🦀 📦 Crabbox

Warm a box, sync the diff, run the suite.

Crabbox is an open-source remote testbox runner for maintainers and AI agents. Lease fast managed cloud capacity, or point at an existing SSH host, sync your dirty checkout, run a command remotely, stream output, and release. Local edit-save-run loop, cloud-grade compute.

crabbox run -- pnpm test

Behind that single command: a Go CLI on your laptop, a Cloudflare Worker broker that owns provider credentials and lease state, and a managed runner on Hetzner Cloud, AWS EC2, or Azure. Azure supports managed Linux and native Windows VMs. Crabbox can also wrap Blacksmith Testboxes when you choose provider: blacksmith-testbox, use Daytona, Islo, or E2B sandboxes for direct-provider workflows, use provider: semaphore for Semaphore CI environments, or use provider: ssh for existing macOS and Windows targets.

Install

brew install openclaw/tap/crabbox
crabbox --version

No Homebrew? Grab a GoReleaser archive for macOS, Linux, or Windows.

Prerequisites on the laptop: git, ssh, ssh-keygen, rsync, curl.

Quick start

# log in once per machine (stores a broker token in user config)
crabbox login

# verify local prerequisites and broker reachability
crabbox doctor

# one-shot: lease, sync, run, release
crabbox run -- pnpm test

# or warm a box once, then reuse it
crabbox warmup                                       # prints cbx_... + a slug
crabbox run --id blue-lobster -- pnpm test:changed
crabbox ssh --id blue-lobster
crabbox stop blue-lobster

Every lease has a stable cbx_... ID and a friendly crustacean slug (blue-lobster, swift-hermit, …). Either works wherever an --id is accepted.

How it works

your laptop                Cloudflare Worker            cloud provider
-------------              ------------------           --------------
crabbox CLI    -- HTTPS --> Fleet Durable Object  -->   Hetzner / AWS EC2 / Azure
   |                         lease + cost state              |
   |                                                         |
   +------------ SSH + rsync to leased runner <--------------+

CLI — Go binary. Loads config, mints a per-lease SSH key, asks the broker for a lease, waits for SSH, seeds remote Git, rsyncs the dirty checkout (with fingerprint skip when nothing changed), runs the command, streams output, releases.
Broker — Cloudflare Worker at crabbox.openclaw.ai plus a single Durable Object. Owns provider credentials, serializes lease state, enforces active-lease and monthly spend caps, and expires stale leases by alarm. Auth is GitHub login or a shared bearer token.
Runner — a throwaway SSH machine prepared with SSH on the primary port, default 2222, plus configured fallback ports and Crabbox's sync/run prerequisites. Linux uses Ubuntu with cloud-init and /work/crabbox; native Windows uses OpenSSH, Git for Windows, and C:\crabbox. No broker credentials live on the box. Project runtimes (Go, Node, Docker, services, secrets) come from your repo's GitHub Actions hydration, devcontainer, Nix, mise/asdf, or setup scripts — not from Crabbox.

A direct-provider mode (--provider hetzner|aws|azure with local credentials) exists for debugging the broker itself; the brokered path is the default.

For the full mental model, see How Crabbox Works. For the doc-to-code map, see Source Map.

