> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://instabox.sh/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Get a short-lived signed URL that uploads one file. > Returns a URL on the API's own origin that takes `PUT` of the file's raw bytes to `path` (PUT /v1/machines/{id}/files with a signed `token`) with no other credential, until `expiresAt`: by default 15 minutes, at most 1 hour. Hand it to a tool that should not hold your API key, or use it for a long upload. The token is HMAC-signed and binds the sandbox, `path`, `mode` and `parents`; it may be used more than once until it expires. Each upload still acts as you: it fails once your account is gone, or the API key that made the URL is revoked or expired, or you lose access to the sandbox (org membership is checked on every upload). The sandbox need not be running to create a URL; the upload has the PUT route's limits and errors (5 GiB). API keys: needs one of the scopes `machines:write`, `machines:exec` (legacy). ## OpenAPI ````yaml /api-reference/openapi.yaml post /v1/machines/{id}/files/upload-url openapi: 3.1.0 info: title: instabox API version: 1.0.0 summary: Create and manage cloud sandboxes for AI coding agents. description: > The instabox API creates and manages sandboxes: Linux computers in the cloud that keep their files and software, for coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex and OpenCode. It also issues short-lived SSH credentials for reaching them. The `instabox` CLI, the dashboard, herdr, cmux and Orca all use it. The Go types in `pkg/instaboxapi` are the source of truth; this document mirrors them. The API is older than the name "sandbox". Paths, fields and scopes call a sandbox a machine (`/v1/machines`, `machineId`, `machines:read`), and pausing is `suspend` and `resume`. The text here says "sandbox" and "pause"; code keeps the API's names. ## Authentication The base URL is `https://api.instabox.sh`. Programs and agents send an API key: `X-API-Key: ibk_...` or `Authorization: Bearer ibk_...`, for example `curl -H "X-API-Key: $INSTABOX_API_KEY" https://api.instabox.sh/v1/machines`. Create one in the dashboard (API keys) or with `instabox keys create`; see API keys below for scopes. A bad key gets a 401 whose `error.code` says why: `missing_key`, `malformed_key`, `invalid_key`, `expired_key`, `revoked_key`, or `session_expired` for a dashboard session, with a `hint` and `docs` (https://instabox.sh/docs/api#authentication-errors). A key without the scope a route needs gets `403 missing_scope`. Docs for agents: https://instabox.sh/llms.txt. ## Sandboxes - A new sandbox gets the default size, 4 vCPUs and 8 GiB of memory (`limits.machineSpec` in `GET /v1/usage`), unless `vcpus` and `memMiB` name another size of your plan (Pro: 2/4, 4/8, 8/16; Builder: 2/4 up to 16/32; Team and Enterprise: 2/4 up to 32/64) or one an admin granted the org; `GET /v1/me` `allowedSpecs` lists the personal org's, `GET /v1/orgs` each org's. Leave `persistentDiskGiB` and `rootDiskGiB` out at create: the disks come with the size, and a disk size other than the one the sandbox gets is `400 spec_not_allowed`. A paid sandbox's disk grows afterwards with `PATCH /v1/machines/{id}` `{"persistentDiskGiB": N}`: 1-1024 GiB; a running sandbox's disk grows live, a shrink applies while it is stopped, at its next boot (refused as `disk_too_small` when the data no longer fits), up to the plan's `maxDiskGiB` and the stored-data limit. Its vCPUs and memory move to another of the plan's sizes the same way (`{"vcpus": N, "memMiB": M}`, while it is stopped, applied at its next boot); a free sandbox's size is fixed. - A sandbox has one **disk** (`/data`, which holds HOME at `/data/home`), 20 GiB by default, kept across stop, pause and start. The operating system and the template's software sit on a root filesystem the template sizes; only admins grow it (`rootDiskGiB`). - A free org (every personal org) can have 1 sandbox in any state (stopped and paused ones count), 5 snapshots and 200 GiB of stored data across sandboxes and snapshots; Pro 500 sandboxes (100 running), Builder 1000 sandboxes (200 running), Team no sandbox limit (500 running). `GET /v1/usage` shows the current figures. An admin can change an org's sandbox limit. ## Conventions - JSON bodies use camelCase. Times are RFC 3339 in UTC. - All endpoints except `/v1/auth/device`, `/v1/auth/device/token`, `/v1/auth/cli/token`, `/v1/auth/refresh` and `/v1/openapi.json` require `Authorization: Bearer `, or the dashboard's `instabox_session` cookie (see `sessionCookie`; mutations then need `X-Instabox-CSRF` and a same-origin `Origin`). Sandbox, snapshot and operation endpoints also accept an API key (see API keys). - `/v1/admin/*` and `/metrics` (from outside `metrics.allowFrom`) are admin-only; other users get `403 permission_denied`. - Access: GitHub and Google sign-in is public. A verified provider identity creates a regular user. With the server's invite gate on (`inviteRequired` in server.json or `INSTABOX_INVITE_REQUIRED=true`), a new account must then redeem an invite code (`POST /v1/invites/redeem`) before it may use anything but `GET /v1/me` and `POST /v1/auth/logout`: every other route answers `403 invite_required` until it does. `GET /v1/me` says whether the gate is on (`inviteRequired`) and whether the account passed it (`activated`); admins and accounts from before the gate always pass. Disabled users cannot sign in, refresh credentials, call authenticated APIs or connect over SSH. GitHub users keep their positive numeric IDs; Google users get distinct negative IDs assigned by instabox. Matching emails never link accounts. - Every non-2xx response has the error envelope `{"error": {"code", "message", "requestId", "retryable", "operationId"}}`. - Changes to a sandbox are asynchronous: they return `202 Accepted` with an `Operation`. Poll `GET /v1/operations/{id}?wait=25s` (a long poll) until `state` is `succeeded` or `failed`. Accepted does not mean ready. ## API keys Programs, CI and agents use an API key (`ibk_...`) instead of signing in: send `X-API-Key: ibk_...` (or `Authorization: Bearer ibk_...`; when both are sent they must carry the same key, else `400 bad_request`). You create keys while signed in (`POST /v1/keys`, API keys in the dashboard sidebar, or `instabox keys create`); the secret is shown once and only its sha256 is stored. Every key belongs to one org and reaches no other: `POST /v1/keys` makes one of your personal org, `POST /v1/orgs/{id}/keys` one of any org you manage (see Workspace API keys). A key expires after `expiresInDays` (1-365) or, without it, never; an org has at most 20 active keys. An expired or revoked key gets `401 expired_key` or `401 revoked_key`. Disabling a user revokes their keys, and every request checks that the user is not disabled. SSH certificates a key issued stop working when the key is revoked or expires. A key carries scopes: read, write and delete for each resource. A route the key's scopes do not cover returns `403 missing_scope`. A `:write` or `:delete` scope includes the `:read` scope of the same resource. Signed-in sessions have every scope. - `machines:read`: `GET /v1/machines`, `GET /v1/machines/{id}`, `GET /v1/machines/{id}/connection-info`, `GET /v1/machines/{id}/metrics`, `GET /v1/machines/{id}/usage`, `GET /v1/operations/{id}`, `GET /v1/templates`, `GET /v1/usage` - `machines:write`: `POST /v1/machines`, `PATCH /v1/machines/{id}` (name, idle pause, metadata), `POST /v1/machines/{id}/start`, `/stop`, `/suspend`, `/resume`, `/restore` (disks back to a snapshot's, in place), `POST /v1/machines/{id}/connections` (SSH certificates), `POST`, `DELETE /v1/machines/{id}/ssh-tokens` (SSH tokens), `POST /v1/machines/{id}/exec` (run a command) - `machines:delete`: `DELETE /v1/machines/{id}` - `images:read`: `GET /v1/snapshots`, `GET /v1/snapshots/{id}`, `GET /v1/snapshots/{id}/files`, `GET /v1/templates`, `GET /v1/usage`, `GET /v1/operations/{id}` - `images:write`: `POST /v1/machines/{id}/snapshots` - `images:delete`: `DELETE /v1/snapshots/{id}` The snapshot scopes keep the names they had when snapshots were called images (`images:*`), because existing keys store them. Keys created before these scopes may still carry `machines:ssh` (SSH certificates and connection info) or `machines:exec` (exec). Those keep working on their routes, but new keys cannot be given them. Any key may call `GET /v1/me`. Keys never work on `/v1/keys` (a leaked key cannot create more keys), `/v1/sessions`, `/v1/auth/logout`, `/v1/admin/*` or `/metrics`, and never carry admin rights: `start` with `host` gets `403 permission_denied`, another user's snapshot is `404` as for any other user, and resizing gets `400 spec_not_allowed`. ## Workspace API keys A workspace's owner and admins make keys that belong to the workspace, not to them (`POST /v1/orgs/{id}/keys`, signed-in sessions only). Without `scopes`, a workspace key carries the `workspace:admin` scope: it is an admin of that one workspace on every key-capable route, including the workspace's