Dev machines

A dev machine is a pod with ssh=True and a disk at /. It runs while something is connected and stops after keep_warm seconds with nothing connected. Everything written to it, including installed packages, dotfiles, and working trees, is there on the next start.

Define one

Save this as dev.py:

from lazycloud import App, Disk, Image

app = App("dev")

image = Image(python_version="3.12").add_commands(
    [
        "apt-get update && apt-get install -y git curl nodejs npm",
        "npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code @openai/codex opencode-ai",
    ]
)

box = app.pod(
    name="box",
    image=image,
    command=["sleep", "infinity"],
    disks=[Disk("box-root", size="100Gi")],
    ssh=True,
    cpu=4,
    memory="16Gi",
    keep_warm=1800,
    preemptible=False,
)

uv run lazycloud deploy dev:box
uv run lazycloud ssh box

lazycloud ssh opens a shell as root on the running machine. The image supplies the tools; the command only has to keep the container alive, because LazyCloud serves SSH itself and the image needs no sshd.

Remote editors

uv run lazycloud ssh-config

This writes a host entry for each deployed pod that serves SSH, named lazycloud-<workspace>-<app>-<pod>, and adds one Include line to ~/.ssh/config. VS Code and Cursor Remote-SSH then list lazycloud-<workspace>-dev-box beside your other hosts, and plain ssh lazycloud-<workspace>-dev-box works too. Port forwarding and SFTP work as they do on any SSH server. Connections go through the LazyCloud API with your lazycloud login, never to a public port on the machine. The SSH login uses a short-lived certificate signed for your workspace. The generated config refreshes it before each connection, so there are no keys to copy anywhere.

When it runs

Connecting starts a stopped machine. The first connection waits while the container starts, which includes restoring the disk if it last ran on another host. An open SSH session keeps the machine up, whether or not anything is typed, and keep_warm counts from when the last session closes. keep_warm=-1 keeps it running with nobody connected, which suits an agent left to work unattended. preemptible=False keeps the machine off Spot capacity, where a reclaim could stop it mid-session. A pod with a disk runs one container, so lazycloud deployment scale refuses more than one.

Stop and clean up

uv run lazycloud deployment stop box
uv run lazycloud deployment delete box
uv run lazycloud disk delete box-root

Stopping or deleting the deployment keeps the disk. Deleting the disk removes everything written to it.

Getting started

Core concepts

CLI reference

Examples

Account

Define one

Remote editors

When it runs

Stop and clean up

​Define one

​Remote editors

​When it runs

​Stop and clean up

Define one

Remote editors

When it runs

Stop and clean up