Highlights

One-shot or warm. crabbox run for fire-and-forget; crabbox warmup + --id for repeated runs against the same box.
Run observability. Every coordinator-backed run gets an early run_... handle. Use crabbox attach <run-id> while it is active, crabbox events <run-id> --after <seq> --limit <n> for durable lifecycle/output events, and crabbox logs <run-id> for retained output after completion.
Stable timing records. --timing-json on run, warmup, and actions hydrate gives scripts one machine-readable sync/command/total timing schema across AWS, Hetzner, and Blacksmith Testboxes.
Local-first sync. No clean-checkout requirement. Tracked + nonignored files only, fingerprint skip on no-op runs, sanity checks against suspicious mass deletions, optional shallow base-ref hydration for changed-test workflows.
Brokered cloud. Maintainers and agents share infra without sharing provider tokens. Hetzner, AWS EC2, and Azure are managed providers; AWS also owns Windows WSL2 and EC2 Mac targets. Linux defaults to Spot unless capacity config says otherwise. Providers fall back across compatible instance families when capacity or quota rejects a request.
Azure Linux and native Windows. provider: azure provisions Linux and native Windows VMs in a configurable Azure subscription using DefaultAzureCredential in direct mode or service-principal secrets in the broker. Crabbox creates a shared resource group, vnet, subnet, and NSG on first use, then per-lease public IPs, NICs, and VMs. Linux uses cloud-init; Windows uses VM Agent Custom Script Extension to install OpenSSH/Git and configure the Crabbox user.
macOS and Windows static hosts. provider: ssh reuses existing machines; it does not create macOS or Windows Crabbox boxes. macOS and Windows WSL2 use the POSIX rsync path; native Windows uses PowerShell plus tar archive sync.
Blacksmith Testbox wrapper. Set provider: blacksmith-testbox to delegate warmup/run/list/status/stop to the Blacksmith CLI while Crabbox keeps local slugs, repo claims, timing summaries, config conventions, and portal visibility for active external runners.
Semaphore CI testbox. Set provider: semaphore to lease a Semaphore CI job as a testbox. Same environment as your real pipelines.
Daytona, Islo, and E2B sandboxes. Set provider: daytona for Daytona SDK/toolbox execution from a snapshot with explicit SSH access when needed, provider: islo for delegated Islo sandbox execution through the Islo Go SDK, or provider: e2b for delegated E2B sandbox execution through E2B sandbox APIs.
Trusted AWS images. Operators can create AMIs from active brokered AWS leases and promote a known-good image as the coordinator default.
Cost guardrails. Per-lease and monthly spend caps. Live pricing from EC2 Spot history or Hetzner server-type prices, with static fallbacks. crabbox usage summarizes spend by user, org, provider, and type.
GitHub Actions hydration. crabbox actions hydrate registers a leased box as an ephemeral Actions runner, so the repo's own workflow installs runtimes, services, and secrets. Crabbox does not parse Actions YAML.
Interactive desktop and browser leases. --browser provisions Chrome or Chromium for headless automation, --desktop provisions visible UI with tunnel-only VNC takeover on managed Linux, AWS native Windows, and AWS EC2 Mac targets. crabbox desktop doctor checks session, VNC, input tooling, browser, ffmpeg, screen size, screenshot capture, and WebVNC portal state; desktop click/paste/type/key provide first-class input helpers so agents do not hand-roll brittle xdotool snippets. QA systems such as Mantis own scenario logic, screenshots, and PR evidence. Azure native Windows is SSH/sync/run only; use AWS for managed Windows desktop/WSL2 or provider: ssh for an existing Windows host.
Authenticated web portal. Browser login opens owner-scoped and explicitly shared lease/run views with searchable, paginated tables, muted external-runner rows, compact provider/OS/access icons, relative sortable times, recent run logs/events, WebVNC, code-server, and Linux lease/run telemetry charts. crabbox share can grant a lease to one user or the owning org, and the lease page exposes the same sharing controls for owners/managers. WebVNC is preferred for human demos because it preloads the VNC password; webvnc status reports local daemon, tunnel, target reachability, bridge/viewer state, recent events, URL/password, and native VNC fallback, while webvnc reset restarts only the selected lease's WebVNC/input stack. Admin sessions can also see non-owned runner leases behind mine/system filters.
Hardened coordinator auth. GitHub browser login, owner-scoped leases, admin-only routes, optional GitHub team allowlists, Cloudflare Access JWT verification, and service-token support keep normal use and operator automation separate.
OpenClaw plugin. The repo root is a native OpenClaw plugin for box lifecycle operations: crabbox_run, crabbox_warmup, crabbox_status, crabbox_list, and crabbox_stop. Run inspection stays in the CLI and Crabbox skill.
Operator surface. doctor, init, status, inspect, list, usage, history, logs, results, cache, admin, cleanup, plus --json output where it matters.

Machine classes

beast is the default. Both providers fall back across an ordered list of instance types.

