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A macOS machine runs macOS 26 Tahoe with Xcode on a Mac that is leased to your workspace for at least 24 hours. You need the Pro plan or higher. When you create the machine, you accept the 24-hour minimum:
In the dashboard, open Create Machine, then:
  1. Under Snapshot, select macOS 26 Tahoe. Your macOS snapshots are listed under My Snapshots.
  2. Under Resources, select a Mac model. Each model shows the machine’s vCPU, memory and disk. A model with no Mac free right now is greyed out.
  3. Select the box that accepts the 24-hour minimum.
  4. Select Create.

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Price and the 24-hour minimum

Apple’s macOS license lets InstaBox lease a Mac to only one customer at a time, for at least 24 hours. So your workspace leases a whole Mac, and it pays for all of the Mac’s vCPUs:
  • macOS: per vCPU per hour of the Mac, on top of the usual prices (Pricing). How many vCPUs a Mac has depends on its model (see Mac models).
  • Minimum: 24 hours per Mac. You pay it even if you stop or delete the machine sooner.
  • After 24 hours, the lease is billed per second until the machine stops.
  • Your machine pays for its vCPUs and memory while it runs, and for its disk as storage, as every machine does.
instabox templates --json (GET /v1/templates) shows the current price. The macOS template’s minimumLease has hours, vcpuHourUSD (the macOS price), and hourUSD and minimumUSD: what a Mac costs per hour and for the minimum with its machines running, before disk. The minimum starts when the first machine runs on the Mac. Until it ends, the Mac belongs to your workspace, and no other workspace’s machine runs on it. Usage and Billing show a macOS line in vCPU-hours.

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Mac models

A macOS machine takes a whole Mac: one machine per Mac, at the Mac’s full size. Pick the model with --model (Python model=, the dashboard’s Resources). Without it, you get the template’s first model. instabox templates (GET /v1/templates, the template’s models) and the dashboard’s Resources show each model’s vCPUs and memory. Its macOS price per hour is its vCPUs times .
When no Mac of the model is free, the create is refused at once with 503 no_capacity, and no machine is made. The dashboard greys the model out. Try again in a few minutes.

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Environment variables

Set variables at create, as for any machine:
A login shell, exec and the desktop’s Terminal all see them. zsh reserves some names, for example PATH, HOME and status, and a create that sets one of them is refused. To set one of these, use exec’s env for that command.

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Stop or delete inside the minimum

You pay for the Mac’s 24-hour minimum either way. So while the Mac’s lease is inside its minimum, a stop or a delete of a running macOS machine is scheduled: the machine keeps running, and the stop or delete happens when the minimum ends. To stop or delete it at once, add --now. You still pay for the minimum:
To reset a broken machine, delete it with --now and create a new one. If your workspace still leases the Mac, the new machine uses the same lease. To cancel a scheduled stop or delete, run stop or rm with --cancel:
instabox get mac shows the lease and the scheduled time. In the dashboard, the machine’s Details tab shows Mac lease and Stops at or Deleted at, with Cancel. After the minimum, a stop or a delete happens at once.

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Plan requirement

Only the Pro plan and higher can create a macOS machine. On the free plan:
  • A create is refused with 403 template_not_allowed.
  • The dashboard lists macOS 26 Tahoe under Get Pro to Unlock, with Upgrade Plan.
See Pricing for the plans.
  • 400 minimum_lease_required: the create did not accept the minimum. The message gives the price. Send acceptMinimumLease: true (CLI --accept-24h-minimum, Python accept_minimum_lease=True). On a terminal, the CLI asks before it sends the create again. Without a terminal, for example in an agent or CI, it fails.
  • 400 bad_request: an environment variable name that zsh reserves.
  • 403 template_not_allowed: the workspace is on the free plan.
  • 402 spend_limit_reached: the workspace’s spend limit leaves less than the minimum this month.
  • 402 subscription_required: the workspace’s plan ends before the minimum would.
  • 503 no_capacity: no Mac is free. The create is refused at once and makes no machine. Try again in a few minutes.
A stopped macOS machine keeps its disk. If its lease ended, starting it starts a new lease and a new 24-hour minimum. The start needs the same consent: instabox start mac --accept-24h-minimum, or client.machines.start(m, accept_minimum_lease=True). Forks and creates from a macOS snapshot need it too.
A macOS machine cannot be paused, and it is never paused when idle. It runs until you stop it or its max run time ends (Auto-pause and max-run).

Pricing

Plans and the unit prices of usage.

Errors

What each error code means and what to do.