog" class="modal">
+        <form method="dialog" class="modal-form">
+          <h3>Spark connectivity history</h3>
+          <p class="muted small">Most recent up/down transitions per Spark. Tracked since this dashboard was installed.</p>
+          <div id="connectivity-content" class="connectivity-content"></div>
+          <div class="modal-actions">
+            <button type="button" id="connectivity-close" class="btn">Close</button>
+          </div>
+        </form>
+      </dialog>
+    </section>
+
     <section id="endpoint-panel" class="endpoint-panel hidden">
       <div class="ep-title muted small">OpenAI-compatible endpoint</div>
       <div class="ep-row">
         <span class="ep-label">Base URL</span>
-        <code class="ep-value" id="ep-url">—</code>
-        <button class="copy-btn" data-copy="#ep-url" title="Copy base URL">Copy</button>
+        <code class="ep-value copyable" id="ep-url" data-copy-self title="Click to copy">—</code>
+        <button class="icon-btn" data-copy="#ep-url" title="Copy base URL" aria-label="Copy">
+          <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><rect x="9" y="9" width="13" height="13" rx="2"/><path d="M5 15H4a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V4a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h9a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v1"/></svg>
+        </button>
       </div>
       <div class="ep-row">
         <span class="ep-label">Model ID</span>
-        <code class="ep-value" id="ep-model">—</code>
-        <button class="copy-btn" data-copy="#ep-model" title="Copy model ID">Copy</button>
+        <code class="ep-value copyable" id="ep-model" data-copy-self title="Click to copy">—</code>
+        <button class="icon-btn" data-copy="#ep-model" title="Copy model ID" aria-label="Copy">
+          <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><rect x="9" y="9" width="13" height="13" rx="2"/><path d="M5 15H4a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V4a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h9a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v1"/></svg>
+        </button>
       </div>
       <details class="ep-curl">
         <summary class="muted small">curl example</summary>
-        <pre id="ep-curl-snippet" class="snippet"></pre>
-        <button class="copy-btn small" data-copy="#ep-curl-snippet">Copy snippet</button>
+        <pre id="ep-curl-snippet" class="snippet copyable" data-copy-self title="Click to copy"></pre>
+        <button class="icon-btn" data-copy="#ep-curl-snippet" title="Copy snippet" aria-label="Copy">
+          <svg viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round"><rect x="9" y="9" width="13" height="13" rx="2"/><path d="M5 15H4a2 2 0 0 1-2-2V4a2 2 0 0 1 2-2h9a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v1"/></svg>
+        </button>
       </details>
     </section>
 
@@ -64,8 +90,66 @@
     </section>
 
     <section id="services-panel" class="services hidden">
+      <div class="section-header">
         <h2 class="section-title">Always-on services</h2>
+        <button id="open-nim" class="btn small-btn">+ Install NIM</button>
+      </div>
       <div id="services-grid" class="services-grid"></div>
+
+      <dialog id="nim-dialog" class="modal">
+        <form method="dialog" class="modal-form" id="nim-form">
+          <h3>Install a NVIDIA NIM container</h3>
+          <p class="muted small" id="nim-key-warn"></p>
+          <p class="muted small">Pick a curated container below or paste any image from <a href="#" id="nim-catalog-link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the NGC NIM catalog</a>. Spark Control will <code>docker pull</code> and <code>docker run</code> it on the target Spark.</p>
+
+          <div id="nim-suggested" class="nim-grid"></div>
+
+          <fieldset class="modal-fieldset">
+            <legend>Custom image</legend>
+            <label class="modal-row"><span>Image (nvcr.io/...)</span><input type="text" id="nim-image" placeholder="nvcr.io/nim/nvidia/<name>:latest"></label>
+            <label class="modal-row"><span>Container name</span><input type="text" id="nim-container" placeholder="my-service"></label>
+            <label class="modal-row"><span>Port</span><input type="number" id="nim-port" min="1" max="65535"></label>
+            <label class="modal-row"><span>Kind</span>
+              <select id="nim-kind">
+                <option value="nim">NIM (other)</option>
+                <option value="stt">STT (speech-to-text)</option>
+                <option value="tts">TTS (text-to-speech)</option>
+                <option value="vision">Vision</option>
+                <option value="embedding">Embedding</option>
+              </select>
+            </label>
+            <label class="modal-row"><span>Target Spark</span>
+              <select id="nim-host">
+                <option value="spark2">Spark 2 (default for support services)</option>
+                <option value="spark1">Spark 1 (head node)</option>
+              </select>
+            </label>
+          </fieldset>
+
+          <div class="modal-actions">
+            <button type="button" id="nim-cancel" class="btn">Cancel</button>
+            <button type="submit" class="btn primary" id="nim-start">Install</button>
+          </div>
+        </form>
+      </dialog>
+
+      <dialog id="nim-progress-dialog" class="modal">
+        <form method="dialog" class="modal-form">
+          <h3 id="nim-prog-title">Installing…</h3>
+          <div class="phase-row">
+            <div class="phase" id="nim-prog-phase">Starting…</div>
+            <span class="spacer"></span>
+            <span class="timer" id="nim-prog-elapsed">0:00</span>
+          </div>
+          <details open>
+            <summary class="muted small">Log</summary>
+            <pre id="nim-prog-log" class="log"></pre>
+          </details>
+          <div class="modal-actions">
+            <button type="button" id="nim-prog-close" class="btn">Close</button>
+          </div>
+        </form>
+      </dialog>
     </section>
 
