Dedalus Machines is an offering of Dedalus Cloud Services (DCS).
A Dedalus Machine is a Linux VM that wakes in under 50ms and keeps its filesystem across sleep.
Each machine has its own Linux kernel and filesystem. It runs systemd, supports SSH, and runs commands through the API.
Dedalus Machines are in public beta.
Model
Every machine has a machine_id. Use it to retrieve state, run commands, open SSH, watch lifecycle, sleep, wake, or delete.
Set vCPU, memory, storage, and autosleep at create or update. Plan limits apply.
Lifecycle
Machines stay awake as long as the workload needs. There is no fixed platform timeout.
Autosleep is enabled by default with a 5-minute idle window. Set autosleep to never to disable automatic sleep.
Sleep deallocates RAM and discards memory state. Compute billing stops. The filesystem persists. Wake starts from the persisted filesystem.
Dedalus moves machines between hosts during failures or maintenance.
Filesystem
The filesystem is the durable state of a machine. Files written under paths like /home, /root, /etc, /usr/local, and /var survive sleep and wake.
Runtime filesystems such as /proc, /sys, /dev, /run, and /dev/shm are recreated on each wake. Treat /tmp as temporary scratch space. Use /var/tmp, /home, /root, or another root-filesystem path for files you need later.
Storage expansion depends on your plan.
Isolation
Dedalus Machines use VM-level isolation. Each machine gets its own Linux kernel.
Agents run untrusted code, install dependencies, compile projects, and execute shell commands. VM isolation gives each workload a hardware-backed boundary.
Use the CLI, Python SDK, TypeScript SDK, Go SDK, or HTTP API from agents and backends.
For tool calls, use executions. Send a command and machine_id. The API returns an execution_id. Use it to retrieve status, events, stdout, stderr, and output.
Common use cases
Use a machine when an agent needs a real Linux environment for one tool call.
Common workloads: builds, tests, CI runners, bursty backend jobs, long-running services, SSH debugging, Docker, and nested virtualization through /dev/kvm.
Current limits
Linux is the only supported operating system today. The base image is intentionally small.
Outside public beta: custom images, machine forking, memory snapshots, general file upload and download APIs, port URLs, GPU machines, premium storage tiers, and self-service retention policies.
Public beta limits vary by account and plan. See Pricing for current plan limits.
Delete
Delete removes a machine from normal use immediately. Storage may be retained for up to 30 days. Recovery requires support.
Contact support immediately after mistaken deletion.
Read next
Start with the Quickstart. Use Lifecycle for state, Executions for commands, SSH for interactive access, and the API reference for the API contract. Last modified on June 30, 2026