Hetzner    standard  ccx33, cpx62, cx53
           fast      ccx43, cpx62, cx53
           large     ccx53, ccx43, cpx62, cx53
           beast     ccx63, ccx53, ccx43, cpx62, cx53

AWS Linux  standard  c7a/c7i/m7a/m7i.8xlarge family
           fast      …16xlarge family
           large     …24xlarge family
           beast     …48xlarge family, falling back to 32x/24x/16x

AWS Win    standard  m7i.large, m7a.large, t3.large
           fast      m7i.xlarge, m7a.xlarge, t3.xlarge
           large     m7i.2xlarge, m7a.2xlarge, t3.2xlarge
           beast     m7i.4xlarge, m7a.4xlarge, m7i.2xlarge

AWS WSL2   standard  m8i.large, m8i-flex.large, c8i.large, r8i.large
           fast      m8i.xlarge, m8i-flex.xlarge, c8i.xlarge, r8i.xlarge
           large     m8i.2xlarge, m8i-flex.2xlarge, c8i.2xlarge, r8i.2xlarge
           beast     m8i.4xlarge, m8i-flex.4xlarge, c8i.4xlarge, r8i.4xlarge, m8i.2xlarge

AWS macOS  all       mac2.metal unless --type is set

Azure      standard  Standard_D32ads_v6, Standard_D32ds_v6, Standard_F32s_v2, then 16-vCPU fallbacks
           fast      Standard_D64ads_v6, Standard_D64ds_v6, Standard_F64s_v2, then 48/32-vCPU fallbacks
           large     Standard_D96ads_v6, Standard_D96ds_v6, then 64/48-vCPU fallbacks
           beast     Standard_D192ds_v6, Standard_D128ds_v6, then 96/64-vCPU fallbacks

Azure Win  standard  Standard_D2ads_v6, Standard_D2ds_v6, Standard_D2ads_v5, Standard_D2ds_v5, Standard_D2as_v6
           fast      Standard_D4ads_v6, Standard_D4ds_v6, Standard_D4ads_v5, Standard_D4ds_v5, Standard_D4as_v6
           large     Standard_D8ads_v6, Standard_D8ds_v6, Standard_D8ads_v5, Standard_D8ds_v5, Standard_D8as_v6
           beast     Standard_D16ads_v6, Standard_D16ds_v6, Standard_D16ads_v5, Standard_D16ds_v5, Standard_D8ads_v6

Override with --type or CRABBOX_SERVER_TYPE for a specific instance.

Configuration

Config resolves in order: flags → env → repo .crabbox.yaml → user ~/.config/crabbox/config.yaml → defaults.

broker:
  url: https://crabbox.openclaw.ai
  provider: aws
  token: ...
class: beast
capacity:
  market: spot
  strategy: most-available
  fallback: on-demand-after-120s
  hints: true
aws:
  region: eu-west-1
  rootGB: 400
lease:
  idleTimeout: 30m
  ttl: 90m
ssh:
  key: ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  user: crabbox
  port: "2222"
  # Ordered fallback ports tried after ssh.port; use [] to disable fallback.
  fallbackPorts:
    - "22"

Optional Blacksmith Testbox wrapper:

provider: blacksmith-testbox
blacksmith:
  org: openclaw
  workflow: .github/workflows/ci-check-testbox.yml
  job: test
  ref: main
  idleTimeout: 90m

crabbox list --provider blacksmith-testbox also refreshes muted external runner rows in the portal lease table from the current all-status Testbox list when coordinator auth is configured. When GitHub is reachable, Crabbox also links those rows back to the inferred Actions run and workflow, surfaces the Actions status/conclusion, flags long-queued or long-running rows as stuck, and exposes a copyable local crabbox stop --provider blacksmith-testbox ... command. Clicking an external row opens a visibility-only runner detail page with owner, workflow, timestamps, boundary notes, and the same stop command. Those rows are visibility-only records for Blacksmith-owned Testboxes, not Crabbox leases.

Optional Daytona sandbox:

provider: daytona
daytona:
  snapshot: crabbox-ready
  workRoot: /home/daytona/crabbox

Optional Islo sandbox:

provider: islo
islo:
  image: docker.io/library/ubuntu:24.04
  workdir: crabbox

Optional E2B sandbox:

provider: e2b
e2b:
  template: base
  workdir: crabbox

Optional Semaphore CI testbox:

provider: semaphore
semaphore:
  host: myorg.semaphoreci.com
  project: my-app
  machine: f1-standard-2
  osImage: ubuntu2204
  idleTimeout: 30m

Keep the token in CRABBOX_SEMAPHORE_TOKEN or SEMAPHORE_API_TOKEN, not in repo config.

