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Upstash Box Provider

Read this when you:

  • choose provider: upstash-box;
  • configure the Upstash Box runtime, size, base-URL endpoint, or working directory;
  • change internal/providers/upstashbox.

Upstash Box is a delegated-run provider. Crabbox calls the Upstash Box REST API to manage Box lifecycle (create, get, list, delete), upload files, and run commands over its exec / exec-stream endpoints. Upstash owns the sandbox state and process transport; Crabbox owns local config, repo claims, archive sync and guardrails, slugs, timing summaries, and the normalized list/status output. There is no SSH target.

When to use

Use Upstash Box when commands should run in Upstash-managed ephemeral Linux sandboxes and you do not need a Crabbox SSH box. Reach for a provisioned SSH provider (AWS, Hetzner, Azure, GCP, static SSH) or another SSH-capable delegated provider instead when you need crabbox ssh, VNC, code-server, or Actions hydration — none of those surfaces exist on Upstash Box.

Prerequisites

  • Create an Upstash Box API key.
  • Export it as UPSTASH_BOX_API_KEY or CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_API_KEY. Crabbox never accepts the key as a command-line flag.

Auth

Crabbox sends the API key as the X-Box-Api-Key request header. Provide it through the environment:

export UPSTASH_BOX_API_KEY=...
# or
export CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_API_KEY=...

Crabbox redacts the configured API key from Upstash Box HTTP error bodies and exec-stream error events before displaying diagnostics.

Rotate the key if it was ever pasted into a chat, shell history, issue, or log.

Commands

crabbox warmup --provider upstash-box --upstash-box-runtime node --upstash-box-size small
crabbox run --provider upstash-box -- pnpm test
crabbox run --provider upstash-box --id swift-crab --shell 'pnpm install && pnpm test'
crabbox status --provider upstash-box --id swift-crab
crabbox stop --provider upstash-box swift-crab

Config

provider: upstash-box
target: linux
upstashBox:
  baseUrl: https://us-east-1.box.upstash.com
  runtime: node
  size: small
  workdir: /workspace/home/crabbox
  keepAlive: false

Provider flags:

--upstash-box-base-url
--upstash-box-runtime
--upstash-box-size
--upstash-box-workdir
--upstash-box-keep-alive

Environment overrides:

CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_API_KEY / UPSTASH_BOX_API_KEY
CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_BASE_URL / UPSTASH_BOX_BASE_URL
CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_RUNTIME
CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_SIZE
CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_WORKDIR
CRABBOX_UPSTASH_BOX_KEEP_ALIVE

Defaults: base URL https://us-east-1.box.upstash.com, runtime node, size small, workdir /workspace/home/crabbox, keepAlive false.

Accepted values, validated before the API is called:

  • runtime: node, python, golang, ruby, rust, or the Alpine variants node-alpine, python-alpine, golang-alpine, ruby-alpine, rust-alpine.
  • size: small, medium, or large.

Lifecycle

  1. warmup / run without --id creates a Box named crabbox-<slug>-<lease-hex> with the configured runtime and size, then waits (up to 5 minutes) until the Box reports a ready status (idle, running, ready, or paused). Crabbox stores a local claim with a normal cbx_... lease ID and a friendly slug.
  2. By default run archive-syncs the working tree: Git manifest → local tar -czf → upload into the Box workspace as .crabbox-upstash-box-sync-*.tgz → in-Box tar -xzf into the workdir (the temp archive is removed afterward).
  3. The user command runs through the Box exec-stream endpoint wrapped in sh -c, with the workspace folder set as the working directory, streaming output back through Crabbox.
  4. One-shot Boxes are deleted after a run that did not pass --keep. --keep and --keep-on-failure retain the Box until crabbox stop.

Note: warmup always keeps the Box until an explicit crabbox stop. If you pass --keep=false to warmup, Crabbox prints a warning and still keeps it.

Capabilities

  • SSH: no.
  • Crabbox sync: yes — archive sync through Box file upload + exec.
  • Run session: yes. --lease-output records the Box lease, reuse/retention state, and the matching crabbox stop cleanup command.
  • Provider sync: no separate Upstash sync step.
  • Desktop / browser / code: no.
  • Actions hydration: no.
  • Coordinator (broker): no — Upstash Box always runs direct from the CLI.

Gotchas

  • IDs can be a Crabbox slug, a cbx_... lease ID, or a raw Upstash Box ID (when that Box carries Crabbox naming, i.e. crabbox-<slug>-<hex>).
  • --class and --type are rejected; use --upstash-box-size and --upstash-box-runtime.
  • upstashBox.workdir must resolve to an absolute path under /workspace/home/. Broad or system roots — /, /bin, /dev, /etc, /home, /lib, /lib64, /opt, /proc, /root, /sbin, /sys, /tmp, /usr, /var, /workspace, and /workspace/home — are rejected before any sync or command runs.
  • --checksum is rejected because Upstash Box has no SSH/rsync target. Large-sync guardrails still apply; --force-sync-large is honored for intentional large archive syncs.
  • Use --sync-only to pre-upload the archive into a kept Box before a later command.
  • Delegated run/sync options that need an SSH target or proof surface are rejected: --script / --script-stdin, --fresh-pr, --full-resync, --env-helper, --capture-stdout / --capture-stderr, --capture-on-fail, --download, --artifact-glob, --require-artifact, --emit-proof, and --stop-after.
  • Forwarded environment values are written to a temporary shell profile in the Box workspace, sourced (set -a) for the command, and removed best-effort afterward. They are never placed on the local process argv.
  • upstashBox.keepAlive maps to the Box create keep_alive option. Crabbox --keep independently controls whether a one-shot run deletes the Box afterward.

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