     <section id="models-section">
@@ -127,11 +211,20 @@
           <label class="dl-row">
             <span class="dl-label">HuggingFace repo</span>
             <input type="text" id="dl-repo" placeholder="e.g. RedHatAI/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4" autocomplete="off">
+            <a id="dl-hf-link" class="dl-hf-link hidden" href="#" target="_blank" rel="noopener" title="Open on Hugging Face">↗</a>
           </label>
+          <div class="dl-help muted small">
+            <a href="https://huggingface.co/models?other=vllm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Browse vLLM-compatible models</a>
+            · NVFP4-quantized models (e.g. <code>RedHatAI/...</code>) are best for Blackwell hardware
+          </div>
           <div class="dl-row">
             <span class="dl-label">Where</span>
-            <label class="radio"><input type="radio" name="dl-mode" value="solo" checked> Spark 1 only (solo)</label>
-            <label class="radio"><input type="radio" name="dl-mode" value="cluster"> Both Sparks (cluster, copy in parallel)</label>
+            <label class="radio"><input type="radio" name="dl-mode" value="spark1" checked> Spark 1 only</label>
+            <label class="radio"><input type="radio" name="dl-mode" value="spark2"> Spark 2 only</label>
+            <label class="radio"><input type="radio" name="dl-mode" value="cluster"> Both Sparks (for cluster models)</label>
+          </div>
+          <div class="dl-help muted small">
+            For <strong>solo</strong> models, download to wherever you'll run them. For <strong>cluster</strong> models (-tp 2), both Sparks need the weights — "Both" downloads to one Spark and rsyncs to the other in parallel.
           </div>
           <div class="dl-actions">
             <button id="dl-cancel" class="btn">Cancel</button>
@@ -165,9 +258,14 @@
     </section>
 
     <section id="update-banner" class="update-banner hidden">
+      <div class="ub-context muted small">
+        Updates to <strong><a href="https://github.com/eugr/spark-vllm-docker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eugr/spark-vllm-docker</a></strong>
+        — the upstream project that orchestrates vLLM on your Sparks (launch-cluster.sh, recipes, mods). These are <em>not</em> firmware, OS, or model updates.
+      </div>
       <div class="ub-row">
         <span id="ub-text">Checking for updates…</span>
         <span class="spacer"></span>
+        <button id="ub-explain" class="btn small-btn hidden">✨ Explain context</button>
         <button id="ub-details" class="btn small-btn hidden">Show details</button>
         <button id="ub-apply" class="btn small-btn primary hidden">Apply update</button>
       </div>
@@ -175,6 +273,10 @@
         <summary class="muted small">Pending commits</summary>
         <pre id="ub-log" class="snippet"></pre>
       </details>
+      <details id="ub-explain-section" class="hidden">
+        <summary class="muted small">Explained by the loaded LLM</summary>
+        <div id="ub-explain-content" class="explain-content"></div>
+      </details>
       <div id="ub-progress" class="hidden">
         <div class="phase-row">
           <div class="phase" id="ub-phase">Applying update…</div>