Optional static macOS or Windows target:

provider: ssh
target: windows
windows:
  mode: normal # or wsl2
static:
  host: win-dev.local
  user: Peter
  port: "22"
  workRoot: C:\crabbox

Optional Tailscale reachability for managed Linux leases:

tailscale:
  enabled: true
  network: auto
  tags:
    - tag:crabbox
  hostnameTemplate: crabbox-{slug}
  authKeyEnv: CRABBOX_TAILSCALE_AUTH_KEY
  exitNode: mac-studio.example.ts.net
  exitNodeAllowLanAccess: true

Tailscale is a network plane, not a provider. --tailscale joins new managed Linux leases to the tailnet; --network auto|tailscale|public chooses how SSH and VNC tunnel commands resolve the host. Brokered mode uses Worker OAuth secrets to mint one-off keys; direct-provider mode reads the auth key from the configured env var. exitNode is opt-in per lease for routing outbound internet through an approved tailnet exit node. See Tailscale.

Forwarded environment is intentionally narrow: NODE_OPTIONS and CI. Do not pass secrets as command-line arguments. Full env-var reference and per-command flags are in docs/cli.md and docs/commands/.

OpenClaw plugin

The repo root is a native OpenClaw plugin package. Once installed, it exposes Crabbox as agent tools:

crabbox_run, crabbox_warmup, crabbox_status, crabbox_list, crabbox_stop

The plugin shells out to the configured crabbox binary, so local config, broker login, repo claims, and sync behavior stay owned by the CLI. Set plugins.entries.crabbox.config.binary if crabbox is not on PATH.

Durable run inspection is intentionally CLI/skill-led instead of additional plugin tools: use crabbox history, crabbox events --after --limit, crabbox attach, crabbox logs, crabbox results, and crabbox usage from a shell-capable agent.

Development

# Go CLI
go build -o bin/crabbox ./cmd/crabbox
go test -race ./...
scripts/check-go-coverage.sh 85.0

# Cloudflare Worker
# Use Node 22+ for local Worker checks; CI currently runs Node 24.
npm ci --prefix worker
npm test --prefix worker
npm run build --prefix worker

# Docs
npm run docs:check

# Optional live smoke, when broker/provider credentials are available
CRABBOX_LIVE=1 CRABBOX_LIVE_REPO=/path/to/openclaw scripts/live-smoke.sh
# Add Blacksmith only for repos with a Testbox workflow.
CRABBOX_LIVE=1 CRABBOX_LIVE_PROVIDERS=blacksmith-testbox scripts/live-smoke.sh

CI runs the full gate (gofmt, vet, race tests, coverage threshold, docs link/build check, GoReleaser snapshot, Worker lint/typecheck/tests/build) on every push and PR. Tagged pushes matching v* publish Go archives via GoReleaser and bump the Homebrew formula at openclaw/homebrew-tap.

Worker deployment, required secrets, and DNS routing live in docs/infrastructure.md.

Docs

Get the model: How Crabbox Works, Architecture, Orchestrator
Use the CLI: CLI, Commands, Features
Interactive QA: Interactive Desktop and VNC
Operate it: Operations, Observability, Troubleshooting
Set it up or audit it: Infrastructure, Security, Source Map, MVP Plan
Changes: CHANGELOG.md

The GitHub Pages site at https://openclaw.github.io/crabbox/ is generated from the docs/ Markdown:

npm run docs:check
open dist/docs-site/index.html

License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 366 Commits
.agents/skills/crabbox		.agents/skills/crabbox
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
cmd/crabbox		cmd/crabbox
docs		docs
internal		internal
scripts		scripts
worker		worker
.gitignore		.gitignore
.goreleaser.yaml		.goreleaser.yaml
.node-version		.node-version
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
go.mod		go.mod
go.sum		go.sum
index.js		index.js
index.test.js		index.test.js
openclaw.plugin.json		openclaw.plugin.json
package.json		package.json

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🦀 📦 Crabbox

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🦀 📦 Crabbox

Install

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Configuration

OpenClaw plugin

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Docs

License

About

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