management routes (rename, members, invites, invite code, Secrets), which other keys cannot use (`403 missing_scope`); with `APIKeyScope`s it is limited to them. It acts as the workspace's owner (`GET /v1/me` names the owner, without their email, and `orgId`) yet reaches nothing outside the workspace: other orgs, their sandboxes and snapshots are `404`, a create that names no `orgId` goes in the workspace, and the sandboxes it creates have no Vault (use org Secrets). Billing, the Vault routes and key management stay with sessions; desktop links are the machine creator's, signed in or with their personal key (for a machine of their personal workspace), so a workspace key gets `403 permission_denied` there. It keeps working when the member who made it leaves; it stops when it is revoked or expires, or the workspace is deleted or purged. A workspace has at most 20 active keys. ## Idempotency Mutating POST and DELETE requests require an `Idempotency-Key` header (1-200 printable ASCII characters). Keys are scoped to (user, key), a workspace API key's to its workspace: - Same key with the same method, path and body hash returns the original response (status and body) without performing the request again. - Same key with a different request returns `409 idempotency_conflict`. - Records are kept for 7 days; after that the key may be reused. Generate a fresh random key for each action and save it before sending, so a retry after a timeout or crash reuses it. ## Sandbox lifecycle - A sandbox runs at most one operation at a time. A different change while one is running returns `409 operation_conflict` with `operationId`. Repeating the same change returns the running operation. - A change that is already in effect (for example `start` on a running sandbox) returns an operation that has already `succeeded`. - Pause (`suspend`) keeps the sandbox's running programs, and resume brings them back. `start` on a paused sandbox resumes it. If its programs cannot be brought back, the sandbox boots fresh and `runtime.processesPreserved` is `false`. Files are kept either way. - Stop shuts the sandbox down; running programs end, files are kept. `stop` on a paused sandbox returns `409 operation_conflict` ("resume it first, then stop it, or delete it"). - Creating an SSH certificate connection resumes a sandbox paused for idleness; other non-running sandboxes return `409 machine_not_running`. - Use requests may resume a sandbox paused for idleness. Manual pause/stop and archive require an explicit start or resume. - Sandboxes have no lifetime timeout: they pause when idle (below). An archive deadline reached while idle-paused requires an explicit resume afterwards. - Pause when idle: a sandbox with `autoSuspendAfterSeconds` is paused through an ordinary `suspend` operation (`trigger: idle`) once it has reported no activity for that long (docs/idle-suspend.md); activity is checked about once a minute. Every new sandbox has it, 30 minutes, unless its create request gives another time or 0 (never). The setting stays: a later resume or start keeps it. Every template accepts it: one with the `activity` capability ships probes for its agents; on the others, terminal and CPU activity alone count. Real work (exec, files, terminal traffic and preview requests) and task activity leases also prevent idle suspension. Exec, files, terminal and SSH certificate requests resume sandboxes paused for idleness before proceeding (`trigger: request`). Manual pause/stop and archive are never automatically undone. Preview links remain offline until resumed. Status reads and keepalives do not record activity. - `revision` increases with each accepted change. An operation's results are written only if the sandbox's revision still equals the operation's. - Deleted sandboxes are not listed; `GET /v1/machines/{id}` returns `404 not_found` for them. ## Templates and snapshots A sandbox starts from a template (`templateId`: software that ships with instabox) or from a snapshot (`snapshotId`). A snapshot is a saved copy of a sandbox's system files and storage; a sandbox created from it gets both. A system-files-only snapshot (`rootOnly`, no `dataSizeBytes`) gives the new sandbox empty storage. Memory and running programs are not saved. Saving a snapshot of a stopped sandbox needs it fully saved (`storage.synced`), and every snapshot needs a template with the `identity-reset` capability. HOME is `/data/home`, so credentials kept there (gh, Claude, Codex, git, SSH) are included in new snapshots. A snapshot