image/app/static/style.css

@@ -45,6 +45,17 @@ body {
 .logo-dot { width: 10px; height: 10px; border-radius: 50%; background: var(--accent); box-shadow: 0 0 12px var(--accent); }
 .current { flex: 1; text-align: right; font-size: 14px; }
 .current strong { color: var(--accent); }
+.topbar-btn {
+  background: var(--surface-2);
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  color: var(--text);
+  padding: 5px 10px;
+  border-radius: 6px;
+  font-size: 12px;
+  text-decoration: none;
+  transition: border-color 0.15s, background 0.15s;
+}
+.topbar-btn:hover { background: #24242c; border-color: var(--accent); color: var(--accent); }
 
 main {
   max-width: 880px;
@@ -97,7 +108,8 @@ main {
   overflow-x: auto;
   white-space: nowrap;
 }
-.copy-btn {
+.copy-btn,
+.icon-btn {
   appearance: none;
   background: var(--surface-2);
   border: 1px solid var(--border);
@@ -108,15 +120,27 @@ main {
   cursor: pointer;
   transition: color 0.15s, border-color 0.15s, background 0.15s;
   flex-shrink: 0;
+  display: inline-flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  justify-content: center;
 }
-.copy-btn:hover { color: var(--text); border-color: #34343c; }
-.copy-btn.copied {
+.icon-btn { padding: 5px 7px; }
+.icon-btn svg { width: 14px; height: 14px; display: block; }
+.copy-btn:hover,
+.icon-btn:hover { color: var(--text); border-color: #34343c; }
+.copy-btn.copied,
+.icon-btn.copied {
   color: var(--accent);
   border-color: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.4);
   background: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.08);
 }
+.icon-btn.copied svg { color: var(--accent); }
 .copy-btn.small { padding: 3px 8px; font-size: 11px; }
 
+.copyable { cursor: pointer; }
+.copyable:hover { outline: 1px solid rgba(96, 165, 250, 0.5); }
+.copyable.copied { outline: 1px solid var(--accent); background: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.05); }
+
 .ep-curl { margin-top: 8px; }
 .ep-curl summary { cursor: pointer; padding: 4px 0; }
 .ep-curl[open] summary { margin-bottom: 6px; }
@@ -255,6 +279,14 @@ main {
   font: 13px ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace;
 }
 .modal-row textarea { font-family: inherit; resize: vertical; }
+.modal-row .knob-hint {
+  color: var(--muted);
+  font-size: 11px;
+  line-height: 1.5;
+  margin-top: 2px;
+  padding-left: 2px;
+}
+.modal-row.inline .knob-hint { width: 100%; margin-left: 22px; margin-top: 0; }
 .modal-row input:focus, .modal-row textarea:focus, .modal-row select:focus { outline: 1px solid var(--info); border-color: var(--info); }
 .modal-row input[type='range'] { padding: 0; flex: 1; }
 .modal-fieldset {
@@ -274,10 +306,39 @@ main {
   background: var(--surface);
   border: 1px solid rgba(96, 165, 250, 0.4);
   border-radius: var(--radius);
-  padding: 10px 14px;
+  padding: 12px 14px;
   margin-top: 18px;
   font-size: 13px;
 }
+.ub-context { margin-bottom: 8px; line-height: 1.5; }
+.ub-context a { color: var(--info); text-decoration: none; }
+.ub-context a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
+.ub-context em { font-style: normal; color: var(--text); font-weight: 500; }
+
+#ub-explain-section { margin-top: 8px; }
+#ub-explain-section summary { cursor: pointer; padding: 4px 0; }
+.explain-content {
+  background: #08080b;
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  border-radius: 6px;
+  padding: 12px 14px;
+  margin-top: 8px;
+  font-size: 13px;
+  line-height: 1.6;
+  color: #c7c7d1;
+  white-space: pre-wrap;
+  word-break: break-word;
+  max-height: 320px;
+  overflow: auto;
+}
+.explain-content .reasoning {
+  color: var(--muted);
+  font-style: italic;
+  font-size: 11px;
+  border-left: 2px solid var(--border);
+  padding-left: 10px;
+  margin: 4px 0;
+}
 .update-banner.up-to-date {
   border-color: var(--border);
   color: var(--muted);
@@ -289,6 +350,90 @@ main {
 #ub-list summary { cursor: pointer; padding: 4px 0; }
 #ub-progress { margin-top: 10px; }
 
