boat

What is boat?

boat is a cloud service from ASCII that gives AI agents their own persistent Linux machines. Each sandbox is a full Ubuntu VM with SSH, Docker, a browser, and a 60fps desktop. You can run Claude Code or Codex inside, fork machines from snapshots, and pay by the second only while they run.

Top Features:

• Persistent VMs: files, packages, and services survive every stop and resume cycle.
• Fast forks: clone a configured sandbox from a snapshot for parallel agent runs.
• Live desktop: drive a browser and GUI apps through a 60fps stream.

Use Cases:

• Coding agents: give Claude Code or Codex an isolated machine, not your laptop.
• Agent platforms: provision sandboxes for your own users through the API and SDKs.
• App previews: expose a running app on a public HTTPS URL for reviews.

Who Can Use boat?

• AI engineers: run long agent sessions in the cloud without managing servers.
• Platform teams: run up to 2,000 user workspaces and agent sessions at once.
• Developers: get an Ubuntu dev machine with Docker, Node.js, and Rust ready.

Pricing

• Trial (free): 25 compute hours over seven days with two sandboxes at once.
• $20 plan ($20 per month): about 555 hours of default machine time and 100 concurrent sandboxes.
• Larger plans ($100 to $2,000 per month): more included machine time and up to 2,000 concurrent sandboxes.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Low cost: published hourly rates sit well below E2B, Daytona, and Modal.
• Idle is free: stopped sandboxes and their automatic snapshots cost nothing at all.
• Full machines: real VMs run Docker, systemd, databases, and cron like servers.

Cons:

• EU only: sandboxes currently run only in German, Finnish, and French data centers.
• No free plan: after the trial you pay at least $20 every month.
• Technical: it is a CLI and API product aimed at technical users.

FAQs:

1) Am I billed when stopped?

No, stopping takes a snapshot and pauses billing until you resume.

2) Which agents run inside?

Claude Code, Codex, OpenCode, or any other agent harness you install.

3) Is $20 charged per sandbox?

No, it is an account total spread across any number of sandboxes.

4) Where is data stored?

In EU data centers located in Germany, Finland, and France.

5) Can I control it from code?

Yes, through an HTTP API plus Python and TypeScript SDKs.