belongs to its source sandbox's org: every member of the org uses it. New snapshot IDs start with `sn_`; older ones with `im_`, and stay valid. Where the server allows live snapshots, you can also snapshot a running sandbox: the request answers `202` with the snapshot in `status: pending`. The sandbox's files are frozen for well under a second while they are copied, then the copy uploads in the background and the snapshot becomes `ready`, or `failed` with `error`. Poll `GET /v1/snapshots/{id}`. Only a `ready` snapshot can be used. The copy is like the state after a sudden power cut: data that programs had not written to disk yet is not included. ## Deprecated aliases Until 2026-10 snapshots were called images. These names keep working and are marked `deprecated` here; replies to them carry a `Deprecation` header (RFC 9745) and, for the routes, a `Link` to the successor (`rel="successor-version"`): - `POST /v1/machines/{id}/images`, `GET /v1/images`, `GET /v1/images/{id}`, `GET /v1/images/{id}/files`, `DELETE /v1/images/{id}`: the `/snapshots` routes. They reply in the old shape: `GET /v1/images` returns `{"images": [...]}`, and each snapshot also has `official: false`, `owned: true` and `preinstalled: []`. - `imageId` in `POST /v1/machines`: `snapshotId` (both: they must be equal). - `Machine.image`, `Usage.images` and `UsageLimits.maxImages`: sent with the same values as `snapshot`, `snapshots` and `maxSnapshots`. Official images were removed: software ships in templates. ## SSH Connect with `ssh -p @`. Clients authenticate with a user certificate from `POST /v1/machines/{id}/connections` (principal = sandbox ID) and trust the server with a known_hosts line `@cert-authority []: `. Without a key or the instabox CLI, a plain ssh client logs in with an SSH token from `POST /v1/machines/{id}/ssh-tokens` as its user name: `ssh ibssh_…@`, with `-p ` unless SSH is on port 22 (the reply's `command`). The token is accepted with the `none` method, which OpenSSH tries first, and ssh asks once to confirm the server's host key (`hostKeyFingerprint`). A token is a secret: it works for anyone who has it until it expires, is revoked (`DELETE /v1/machines/{id}/ssh-tokens`) or the sandbox is deleted. Supported: sessions (pty, shell, exec, subsystem, env, signals) and local port forwarding. Not supported in v1: agent forwarding, X11, remote forwarding. mosh works through the same login: when a session runs `mosh-server new`, the server opens a UDP port that relays to the sandbox's mosh-server and puts it in the `MOSH CONNECT` line. The relay outlives the SSH session and closes after a day without traffic, when the sandbox stops or is deleted, or when the grant is revoked. Connections are closed when the sandbox stops, pauses or is deleted. ## Exec `POST /v1/machines/{id}/exec` runs one command without an SSH client: the server logs in to the sandbox the way SSH does (user `dev`, HOME `/data/home`), runs `bash -lc ` and returns its output and exit code in the response. With `Accept: text/event-stream` the output is streamed as the command writes it instead. Use SSH for interactive work. servers: - url: https://api.instabox.sh security: - bearerAuth: [] - sessionCookie: [] tags: - name: auth - name: machines - name: operations - name: connections - name: orca - name: snapshots - name: usage - name: orgs - name: sessions - name: keys - name: secrets - name: webhooks - name: exports - name: vault - name: support - name: docs paths: /v1/machines/{id}/files/upload-url: parameters: - $ref: '#/components/parameters/MachineID' post: tags: - machines summary: Get a short-lived signed URL that uploads one file. description: >- Returns a URL on the API's own origin that takes `PUT` of the file's raw bytes to `path` (PUT /v1/machines/{id}/files with a signed `token`) with no other credential, until `expiresAt`: by default 15 minutes, at most 1 hour. Hand it to a tool that should not hold your API key, or use it for a long upload. The token is HMAC-signed and binds the sandbox, `path`, `mode` and `parents`; it may be used more than once until it expires. Each upload still acts as you: it fails once your account is gone, or the API key that made the URL is revoked or expired, or you lose access to the sandbox (org membership is checked on every upload). The sandbox need not be running to create a URL; the upload has the PUT route's limits and errors (5 GiB). API keys: needs one of the scopes `machines:write`, `machines:exec` (legacy). operationId: createMachineFileUploadURL requestBody: required: true content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/CreateUploadURLRequest' responses: '201': description: The upload URL. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/UploadURL' '400': $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest' '401': $ref: '#/components/responses/Unauthenticated' '403': $ref: '#/components/responses/PermissionDenied' '404': $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound' security: - bearerAuth: [] - apiKey: [] - sessionCookie: [] components: parameters: MachineID: name: id in: path required: true description: Sandbox ID (`m_` + 26 lowercase base32 characters). schema: type: string pattern: ^m_[a-z2-7]{26}$ schemas: CreateUploadURLRequest: type: object required: - path properties: path: type: string description: Absolute path of the file to write. mode: type: string description: >- Octal permissions, for example 0755 (default an existing file's, else 0644). parents: type: boolean description: Create missing parent directories. expiresInSeconds: type: integer minimum: 1 maximum: 3600 description: Lifetime; default 900. UploadURL: type: object required: - url - method - path - expiresAt - maxBytes properties: url: type: string description: PUT the file's raw bytes here; it carries its own credential. method: type: string enum: - PUT path: type: string expiresAt: type: string format: date-time maxBytes: type: integer format: int64 description: The largest body the URL takes (5 GiB). ErrorBody: type: object required: - error properties: error: $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error' Error: type: object required: - code - message - requestId - retryable - operationId properties: code: type: string description: Machine-readable code. HTTP status per code is fixed. enum: - unauthenticated - missing_key - malformed_key - invalid_key - expired_key - revoked_key - session_expired - missing_scope - permission_denied - not_found - bad_request - feature_disabled - unknown_field - operation_conflict - idempotency_conflict - machine_not_running - restore_unavailable - delete_confirmation_required - fork_unavailable - machine_cooldown - max_run_disabled - desktop_not_running - disk_too_small - grow_needs_stop - resize_restart_off - private_ports_unavailable - quota_exceeded - no_capacity - host_unavailable - metrics_unavailable - restore_failed - internal - authorization_pending - slow_down - expired_token - access_denied - invalid_grant - invite_required - invite_invalid - invite_email_mismatch - api_key_expired - api_key_revoked - insufficient_scope - orca_unsupported - runtime_not_ready - spec_not_allowed - template_not_allowed - template_limit - kernel_unavailable - template_unavailable - invalid_guest_user - vault_unavailable - vault_retired - credit_exhausted - spend_limit_reached - subscription_required - payment_method_required - early_allowance_ended - rate_limited - concurrency_limit - payment_failed - missing_parent - not_a_file - no_space - too_large - data_disk_not_browsable - support_unavailable - host_oom - vmm_crashed - guest_reboot_loop message: type: string requestId: type: string retryable: type: boolean description: True if the same request may succeed later. operationId: type: - string - 'null' description: For `operation_conflict`, the active operation. reason: type: string description: >- The same as `code` for credential errors (401 `missing_key`, `malformed_key`, `invalid_key`, `expired_key`, `revoked_key`, `session_expired`; 403 `missing_scope`). For 409 `machine_cooldown`, the automatic abuse check whose pause locks the sandbox: `abuse_egress_blocklist` (it tried to connect to a blocked destination on the egress blocklist, not a DNS lookup), `abuse_network_flows` (scanning or attack traffic), `abuse_cpu` (mining); absent for a max-run cooldown. For a retryable 409 `fork_unavailable`, why the source's host cannot take the fork: `source_host_unavailable` (it takes no new sandboxes) or `source_host_full` (no room now). Absent on other errors and from older servers. enum: - missing_key - malformed_key - invalid_key - expired_key - revoked_key - session_expired - missing_scope - abuse_egress_blocklist - abuse_network_flows - abuse_cpu - source_host_unavailable - source_host_full hint: type: string description: >- The next step that fixes the error (credential errors). Absent otherwise. docs: type: string format: uri description: A URL documenting the error (credential errors). Absent otherwise. docs_url: type: string format: uri