+/* ===== Hardware dashboard ===== */
+
+.hardware-grid {
+  display: grid;
+  gap: 14px;
+  grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(320px, 1fr));
+}
+.hw-card {
+  background: var(--surface);
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  border-radius: var(--radius);
+  padding: 14px 16px;
+  display: flex;
+  flex-direction: column;
+  gap: 8px;
+}
+.hw-card .head {
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: baseline;
+  gap: 8px;
+  margin-bottom: 4px;
+}
+.hw-card .head .name { font-weight: 600; font-size: 15px; }
+.hw-card .head .meta { color: var(--muted); font-size: 12px; margin-left: auto; }
+.hw-card.unreachable { border-color: rgba(239, 68, 68, 0.4); }
+.hw-card.unreachable .name { color: var(--error); }
+.hw-card.unreachable ol { color: var(--muted); }
+.hw-card .wol-row {
+  margin-top: 8px;
+  display: flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  gap: 8px;
+  font-size: 12px;
+  color: var(--muted);
+}
+.hw-card .wol-row .btn { padding: 5px 10px; font-size: 12px; }
+.hw-card .mac-display { font-family: ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, Menlo, monospace; }
+
+.connectivity-content {
+  max-height: 360px;
+  overflow-y: auto;
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  border-radius: 6px;
+  padding: 10px;
+  background: var(--surface-2);
+}
+.conn-spark { margin-bottom: 16px; }
+.conn-spark h4 { font-size: 13px; margin: 0 0 8px; color: var(--text); }
+.conn-event {
+  font-size: 12px;
+  display: flex;
+  gap: 10px;
+  padding: 4px 0;
+  border-bottom: 1px solid rgba(255,255,255,0.04);
+  font-family: ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, Menlo, monospace;
+}
+.conn-event:last-child { border-bottom: 0; }
+.conn-event .when { color: var(--muted); flex-shrink: 0; }
+.conn-event .what { flex: 1; }
+.conn-event.up .what { color: var(--accent); }
+.conn-event.down .what { color: var(--error); }
+.conn-event.report .what { font-style: italic; }
+.conn-event .muted { color: var(--muted); font-style: normal; }
+.conn-event .dur { color: var(--muted); }
+.conn-summary { color: var(--muted); font-size: 11px; padding: 4px 0 10px; }
+.hw-metric { display: flex; align-items: center; gap: 10px; font-size: 12px; }
+.hw-metric .label { color: var(--muted); width: 56px; flex-shrink: 0; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.05em; font-size: 11px; }
+.hw-metric .bar { flex: 1; height: 8px; background: var(--surface-2); border-radius: 4px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; }
+.hw-metric .bar > span {
+  display: block;
+  height: 100%;
+  background: linear-gradient(90deg, var(--info), var(--accent));
+  border-radius: 4px;
+  transition: width 0.4s ease-out;
+}
+.hw-metric .bar.warn > span { background: linear-gradient(90deg, var(--warn), var(--error)); }
+.hw-metric .val {
+  font-family: ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace;
+  font-size: 12px;
+  color: var(--text);
+  min-width: 110px;
+  text-align: right;
+}
+
 /* ===== Section header (title + action button) ===== */
 
 .section-header {
@@ -341,6 +486,24 @@ main {
   min-width: 200px;
 }
 .dl-row input[type='text']:focus { outline: 1px solid var(--info); border-color: var(--info); }
+.dl-hf-link {
+  display: inline-flex;
+  align-items: center;
+  justify-content: center;
+  background: var(--surface-2);
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  color: var(--info);
+  padding: 7px 10px;
+  border-radius: 6px;
+  text-decoration: none;
+  font-size: 14px;
+  flex-shrink: 0;
+}
+.dl-hf-link:hover { background: rgba(96, 165, 250, 0.08); border-color: var(--info); }
+.dl-help { padding-left: 122px; line-height: 1.6; }
+.dl-help a { color: var(--info); text-decoration: none; }
+.dl-help a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
+.dl-help code { background: var(--surface-2); padding: 1px 5px; border-radius: 3px; font-size: 11px; }
 .radio { display: inline-flex; align-items: center; gap: 6px; font-size: 13px; color: var(--text); cursor: pointer; }
 .radio input { accent-color: var(--accent); }
 .dl-actions { display: flex; gap: 8px; justify-content: flex-end; margin-top: 10px; }
@@ -353,6 +516,37 @@ main {
 #dl-log-details { margin-top: 12px; }
 #dl-log-details summary { cursor: pointer; padding: 4px 0; }
 
