Machines

Use this page for the full machine lifecycle: creation, connection, image selection, storage mode, sharing, and routine operations.

Create machines

Use a managed worker when you want the platform terminal, desktop, and agent runtime out of the box. Use a custom machine when you want to boot a specific OCI image and control the app process yourself.

$ computer create my-machine

In the dashboard, the new machine flow shows the image source that will be used, whether your filesystem default is isolated or shared, and an optional workspace name for the canonical /workspace-<workspace> path used by managed workers.

Connect to machines

Every machine has a primary app URL. Managed workers also expose a platform terminal, a platform desktop, and SSH access when enabled.

$ computer open my-machine
$ computer open my-machine --terminal
$ computer open my-machine --vnc
$ computer ssh my-machine

Use computer open for browser access instead of constructing reserved terminal or desktop URLs by hand. Use computer ssh to ssh into your machines

Images and filesystem

Managed workers use either the platform default image or your saved default machine source. Sources currently point at an OCI image. Only sources in ready state can become the default for new machines.

$ computer image ls
$ computer image save --kind oci-image --requested-ref ghcr.io/acme/worker@sha256:...
$ computer image default <source-id>
$ computer image rebuild <source-id>

For storage, isolated mode gives each machine its own filesystem. Shared mode mounts a shared home at /home/node and starts agent sessions in /workspace-<workspace>, backed by /home/node/workspace-<workspace> when shared storage is enabled.

Share machines

From a machine detail page, you can create an expiring share link or grant browser access by email. Share links are best for quick hand-offs. Email shares are better when you want a named person to open the machine through the normal sign-in flow.

The current UI offers one-hour, twenty-four-hour, and seven-day link expiry windows. You can revoke both link shares and email shares from the same panel.

Monitor and update

Managed workers expose live CPU, memory, and disk metrics. They also show firmware versions and an update action when a newer managed image is available.

When a machine enters updating, Agent Computer rolls the runtime to the latest managed image and refreshes the machine when it is ready. Use the status badge and timestamps in the dashboard to confirm where the machine is in the lifecycle.