Fail fast - boat

These four calls put the sandbox on a machine that is already running and waiting:

Create a sandbox.
Deploy from a named snapshot.
Fork.
Resume.

They usually get a machine in less than one second. A burst can use all the ready machines of one type. Then the next calls wait while Boat builds new machines.

Use fail fast

If you prefer to fall back to something else instead of waiting, pass failFast to any of these calls. The call then answers in about 1.5 seconds with one of two results:

Result	What it means
`202`	The usual answer. The sandbox is on a machine that was ready.
`503` `no_ready_machine`	Nothing started. See below.

When you get 503 no_ready_machine:

Boat does not create a sandbox or a fork. A resumed sandbox stays stopped.
You pay nothing.
The attempt does not count against your start limits.
Retry, or fall back, immediately.

boat new --fail-fast --type large
boat new --fail-fast --from ci-runner
boat fork --fail-fast bx_23456789
boat resume --fail-fast bx_23456789

curl -sS -X POST "https://boat.dev/api/v1/sandboxes" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BOAT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"failFast":true,"from":"ci-runner"}'
# same field on POST /sandboxes/{id}/fork and /sandboxes/{id}/resume

try {
  const created = await sandbox.create({ failFast: true, from: "ci-runner" });
  // also: sandbox.fork({ sandboxId, failFast: true }), sandbox.resume({ sandboxId, failFast: true })
} catch (error) {
  // 503 no_ready_machine: nothing was started; fall back or retry.
}

try:
    created = sandbox.create(CreateSandboxRequest(fail_fast=True, var_from="ci-runner"))
except ApiException as error:
    # 503 no_ready_machine: nothing was started; fall back or retry.
    pass

​Use fail fast

Use fail fast