+/* ===== NIM install dialog ===== */
+
+.modal#nim-dialog,
+.modal#nim-progress-dialog { max-width: 640px; }
+.nim-grid {
+  display: grid;
+  gap: 8px;
+  grid-template-columns: 1fr;
+  max-height: 240px;
+  overflow-y: auto;
+  margin-bottom: 4px;
+}
+.nim-card {
+  background: var(--surface-2);
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  border-radius: 6px;
+  padding: 10px 12px;
+  display: flex;
+  gap: 10px;
+  align-items: flex-start;
+}
+.nim-card .info { flex: 1; }
+.nim-card .name { font-weight: 600; font-size: 13px; }
+.nim-card .desc { color: var(--muted); font-size: 12px; margin-top: 4px; }
+.nim-card .img { font-family: ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, Menlo, monospace; color: #6b6b75; font-size: 11px; margin-top: 4px; word-break: break-all; }
+.nim-card .btn { padding: 6px 12px; font-size: 12px; flex-shrink: 0; }
+.nim-card .links { font-size: 11px; margin-top: 4px; }
+.nim-card .links a { color: var(--info); text-decoration: none; }
+.nim-card .links a:hover { text-decoration: underline; }
+.nim-key-warn { color: var(--warn); }
+
 /* ===== Section titles ===== */
 
 .section-title {
@@ -409,13 +603,25 @@ main {
 
 .service-card .row {
   display: flex;
+  align-items: center;
   font-size: 12px;
   color: var(--muted);
   gap: 6px;
 }
 .service-card .row .k { width: 60px; flex-shrink: 0; }
-.service-card .row .v { color: var(--text); font-family: ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace; word-break: break-all; }
+.service-card .row .v {
+  color: var(--text);
+  font-family: ui-monospace, SFMono-Regular, "SF Mono", Menlo, monospace;
+  word-break: break-all;
+  flex: 1;
+  padding: 2px 4px;
+  border-radius: 4px;
+}
 .service-card .row .v.muted-v { color: var(--muted); font-family: inherit; }
+.service-card .row .v.copyable:hover { outline: 1px solid rgba(96, 165, 250, 0.5); }
+.service-card .row .v.copyable.copied { outline: 1px solid var(--accent); background: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.05); }
+.service-card .row .icon-btn { padding: 3px 6px; }
+.service-card .row .icon-btn svg { width: 12px; height: 12px; }
 
 .service-actions {
   display: flex;
@@ -460,6 +666,9 @@ main {
   font-size: 11px;
   color: #5c5c66;
 }
+.card .repo a { color: inherit; text-decoration: none; }
+.card .repo a:hover { color: var(--info); text-decoration: underline; }
+.card .repo .hf-icon { font-size: 13px; opacity: 0.7; }
 .tag {
   background: var(--surface-2);
   border: 1px solid var(--border);
@@ -492,9 +701,24 @@ main {
 .card.active .btn { background: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.12); color: var(--accent); border-color: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.4); }
 .card-actions { display: flex; gap: 6px; }
 .card-actions .btn.primary { flex: 1; }
-.card .adv-btn { padding: 8px 12px; font-size: 12px; }
+.card .adv-btn,
+.card .test-btn { padding: 8px 12px; font-size: 12px; }
 .card .custom-pill { color: var(--info); border-color: rgba(96, 165, 250, 0.4); }
 
+.test-result {
+  font-size: 12px;
+  line-height: 1.45;
+  padding: 8px 10px;
+  border-radius: 5px;
+  margin-top: 4px;
+  border: 1px solid var(--border);
+  background: var(--surface-2);
+}
+.test-result.ok { border-color: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.4); background: rgba(74, 222, 128, 0.04); }
+.test-result.fail { border-color: rgba(239, 68, 68, 0.45); background: rgba(239, 68, 68, 0.06); word-break: break-word; }
+.test-result .ok-mark { color: var(--accent); font-weight: 600; }
+.test-result .fail-mark { color: var(--error); font-weight: 600; }
+
 .footer {
   margin-top: 28px;
   padding-top: 16px;

