Coder

provider: coder is a narrow direct SSH-lease integration for Linux Coder workspaces. Crabbox asks the local coder CLI to create, start, stop, or optionally delete Crabbox-claimed workspaces, while Coder keeps authentication, workspace policy, and tunneling ownership. Crabbox then runs its usual SSH sync, command execution, status, and cleanup flow over coder ssh --stdio.

Coder is direct-only. It never routes through the Crabbox coordinator and it does not store Coder API tokens in Crabbox config.

#Requirements

• Coder CLI installed and on PATH, or set coder.cliPath.
• A local Coder login, usually from coder login <url>.
• A Linux Coder template with git, rsync, and tar available in the

workspace.

• A template name for new workspaces, supplied by config or

--coder-template.

Run a non-mutating preflight first:

crabbox doctor --provider coder
crabbox doctor --provider coder --json

If the Coder CLI is not logged in, doctor fails with auth=missing_login and mutation=false. It does not create, start, stop, or delete workspaces.

#Config

provider: coder
coder:
  cliPath: coder
  template: go-dev
  preset: large
  workspacePrefix: crabbox-
  workRoot: /home/coder/crabbox
  wait: yes
  useParameterDefaults: true
  parameters:
    - region=iad
    - size=large
  richParameterFile: ~/.config/coder/rich-parameters.yaml
  deleteOnRelease: false

Environment overrides:

CRABBOX_CODER_CLI
CRABBOX_CODER_TEMPLATE
CRABBOX_CODER_PRESET
CRABBOX_CODER_WORKSPACE_PREFIX
CRABBOX_CODER_WORK_ROOT
CRABBOX_CODER_WAIT
CRABBOX_CODER_USE_PARAMETER_DEFAULTS
CRABBOX_CODER_PARAMETERS
CRABBOX_CODER_RICH_PARAMETER_FILE
CRABBOX_CODER_DELETE_ON_RELEASE

CRABBOX_CODER_PARAMETERS is comma-separated, for example region=iad,size=large. Coder session tokens should stay in Coder's own login store or supported Coder environment, not in Crabbox config and not on Crabbox argv.

#Flags

--coder-cli <path>
--coder-template <name>
--coder-preset <name>
--coder-workspace-prefix <prefix>
--coder-work-root <path>
--coder-wait yes|no|auto
--coder-use-parameter-defaults
--coder-parameter name=value[,name=value]
--coder-rich-parameter-file <path>
--coder-delete-on-release

--class and --type are not supported for provider=coder; choose sizing in the Coder template or preset.

#Lifecycle

New leases create a Coder workspace with a Coder-safe name derived from the Crabbox slug, coder.workspacePrefix, and a short lease hash suffix. The local Crabbox slug remains the friendly lookup handle, while the Coder workspace name is lease-unique so failed provisioning rollback cannot stop or delete another same-slug workspace. Workspace names are lowercase, hyphenated, 1-32 characters, and avoid Coder's reserved new and create names.

Crabbox can resolve a Coder lease by Crabbox lease ID, local slug, Coder workspace name, or owner/workspace when the Coder inventory contains a unique match.

Release is conservative:

• By default, crabbox stop runs coder stop --yes <workspace> and removes the

local Crabbox claim.

• Deletion requires coder.deleteOnRelease: true or

--coder-delete-on-release, which runs coder delete --yes <workspace>. New local claims persist that release action so later cleanup does not turn an originally stop-on-release workspace into a delete-on-cleanup workspace after a config change.

Cleanup is also conservative. It lists workspaces that look Crabbox-owned through the configured workspace prefix or Crabbox labels in Coder JSON, but it only stops or deletes workspaces that also have a local Crabbox claim with cleanup metadata. Prefix-owned workspaces without a local claim are skipped, because stopped Coder workspaces are normal reusable environments and Coder does not expose a generic coder create label flag for Crabbox-owned lifecycle metadata. crabbox cleanup --provider coder --dry-run prints the intended stop/delete actions without mutating workspaces. Older local claims that do not record a Coder release action default to stop during cleanup.

#SSH

Coder workspaces use OpenSSH proxy mode:

ProxyCommand coder ssh --stdio --wait yes <workspace>

Crabbox marks the target as proxy-backed instead of trying to discover a raw host or port. The ready check verifies the standard Crabbox sync prerequisites: git, rsync, and tar.

Coder SSH targets use stable synthetic host aliases for SSH config reuse, but their known_hosts entries are isolated under Crabbox's Coder config directory and keyed by the Coder workspace identity when available. This avoids stale global host keys when a disposable workspace is deleted and later recreated with the same name.

#Examples

crabbox warmup --provider coder --coder-template go-dev --slug testbox
crabbox run --provider coder --coder-template go-dev -- pnpm test
crabbox ssh --provider coder testbox
crabbox status --provider coder testbox
crabbox stop --provider coder testbox

Delete only when the workspace is disposable:

crabbox stop --provider coder --coder-delete-on-release testbox

#Live smoke

Run live smoke only after coder whoami -o json succeeds and you have selected a safe disposable template:

CRABBOX_LIVE=1 CRABBOX_LIVE_PROVIDERS=coder CRABBOX_LIVE_COORDINATOR=0 \
  CRABBOX_LIVE_CODER_TEMPLATE=go-dev \
  CRABBOX_LIVE_REPO=/path/to/my-app scripts/live-smoke.sh

The shared smoke runs doctor, cleanup --dry-run, stop-by-default warmup, status --wait, inspect, SSH command rendering, a synced command, history/log capture, stop, stopped-workspace status, delete-on-release warmup/run/stop, list, and a final dry-run cleanup.

If login, template, or quota is unavailable, classify the live smoke as environment_blocked instead of treating deterministic unit tests as live proof.