diff --git a/mcp/deploy/homelab-mcp.service b/mcp/deploy/homelab-mcp.service
index ad30b6c..6bb80ec 100644
--- a/mcp/deploy/homelab-mcp.service
+++ b/mcp/deploy/homelab-mcp.service
@@ -8,7 +8,12 @@ Type=simple
 WorkingDirectory=/opt/homelab-context
 Environment=HOMELAB_CONTEXT_DIR=/opt/homelab-context
 Environment=HOMELAB_MCP_SSH_KEY=/etc/homelab-mcp/mcp-reader.key
-Environment=HOMELAB_MCP_SSH_USER=mcp-reader
+# SSH user is `root` on hubris — the restricted shell at command="..." in
+# authorized_keys (see mcp/mcp-reader-shell) provides the access boundary,
+# not a separate user account.
+Environment=HOMELAB_MCP_SSH_USER=root
+Environment=HOMELAB_MCP_HUBRIS_HOST=192.168.8.77
+Environment=HOMELAB_MCP_SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS=/etc/homelab-mcp/known_hosts
 ExecStart=/opt/homelab-mcp/.venv/bin/python /opt/homelab-mcp/mcp/server.py
 Restart=on-failure
 RestartSec=5