Workpaper Instant

Opt in to lightweight commands, automatic promotion and additive billing.

Instant is your choice. Regular workpaper run computers pay only their VM runtime rate. Instant starts lightweight, moves to your selected Linux VM size when native tools are needed, and can return to lightweight execution after an eligible idle period.

Start from the CLI

workpaper update
workpaper auth login
workpaper instant usage
workpaper instant my-agent

The CLI shows your plan's CPU and VM rates and asks you to accept before starting. In scripts, explicitly accept the same terms:

workpaper instant my-agent --accept-billing --size large -- node -e 'console.log(1 + 1)'
workpaper instant my-agent --accept-billing --timeout 2m -- npm test
workpaper stop my-agent

--size small selects a 2-vCPU / 4-GB promotion target; --size large selects 4 vCPU / 8 GB. The default is small. This selects a target, not automatic resizing between VM tiers. The managed prompt is not a PTY: each command runs in a fresh shell, for at most two minutes. Use --cwd /workspace/project for a working directory. Interactive applications such as Claude Code's terminal UI belong on a regular VM.

Two charges after promotion

Instant meters CPU time in both lightweight and full-VM execution. After promotion, the full VM's size-based runtime charge is added, not substituted. No CPU use means no CPU charge; an idle but running full VM still incurs its runtime charge. Promoted VM CPU is measured on the host and includes VM process overhead and background work.

A CPU-hour is one CPU busy for an hour; two CPUs busy for an hour consume two CPU-hours. After the allowance, one small-VM hour with two CPU-hours consumed is $0.022 on Pro, or about $0.073333 on PAYG. The CPU and VM balances are separate. The existing $5/150-hour VM pack is unchanged: its PAYG-to-Pro ratio is 3⅓×, not exactly 3×.

Instant CPU packs cost $5 for 250 CPU-hours on PAYG or 833⅓ CPU-hours on Pro. Availability is shown in billing. A pack keeps the CPU quantity purchased even if your plan changes; existing and in-flight legacy packs retain their original quantity. Included monthly allowances reset; purchased CPU packs do not expire unless refunded.

Use the SDK

const prices = await wp.instantUsage(); // inspect both rates
const c = await wp.create("my-agent", { mode: "instant", acceptBilling: true, size: "small" });
await c.exec("echo hello");
await c.stop();

# Python sync
prices = wp.instant_usage()
c = wp.create("my-agent", mode="instant", accept_billing=True)

# Python async
prices = await wp.instant_usage()
c = await wp.create("my-agent", mode="instant", accept_billing=True)

Older Instant computers are not silently moved to additive billing. Accept through the new CLI, c.acceptInstantBilling(), or Python c.accept_instant_billing() (await it for async). The API uses billingModel: "instant-cpu-v1" at creation or POST /v1/computers/ID/billing. Stop and delete remain available without accepting.

Scale-back is conditional

The logical ID and supported files under /workspace, /home/user and /tmp carry over; processes and memory do not. Automatic return requires at least an hour since promotion and the last native-tool command, plus 15 minutes of managed inactivity. Native binaries, oversized changed state (over 64 MiB), and direct VM connections keep the VM full. Stop it yourself to end its runtime charge immediately; leaving the prompt does not stop it.

Terms · Privacy · Contact