Machines

A machine is a SnapVM workspace. It combines a runtime, persistent storage, an agent, and gateway routing behind a single object in the web console.

Machine names

Machine names are designed to be URL-safe. Use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. Keep names under 30 characters when creating machines from the console.

Good names are stable and project-oriented:

frontend-lab
agent-host
api-review
workshop-01

Avoid names tied to a temporary task if the machine will be reused.

States

State	Meaning
`creating`	SnapVM is provisioning the runtime and preparing the agent
`started`	The machine is running and should accept terminal or HTTP traffic
`stopped`	The machine is hibernating or stopped while durable state remains
`destroying`	SnapVM is deleting runtime resources
`destroyed`	The machine has been permanently deleted

Deployments may expose additional provider-specific states such as starting, stopping, suspended, or failed. Treat transitional states as temporary and failed states as requiring operator or support review.

Runtime types

SnapVM can represent different machine launch types depending on the deployment:

Sprites for lightweight persistent cloud containers
Fly Machines for Fly.io-backed environments
External machines when an operator registers an existing host

The user-facing workflow stays similar: create or register the machine, wait until the agent is reachable, then open the terminal or application URL.

Gateway URLs

Each machine can be exposed through an HTTPS URL. A common deployment pattern is:

https://<machine-name>.snapvm.app

The gateway routes requests to the configured HTTP port inside the machine. Check your deployment settings if the domain, default port, or authentication behavior differs.

Deletion

Deleting a machine is permanent. Before deleting, confirm that any files, repositories, generated data, or local databases stored on the machine have been moved elsewhere.

Stopping or hibernating is the right action when you want to keep state but avoid active compute.