description: >- The code's entry on the errors page, on every error response: https://instabox.sh/docs/errors# with underscores as dashes (e.g. #credit-exhausted): its HTTP status, whether to retry and what to do. Snake case, unlike the other fields. Absent from a failed operation's `error` and from older servers. requiredScopes: type: array items: type: string description: >- For `missing_scope`, the scopes the route accepts; the key needs one of them. retryAfterSeconds: type: integer minimum: 1 description: >- Seconds to wait before trying again: a retryable `no_capacity` (60, as a 503 or on a failed operation's `error`), `rate_limited`, `machine_cooldown` and agent sign-up `quota_exceeded`. An error response also sends it as the `Retry-After` header; a failed operation's `error` has only this field. Absent otherwise and from older servers. at: type: string format: date-time description: >- When it happened, for a stop the platform found (a sandbox's `lastError` with code `host_oom`, `vmm_crashed` or `guest_reboot_loop`; `hint` says what to do). The next successful start clears the error. Absent otherwise and from older servers. responses: BadRequest: description: >- `bad_request`: invalid input or missing Idempotency-Key. `unknown_field`: a body key that is no field of the request's schema (create, fork, restore, start, stop, suspend, resume, wake and `PATCH` of a sandbox); the message names it and the closest known field (`did you mean "templateId"?`) and lists the known ones. Nothing is changed. `spec_not_allowed`: sandbox sizes are fixed (4 vCPUs, 8 GiB memory by default; `limits.machineSpec`) and the request names another size (create, create from a snapshot), or someone other than an admin tries to grow the disk of a free sandbox or of a sandbox whose owner may not resize disks. On `PATCH /v1/machines/{id}` it is also a `vcpus`/`memMiB` size the workspace's plan does not offer (the message lists the plan's sizes) or any new size for a free sandbox, whose size is fixed. The message gives the size the sandbox gets; leaving the size fields out always works. `invalid_guest_user`: a create's `guestUser` is not a valid Linux user name or is reserved (`root`, `instabox`, the Debian base system's users and groups such as `sudo`, `systemd-*`). `vault_unavailable` (503): a Vault item was sealed under a master key this server does not have (docs/vault.md). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorBody' Unauthenticated: description: >- A credential 401 has its own code: `missing_key`, `malformed_key`, `invalid_key`, `expired_key`, `revoked_key` or `session_expired`, with `hint` and `docs` (older servers sent `unauthenticated`, `api_key_expired` or `api_key_revoked`). Other 401s (refresh tokens, tickets) are `unauthenticated`. For a missing or bad API key or access token the message ends with how to get a key (session and refresh-token 401s say to sign in again instead), e.g. `create an API key at https://dashboard.instabox.sh/dashboard/api-keys and send it as "Authorization: Bearer " or "X-API-Key: "`. content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorBody' PermissionDenied: description: >- `permission_denied`: the user is not allowed (not on the allowlist, or not the owner), or an API key was used where only a sign-in session is; `missing_scope`: the API key lacks the route's scope (`requiredScopes` names it; older servers sent `insufficient_scope`). content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorBody' NotFound: description: '`not_found`: no such resource (also for deleted sandboxes).' content: application/json: schema: $ref: '#/components/schemas/ErrorBody' securitySchemes: bearerAuth: type: http scheme: bearer description: >- Opaque instabox access token (1 hour). Refresh with `/v1/auth/refresh` (refresh token valid 30 days, rotates on use). sessionCookie: type: apiKey in: cookie name: instabox_session description: > Dashboard browser session from `/auth/github/login` (7 days idle, 30 days at most). Used only when no Authorization header is sent. Requests other than GET and HEAD must send `X-Instabox-CSRF` (from `GET /v1/me`) and an `Origin` equal to the server's `publicUrl`; otherwise `403 permission_denied`. apiKey: type: apiKey in: header name: X-API-Key description: > API key (`ibk_...`) with scopes; also accepted as `Authorization: Bearer ibk_...`. Accepted on sandbox, snapshot, operation, template and usage routes per scope (see API keys), never on key management, sessions, logout or admin routes. ````