Limits and errors

The start rate is the limit that most accounts hit first. Create, fork and resume each count as one start.

Limits per plan

Plan	Sandboxes at once	Starts per minute / hour / day	Included time per month
Free trial	2	5 / 25 / 75	25 h in total, for the whole trial
$20	100	12 / 60 / 200	$20 (555 h of `default`)
$100	300	30 / 210 / 840	$100 (2,777 h of `default`)
$500	1,000	65 / 420 / 1,680	$500 (13,888 h of `default`)
$2000	2,000	90 / 600 / 2,400	$2000 (55,555 h of `default`)

The start windows roll. Boat counts the starts of the last 60 seconds, the last hour and the last 24 hours.
Nothing resets at midnight. A start stops counting 24 hours after it happened. Boat does not show when the next start becomes free.
An organization multiplies every number in this table by its seats. Read Seats, limits and caps.
A stopped sandbox does not count against “at once”.
Check what you have left with boat limits, or GET /limits.

Other limits

Limit	Value
Auto-stop	Default 1 hour. Maximum 30 days, or off. Trial: 2 hours maximum.
Sizes	`xlarge` needs the $100 plan or higher. The trial has no `large` or `xlarge`.
Disk of a stopped sandbox	Kept 14 days after the stop, then deleted. Email on day 11.
Named snapshots	10 free per account or organization. Each one more costs $1.70 a month. No maximum. They never expire.
Command that waits for its result	Default timeout 30 s, maximum 600 s. For longer work, run it detached.
Output of a waiting command	8 MiB per stream
Command output kept per account	10 MiB compressed per hour (about 50 MiB of text)
Output of other processes	64 KiB/s per process, plus 10 MiB compressed per hour per account
Prompt attachments	12 files, 25 MB per file, 64 MB in total
Webhooks	10 per account
API keys	Lifetime 90 days by default, 365 days maximum
API requests	1,000 per minute from one IP address

For the command limits, read Background commands and Command history and logs.

Errors and what to do

Status	Code	Cause	What to do
`429`	`rate_limited`	Too many starts in one window. The body names the `window` (`minute`, `hour` or `day`) and the `limit`.	Wait until that window rolls. Then retry.
`429`	`limit_reached`	The plan’s “at once” limit is full.	Stop a sandbox, or raise the plan.
`429`	`member_limit_reached`	The organization owner capped how many sandboxes you run at once.	Stop one, or ask the owner to raise your cap.
`429`	`trial_compute_limit_reached`	The trial used its 25 hours.	End the trial.
`429`	`IP_RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED` (in `code`)	More than 1,000 requests per minute from one IP address.	Wait the `retryAfter` seconds in the body.
`402`	`billing_required`	The balance is empty, or the account or organization has no plan.	Open the `billingUrl` in the body. Buy time, or start a plan.
`402`	`team_member_cap_reached`	You used your per-member usage cap in the organization.	Ask the owner to raise it. It resets with the billing month.
`403`	`trial_machine_class_not_allowed`	`large` during the trial.	Use `default`, or end the trial.
`400`	`trial_auto_stop_required`	No auto-stop, or more than 2 hours, during the trial.	Set an auto-stop of 2 hours or less.
`409`	`snapshot_data_expired`	The sandbox stayed stopped for 14 days. Boat deleted its data.	You cannot resume it. Next time, save a named snapshot before day 14.
`503`	`no_ready_machine`	You asked to fail fast and no machine is ready. Nothing started or counted.	Retry after `retryAfterSeconds` (5).
`503`	`out_of_capacity`	Boat is out of machines for a short time. Running sandboxes are not affected.	Retry after `retryAfterSeconds` (120).

Retry rules

The API sends no Retry-After header. Read the wait from the body: retryAfterSeconds on a 503, retryAfter on an IP limit, and window on rate_limited.
For rate_limited with window: "minute", wait 60 seconds. For hour and day, pace your starts. A retry loop does not help.
A start refused with rate_limited does not count as a start.
Send an Idempotency-Key header on create and fork. A retry with the same key then never makes a second sandbox, and it does not spend a start.
The CLI does not retry for you. It prints the limit message and exits with an error.

Raise a limit

You need	Do this
More starts or more sandboxes at once	Move to a bigger plan: `boat billing plan 100`, or Dashboard > Billing. The change applies at once.
More of everything, for a team	Buy seats on an organization. Each seat adds the plan’s limits and included time.
More time, same limits	Buy a credit pack (`boat billing credits`) or turn on auto-refill. Read Plans, credits and running out.
More than the $2000 plan gives	Contact support. Boat raises limits for committed accounts.
Trial limits gone	Pay the first plan. Read Free trial.

Billing and limits

Account and API keys

Events and monitoring

Limits and errors

Limits per plan

Other limits

Errors and what to do

Retry rules

Raise a limit

​Limits per plan

​Other limits

​Errors and what to do

​Retry rules

​Raise a limit

Limits per plan

Other limits

Errors and what to do

Retry rules

Raise a limit