Namespace Compute Instance Provider

Use provider: namespace-instance for short-lived Linux Compute Instances managed by the Namespace nsc CLI. The alias is namespace-compute; the existing namespace alias continues to select namespace-devbox.

#Setup

Install nsc, authenticate it, then verify access:

nsc login
nsc auth check-login
crabbox doctor --provider namespace-instance

Crabbox does not read or store Namespace credentials. It invokes the configured nsc binary and relies on its keychain.

#Usage

crabbox warmup --provider namespace-instance --class standard --ttl 15m
crabbox run --provider namespace-instance -- go test ./...
crabbox list --provider namespace-instance --json
crabbox stop --provider namespace-instance <lease-id-or-slug>

Crabbox injects a per-lease SSH public key, connects through nsc proxy --service ssh, uses the normal SSH/rsync path, and destroys the instance on release. Namespace duration remains a provider-side safety deadline; --namespace-instance-duration overrides the global --ttl used at creation.

#Configuration

provider: namespace-instance
target: linux
namespaceInstance:
  cli: nsc
  machineType: 4x8
  duration: 30m
  region: ""
  endpoint: ""
  keychain: ""
  volumes: []
  workRoot: /work/crabbox
  bare: true

Class defaults are standard=4x8, fast=8x16, large=16x32, and beast=32x64. Use --type or --namespace-instance-machine-type for an exact Namespace CPUxMemoryGB shape.

Provider flags:

--namespace-instance-cli
--namespace-instance-machine-type
--namespace-instance-duration
--namespace-instance-region
--namespace-instance-endpoint
--namespace-instance-keychain
--namespace-instance-volume
--namespace-instance-work-root
--namespace-instance-bare

--namespace-instance-volume is repeatable and passes kind:tag:mountpoint:size directly to nsc create --volume. Kind must be cache or persistent; mountpoint must be an absolute Linux path. Volume attachments, CLI path, endpoint, region, and keychain are accepted only from trusted user config, environment variables, or explicit flags, not repository-local config. Custom endpoints must not include URL credentials, query parameters, or fragments. Machine-type OS prefixes must be Linux.

#Lifecycle

• Linux only; coordinator disabled.
• nsc create --bare --duration ... --ssh_key ... provisions the instance.
• Ownership labels restrict list and cleanup to Crabbox-created resources.
• touch uses nsc extend --ensure_minimum only for the remaining original

TTL; activity never moves the maximum lifetime forward.

• stop uses nsc destroy --force.
• cleanup never destroys unlabeled Namespace resources.
• --keep keeps the instance after the current command, but its Namespace

duration deadline still applies.

The deprecated nsc create --ephemeral flag is intentionally not used; current nsc versions ignore it. Duration controls automatic destruction.

See Namespace CLI create reference.