Boat

Status	Tested with a fake server (2026-10-28): implemented from Boat’s published API, not run against Boat
Adapter	boat (internal/adapters/boat)
Trust	external (provider-managed; forced)
Isolation	Virtual machine with its own kernel on dedicated hosts (hypervisor not documented)
API checked	docs.boat.dev/api/v1.md and the OpenAPI file docs.boat.dev/openapi/boat-v1.yaml, read 2026-10-28

Capabilities

Feature	Supported	Notes
exec	yes	One shell string per command; per-exec env is exported in the command; at most 600 s (Boat’s limit); separate stdout and stderr
exec.stream	yes	stream: true on the command call; NDJSON frames relayed as they arrive
files	yes	Only under /home/user and /tmp (Boat refuses other paths with invalid_request); up to 5 MiB per file; parent folders are created
stdin	no	Boat’s command API has no stdin; requests with stdin answer unsupported_operation
lifecycle.stop-start	yes	Stop saves the disk and releases the machine; start resumes on a new machine (new IP) with the same disk
lifecycle.pause-resume	no	Boat has no pause or hibernate
snapshots.disk	yes	Saved snapshots (POST /saved-snapshots), taken fresh from a running sandbox; restore by starting from the name
snapshots.memory	no	Boat cannot capture memory
fork	yes	Through a disk snapshot and a new sandbox from it
ports.expose	yes	https://<subdomain>-<port>.on.boat.dev; carries an access token unless portAccess: public
network.egress-control	no	Boat’s API has no egress controls
max size	16 vCPU, 32 GB, 251 GB	Fixed sizes: small 2/4/51, default 4/8/51, large 8/16/111, xlarge 16/32/251 (vCPU / GB RAM / GB disk)
provider TTL backstop	yes, as a stop	ttlSeconds auto-stops (keeps the disk); moved with the sandbox’s TTL

Configure

pools:
  - name: boat
    adapter: boat
    trust: external          # forced; the adapter is always external
    region: eu               # Boat runs in the EU and cannot be pinned further
    maxConcurrency: 20
    config:
      apiURL: https://boat.dev/api/v1   # default
      type: small            # optional: the smallest size to use (small|default|large|xlarge)
      snapshot: ""           # optional: a saved snapshot every sandbox starts from
      environment: ""        # optional: a Boat environment (default: Boat's "base")
      org: ""                # optional: the Boat organization billed (team id or name)
      autoStopSeconds: ""    # optional: auto-stop for sandboxes without a TTL (default: off)
      portAccess: token      # token (default) or public
    credentials: {secret: boat-key}

Store the key first:

differently admin secret put boat-key --from-file ./boat-api-key.txt
differently admin pool add boat --adapter boat --trust external --region eu \
  --max-concurrency 20 --secret boat-key

The Helm chart’s pool schema takes credentials: {env: BOAT_API_KEY} with the key in server.extraEnv, or register the pool at runtime as above. Boat is not placed until policy approves external pools (keys-and-providers.md).

Limits and differences

• Sizes, not resources. Boat has four fixed sizes. The adapter picks the smallest that fits the requested CPU, memory and disk (from config.type upward); a request above xlarge is refused before placement. xlarge needs Boat’s $100 plan.
• No images. Every sandbox runs Boat’s Ubuntu 24.04 image. A template or snapshot is a saved snapshot name; an unknown one fails the sandbox with invalid_request.
• TTL stops, it does not delete. Boat’s ttlSeconds is an auto-stop. With no TTL the adapter turns it off (null), which free-trial accounts refuse; set autoStopSeconds (at most 7200 on the trial) there. A stopped sandbox’s disk is erased after 14 days, after which it cannot resume.
• Exec. No argv, env or stdin fields: argv is shell-quoted, env is exported at the start of the command, stdin is unsupported. Commands run at most 600 s; a timeout reports exit code 124. Output streams arrive as UTF-8 text.
• Files are limited to /home/user and /tmp, 5 MiB each. Boat’s signed upload and download URLs for larger files are not used.
• Snapshots are disk-only and named; each beyond the plan’s included count costs $0.056 a day, and the free trial has none.
• Deletes are permanent and run in the background (X-Ascii-Confirm-Delete is sent automatically).
• Errors. 429 (rate_limited, limit_reached) and 503 (no_ready_machine, out_of_capacity) requeue as insufficient_capacity; a sandbox that reaches error is sandbox_failed and is replaced on the retry; cancelled (no machine) is insufficient_capacity; a size the plan does not allow is invalid_request; 401, 402 and 5xx are provider_unavailable.
• Quotas. Concurrent sandboxes and starts per minute, hour and day depend on the plan (trial: 2 concurrent, 5 starts a minute). Create, fork and resume each count as a start.
• Pricing: per second while running ($0.018 to $0.20 an hour by size); monthly plans return as included time; a stopped sandbox costs nothing.

How it was tested

go test ./internal/adapters/boat/ against a fake server built from the OpenAPI file (2026-10-28): create with size selection, label filtering, env and TTL; idempotent create; replacing a failed sandbox; exec and streamed exec (env export, cwd, timeout, retryable stream errors, stdin refused); files (write with parent folder, read, list, path and size limits); stop and start; SetExpiry; saved snapshot, restore and delete; port exposure; paged List that keeps stopped sandboxes; idempotent delete; error classification for 400, 401, 402, 403, 429, 500, 502, 503 and an unreachable API. Nothing ran against Boat itself: no account or key was available.

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Source: docs/providers/boat.md