image/app/validate.py

@@ -0,0 +1,137 @@
+"""Pre-flight validation of a proposed vLLM launch command.
+
+Runs vLLM's own argparse layer (EngineArgs) inside the vllm_node container WITHOUT
+starting the engine. Catches:
+
+  * unknown flag names (typos)
+  * bad types / values that argparse rejects
+  * deprecated flags removed in the installed vLLM version
+
+Does NOT catch (these surface only during real engine init):
+  * model-architecture-specific constraints (e.g. Qwen3.6 Mamba block_size)
+  * OOM at weight-loading time
+  * Triton / CUDA-kernel compatibility errors
+
+A pre-flight check that returns "ok" is therefore NOT a guarantee — but a
+"failed" verdict is a definitive 'don't bother with the real swap'.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+import json
+import shlex
+from typing import Any
+
+from .config import Settings
+from .models import Catalog, build_launch_command
+from .ssh import ssh_run
+
+
+# Validates the proposed args against the same combined parser vLLM uses for
+# `vllm serve` (engine args + server args + frontend args). Returns one JSON
+# line on stdout: {"ok": true, ...} or {"ok": false, ...}.
+_VALIDATOR_SCRIPT = r"""
+import argparse, json, sys
+
+# Mirror what `vllm serve` does internally: FlexibleArgumentParser (which is
+# more lenient about dashes vs underscores) wrapped with make_arg_parser
+# (which adds engine + server + frontend args).
+parser = None
+try:
+    # Newer vLLM path
+    from vllm.utils.argparse_utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+except Exception:
+    try:
+        # Older fallback
+        from vllm.engine.arg_utils import FlexibleArgumentParser
+    except Exception:
+        FlexibleArgumentParser = argparse.ArgumentParser  # type: ignore
+
+try:
+    from vllm.entrypoints.openai.cli_args import make_arg_parser
+    parser = make_arg_parser(FlexibleArgumentParser(add_help=False))
+except Exception:
+    pass
+if parser is None:
+    try:
+        from vllm.engine.arg_utils import EngineArgs
+        parser = FlexibleArgumentParser(add_help=False)
+        EngineArgs.add_cli_args(parser)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(json.dumps({"ok": False, "stage": "import", "error": f"{type(e).__name__}: {e}"}))
+        sys.exit(0)
+
+class _ArgError(Exception):
+    pass
+
+def _err(message):
+    raise _ArgError(message)
+
+parser.error = _err  # capture argparse errors instead of sys.exit(2)
+
+try:
+    raw = sys.stdin.read()
+    arglist = json.loads(raw)
+    ns = parser.parse_args(arglist)
+    print(json.dumps({"ok": True, "model": getattr(ns, "model", None)}))
+except _ArgError as e:
+    print(json.dumps({"ok": False, "stage": "parse", "error": str(e)}))
+except SystemExit as e:
+    print(json.dumps({"ok": False, "stage": "parse", "error": f"argparse exit {e.code}"}))
+except Exception as e:
+    print(json.dumps({"ok": False, "stage": "parse", "error": f"{type(e).__name__}: {e}"}))
+"""
+
+
+def _vllm_arg_list(key: str, model_def, catalog: Catalog) -> list[str]:
+    """Reconstruct the args list passed to `vllm serve` (without the positional model)."""
+    cmd = build_launch_command(key, model_def, catalog.defaults)
+    # build_launch_command yields:
+    #   ./launch-cluster.sh [--solo] -d exec vllm serve <repo> <args...>
+    # We just want the bits after `vllm serve <repo>`.
+    tokens = shlex.split(cmd)
+    if "serve" not in tokens:
+        return []
+    i = tokens.index("serve")
+    after = tokens[i + 1 :]  # repo, then args
+    if not after:
+        return []
+    args = after[1:]  # drop the repo
+    # EngineArgs expects --model=REPO rather than positional, so prepend it.
+    return [f"--model={after[0]}", *args]
+
+
+async def validate_launch(key: str, catalog: Catalog, settings: Settings) -> dict:
+    if key not in catalog.models:
+        return {"ok": False, "stage": "lookup", "error": f"unknown model: {key}"}
+    if not settings.spark1_host or not settings.spark1_user:
+        return {"ok": False, "stage": "config", "error": "spark1 not configured"}
+
+    model = catalog.models[key]
+    arg_list = _vllm_arg_list(key, model, catalog)
+    if not arg_list:
+        return {"ok": False, "stage": "build", "error": "failed to build args list"}
+
+    payload = json.dumps(arg_list).replace("'", "'\\''")
+    # Pipe the JSON args list to a here-doc Python invocation. The validator
+    # reads from stdin to avoid shell-escaping the args themselves.
+    cmd = (
+        f"echo '{payload}' | docker exec -i vllm_node python3 -c "
+        + shlex.quote(_VALIDATOR_SCRIPT)
+    )
+
+    rc, out, err = await ssh_run(settings.spark1_host, settings.spark1_user, cmd, settings, timeout=20)
+    if rc != 0 and not out.strip():
+        return {
+            "ok": False,
+            "stage": "ssh",
+            "error": err.strip() or f"rc={rc}",
+            "cmd_args": arg_list,
+            "launch_cmd": build_launch_command(key, model, catalog.defaults),
+        }
+    last = out.strip().splitlines()[-1] if out.strip() else ""
+    try:
+        result: dict[str, Any] = json.loads(last)
+    except json.JSONDecodeError:
+        result = {"ok": False, "stage": "decode", "error": "validator did not return JSON", "raw": out[-500:]}
+    result["cmd_args"] = arg_list
+    result["launch_cmd"] = build_launch_command(key, model, catalog.defaults)
+    return result

