boat
Persistent cloud sandbox for AI agentsSpin up agent sandboxes, billed per second
Highlights
What you can do with it
- Run coding agents that need a real development machine
- Fork several identical environments for parallel experiments
- Host long-running agent sessions that persist over time
How to use it
- 1 Install the command line tool for your operating system
- 2 Run the create command to launch a new sandbox
- 3 Connect with SSH or open the virtual desktop
- 4 Manage sandboxes with commands, the API, or an SDK
- 5 Stop the sandbox to pause billing and keep a snapshot
Who it is for
Pros
- Real virtual machine, not just a shared container
- Snapshot forking makes parallel work fast
- Per-second billing keeps costs tied to use
Limitations
- Paid after the trial, with a monthly minimum
- Regions are limited to parts of the EU
- Large scale needs careful plan and budget management
- A young product, so stability can vary
What boat is
boat is a cloud sandbox product built for AI agent work. Each sandbox is a persistent Ubuntu virtual machine, which means it behaves like a real computer rather than a limited shared container. It supports secure remote login and file copying, runs containers and system services, and offers a dedicated network address plus a 60 FPS virtual desktop you can open in a browser. Every sandbox arrives with container tools, code editors, browsers, terminals, version control command line tools, and multiple language runtimes already installed, so you can start work without a long setup phase.
What you can do with it
- Launch a sandbox with a single command and connect securely
- Run containers, databases, and scheduled tasks inside the machine
- Fork new sandboxes from named snapshots for parallel experiments
- Control everything through a command line tool, API, or SDK
- Stop a sandbox to pause billing and resume or recover it later
Who it is for
AI agent developers and agent factories that need many parallel, persistent machines, independent developers and small teams that want a low-cost cloud environment, and platform or infrastructure teams that need isolated, recoverable runtimes all fit boat. Research and testing teams that must fork several identical environments from one snapshot also benefit. Teams with long-running agent sessions that span hours or months find the persistence useful.
What to watch out for
After the 7-day trial and 25 compute hours, boat moves to paid use with a monthly minimum, so it is not free long term. Regions are currently limited to Germany, Finland, and France, which may not suit every location or latency need. Running a large number of sandboxes requires careful plan and budget management because costs scale with compute time. As a young product, features and stability can change, so test before you rely on it for critical pipelines.
FAQ
What is boat?
It is a persistent cloud sandbox designed for AI agent development and platform integration.
Is there a free trial?
Yes, a 7-day trial with 25 compute hours, after which a monthly minimum applies.
How does billing work?
Billing is per second with no charge while a sandbox is stopped.
Which regions are available?
Currently Germany, Finland, and France, with data kept in Europe.
Why it is free
What the official page says： free trial
Free limits, trial length and features are decided by the official site and can change at any time.
Product preview
Screenshot archived from the listing page, for preview only.
