Auto-stop - boat

Every sandbox has an auto-stop timer.

The default is 1 hour.
The timer counts from creation, not from your last activity.
A sandbox with a 1 hour TTL stops one hour after it starts, even in the middle of work.
A resume of a stopped sandbox starts the timer again.

Everything on this page needs a payment method on the account. On the free trial, you cannot turn off auto-stop. The TTL also cannot be more than 2 hours. Boat refuses the call with trial_auto_stop_required. See Pricing.

Turn off auto-stop

Use this when the sandbox must run until you stop it yourself. Examples are demos, browser sessions, long setup jobs and unattended workflows. A stop interrupts this work, and you must then start the processes again. Turn off auto-stop when you create the sandbox. For a sandbox that exists, set its TTL to null.

boat new --no-auto-stop
boat extend bx_f7k2q9hd --no-auto-stop

curl -sS -X POST "$BOAT_API_BASE/sandboxes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BOAT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"ttlSeconds":null}'

curl -sS -X PATCH "$BOAT_API_BASE/sandboxes/bx_f7k2q9hd" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BOAT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"ttlSeconds":null}'

const created = await sandbox.create({ ttlSeconds: null });

await sandbox.update({
  sandboxId: "bx_f7k2q9hd",
  ttlSeconds: null,
});

created = sandbox.create(CreateSandboxRequest(ttl_seconds=None))

sandbox.update("bx_f7k2q9hd", UpdateSandboxRequest(ttl_seconds=None))

You can also select No auto-stop in the dashboard.

TTL on resume and fork

resume and fork also accept ttlSeconds. Thus a sandbox that comes back does not need a second call to set its lifetime.

Call	When you do not give `ttlSeconds`
Resume	The sandbox keeps its current setting.
Fork	The new sandbox gets 1 hour. It does not copy the setting of the source sandbox.

Thus a fork of a sandbox with auto-stop off does not silently make a second sandbox that never stops. See Snapshots.

Read the auto-stop deadline

Each resume sets the deadline again. The new deadline is the resume time plus the TTL of the sandbox. If you schedule long jobs, do these steps:

Read the deadline after each resume.
Before a job that runs past the deadline, extend the sandbox.

archiveAfter is the deadline. It is null when auto-stop is off.

boat info bx_f7k2q9hd          # shows the deadline and the time left

curl -sS "$BOAT_API_BASE/sandboxes/bx_f7k2q9hd" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BOAT_API_KEY" | jq -r .sandbox.archiveAfter

const info = await sandbox.get({ sandboxId: "bx_f7k2q9hd" });
console.log(info.sandbox.archiveAfter);

info = sandbox.get("bx_f7k2q9hd")
print(info.sandbox.archive_after)

At the deadline, the sandbox stops the same as with boat stop. Boat cuts off the jobs that run. See what a stop does to running work. There is one exception. While a prompt to the agent of the sandbox runs, Boat moves the deadline forward by one TTL. Your own jobs do not move the deadline. Examples are boat exec commands and services. Read archiveAfter again each time. Do not keep the first value.

Extend with a deadline

To keep an auto-stop deadline, extend the sandbox:

boat extend bx_f7k2q9hd --hours 12
boat extend bx_f7k2q9hd --ttl 2592000

curl -sS -X PATCH "$BOAT_API_BASE/sandboxes/bx_f7k2q9hd" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BOAT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"ttlSeconds":43200}'

await sandbox.update({
  sandboxId: "bx_f7k2q9hd",
  ttlSeconds: 12 * 60 * 60,
});

sandbox.update("bx_f7k2q9hd", UpdateSandboxRequest(ttl_seconds=12 * 60 * 60))

2592000 seconds is 30 days.
30 days is the maximum numeric TTL that the Boat API accepts.
Boat caps larger values to 30 days.

​Turn off auto-stop

​TTL on resume and fork

​Read the auto-stop deadline

​Extend with a deadline

Turn off auto-stop

TTL on resume and fork

Read the auto-stop deadline

Extend with a deadline