image/app/wol.py

@@ -0,0 +1,69 @@
+"""Wake-on-LAN.
+
+Two delivery paths, tried in order:
+
+  1. SSH into the other Spark and have IT broadcast — most reliable because the
+     packet originates from the same LAN subnet as the sleeping Spark.
+  2. Direct UDP broadcast from this container. May or may not work depending
+     on the StartOS container's network namespace.
+
+The DGX Spark's NIC must have WoL enabled in firmware/OS for either path to
+actually wake the box; this module just delivers the magic packet correctly.
+"""
+from __future__ import annotations
+import asyncio
+import re
+import socket
+
+from .config import Settings
+from .ssh import ssh_run
+
+
+_MAC_RE = re.compile(r"^[0-9a-fA-F]{2}([:-]?[0-9a-fA-F]{2}){5}$")
+
+
+def normalize_mac(mac: str) -> str:
+    mac = mac.strip().lower()
+    if not _MAC_RE.match(mac):
+        raise ValueError(f"invalid MAC address: {mac!r}")
+    return mac.replace("-", ":")
+
+
+def build_magic_packet(mac: str) -> bytes:
+    mac_bytes = bytes.fromhex(normalize_mac(mac).replace(":", ""))
+    return b"\xff" * 6 + mac_bytes * 16
+
+
+def send_local_broadcast(mac: str, broadcast: str = "255.255.255.255", port: int = 9) -> None:
+    """Send from THIS container. May not reach the LAN in some topologies."""
+    pkt = build_magic_packet(mac)
+    s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
+    try:
+        s.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_BROADCAST, 1)
+        s.sendto(pkt, (broadcast, port))
+        # Also send to port 7 (alternate WoL convention) for safety
+        s.sendto(pkt, (broadcast, 7))
+    finally:
+        s.close()
+
+
+async def send_via_peer(host: str, user: str, mac: str, settings: Settings) -> tuple[bool, str]:
+    """Use a different (reachable) Spark to send the WoL packet to its peer.
+
+    Uses Python 3 (always present on the Sparks for vLLM) to avoid depending on
+    wakeonlan / etherwake being installed.
+    """
+    normalized = normalize_mac(mac)
+    mac_hex = normalized.replace(":", "")
+    py = (
+        "python3 -c \""
+        "import socket; "
+        f"m=bytes.fromhex('{mac_hex}'); "
+        "s=socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM); "
+        "s.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_BROADCAST, 1); "
+        "s.sendto(b'\\xff'*6 + m*16, ('255.255.255.255', 9)); "
+        "s.sendto(b'\\xff'*6 + m*16, ('255.255.255.255', 7)); "
+        "print('sent')\""
+    )
+    rc, out, err = await ssh_run(host, user, py, settings, timeout=8)
+    return rc == 0 and "sent" in out, (err.strip() or out.strip() or f"rc={rc}")

image/models.yaml

@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ models:
     vllm_args:
       - --gpu-memory-utilization=0.85
       - --max-model-len=65536
+      - --max-num-batched-tokens=16384
       - --reasoning-parser=qwen3
       - --moe_backend=flashinfer_cutlass
       - --load-format=fastsafetensors

known-issues.md

@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@ The trick is the `docker run --rm alpine chown` — it runs as root inside the t
 
 This flag is Blackwell-specific. If vLLM in the container reports `unrecognized arguments: --moe_backend` or similar, edit `models.yaml` for `qwen36` and drop that flag. The swap UI does NOT auto-fallback in v0.1 — failure surfaces in the log stream.
 
