> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.lazycloud.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Dev machines

> A pod you log into over SSH, with a disk that keeps its files, for coding agents and remote editors.

A dev machine is a [pod](/concepts/pods) with `ssh=True` and a
[disk](/concepts/disks) 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`:

```python theme={null}
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,
)
```

```bash theme={null}
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

```bash theme={null}
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

```bash theme={null}
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.