+## Qwen3.6 Mamba block-size assertion (fixed in v0.6.0:1)
+
+Qwen3.6 uses a Mamba-attention hybrid that requires `--max-num-batched-tokens >= 2096`. vLLM's default is 2048, which trips `AssertionError: In Mamba cache align mode, block_size (2096) must be <= max_num_batched_tokens (2048)`. Fix: bake `--max-num-batched-tokens=16384` into the bundled qwen36 entry — matches the upstream qwen3.5-35b-a3b-fp8 recipe.
+
 ## Two SSH paths to Spark 1 from the laptop
 
 `ssh <spark-user>@<spark-1-ip>` does NOT work from the laptop because the NVIDIA Sync ssh_config only has a Host entry for `<spark-1-host>.local`. Always use the `.local` hostname or `<spark-2-ip>`-style entries that ARE matched.

package/startos/actions/configureSparks.ts

@@ -76,6 +76,24 @@ const inputSpec = InputSpec.of({
     placeholder: 'magpie-tts',
     masked: false,
   }),
+  open_webui_url: Value.text({
+    name: 'Open WebUI URL (optional)',
+    description:
+      'If you also run Open WebUI on your LAN, paste its URL here. Spark Control will then show a one-click "Open chat" button next to the current model so you can jump straight to it.',
+    required: false,
+    default: null,
+    placeholder: 'e.g. https://open-webui.yourserver.local',
+    masked: false,
+  }),
+  ngc_api_key: Value.text({
+    name: 'NGC API key (optional)',
+    description:
+      'NVIDIA NGC personal API key — needed to install NIM containers (Parakeet, Magpie, etc.) from nvcr.io. Get one free at https://ngc.nvidia.com/setup/personal-key. Stored only on this Start9 server; passed to docker as the NGC_API_KEY env var when installing NIM services.',
+    required: false,
+    default: null,
+    placeholder: 'starts with "nvapi-..."',
+    masked: true,
+  }),
 })
 
 export const configureSparks = sdk.Action.withInput(

package/startos/fileModels/sparkConfig.yaml.ts

@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ export const sparkConfigSchema = z.object({
   magpie_host: z.string().catch(''),
   magpie_user: z.string().catch(''),
   magpie_container: z.string().catch(''),
+  // Optional Open WebUI deep-link
+  open_webui_url: z.string().catch(''),
+  // Optional NGC API key for pulling NIM containers from nvcr.io/nim/...
+  ngc_api_key: z.string().catch(''),
 })
 
 export type SparkConfig = z.infer<typeof sparkConfigSchema>

package/startos/main.ts

@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ export const main = sdk.setupMain(async ({ effects }) => {
     magpie_host: '',
     magpie_user: '',
     magpie_container: '',
+    open_webui_url: '',
+    ngc_api_key: '',
   }
 
   return sdk.Daemons.of(effects).addDaemon('primary', {
@@ -47,6 +49,10 @@ export const main = sdk.setupMain(async ({ effects }) => {
         MAGPIE_USER: cfg.magpie_user,
         MAGPIE_CONTAINER: cfg.magpie_container,
         MODELS_OVERRIDES: '/data/models-overrides.yaml',
+        SERVICES_OVERRIDES: '/data/services-overrides.yaml',
+        CONNECTIVITY_LOG: '/data/connectivity.json',
+        OPEN_WEBUI_URL: cfg.open_webui_url,
+        NGC_API_KEY: cfg.ngc_api_key,
         BIND_PORT: String(uiPort),
       },
     },

package/startos/versions/v0_1_0.ts

@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 import { VersionInfo, IMPOSSIBLE } from '@start9labs/start-sdk'
 
 export const v0_1_0 = VersionInfo.of({
-  version: '0.2.3:0',
+  version: '0.7.0:2',
   releaseNotes: {
     en_US:
-      'Per-model Advanced settings + downloaded-model catalog flow. Each card now has an Advanced button: max context tokens, GPU memory %, and optimization toggles (fastsafetensors, prefix caching, FP8 KV cache). After a download finishes, a dialog appears to add the model to the catalog with those same knobs as launch defaults. Custom models can be deleted. Overrides persist in /data/models-overrides.yaml and survive package updates.',
+      'v0.7: pre-flight launch validation. New "Test" button on every model card runs vLLM\'s argparse against the proposed launch command inside the running vllm_node container — without starting an engine. Catches unknown flags, bad types, and version-removed flags in about 5 seconds, before disrupting the currently-loaded model. (Runtime-only failures like the Qwen3.6 Mamba block-size assertion still only surface during a real swap, but argparse-stage bugs are now caught up front.)',
   },
   migrations: {
     up: async ({ effects }) => {},