Computers

Some work needs a place whose files are still there tomorrow: a checkout, a half-finished migration, the notes of a long task. A computer is that place. It is an app with one machine that runs the computer image, a home disk mounted at /data that outlives the machine, and a desktop you can watch or take over from the console.

Sizes

Size	vCPU	Memory	Home disk
small	1	2304 MB	50 GB
base (default)	2	4096 MB	100 GB
large	4	8192 MB	128 GB

An organization on starting credit may run 2 computers at a time; see Limits and quotas.

1. Create a computer

Console

Open Computers, choose New computer, give it a name and a size. The console creates the app, the home disk and the key, and deploys the computer image.

CLI

ry computer create dev-1 --image rytiv/computer:0.1.0
ry computer create dev-2 --size large --image rytiv/computer:0.1.0

--image names the computer image: Rytiv’s released image rytiv/computer:<version>, or a build:<id> of your own. Without --image, the CLI reads RYTIV_COMPUTER_IMAGE from the environment and refuses when neither is set.

curl

A computer is an app created with computer: true, a home volume attached to it, a secret COMPUTER_VIEW_KEY the desktop needs, and a deploy of the computer image with the size and a sleep rule. The CLI runs these calls in that order:

curl -X POST "https://api.rytiv.app/v1/apps" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $RYTIV_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "dev-1", "computer": true}'

Then POST /v1/volumes (dev-1-home), POST /v1/apps/dev-1/attach with the volume, PUT /v1/apps/dev-1/secrets with COMPUTER_VIEW_KEY, and POST /v1/apps/dev-1/deploy with {"image": "rytiv/computer:0.1.0", "memoryMb": 4096, "vcpus": 2, "internalPort": 8080, "suspendPolicy": {"mode": "suspend", "idleSeconds": 600, "stopAfterSeconds": 86400}}. See the API reference.

Names are 2 to 31 characters of lowercase letters, digits and hyphens. The home disk is a volume named <computer>-home; it is kept while the computer is shut down and when its machine is replaced.

What the image brings: Node.js with npm, Codex, OpenCode, git, the GitHub CLI, Python 3 with pip, a browser and a desktop. Claude Code is not pre-installed; inside the computer, rytiv-setup claude installs it with its own official installer under its own terms (--stable, --version <v> and --print are accepted), and rytiv-setup alone shows what the image has and has not.

2. Connect Claude Code

Two ways, for two kinds of work.

1. Claude Code on your laptop, Rytiv as its tool. Add the MCP server once; the agent then creates computers, runs commands in them and snapshots them with the tools computer_create, computer_exec and computer_snapshot:

   claude mcp add --transport http rytiv https://api.rytiv.app/v1/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer <your key>"

   Then ask in plain words: “Create a computer on Rytiv, clone the repository into it and run the tests.”

2. Claude Code inside the computer. Open a shell in it and install Claude Code there; the session keeps running when your laptop is closed:

   ry ssh dev-1

   Inside: rytiv-setup claude, then claude. Sign in with your own Claude account; nothing of it touches Rytiv.

A computer the MCP tool computer_create makes is an agent machine: it does not sleep on its own, and it can take snapshots. A computer from the console or ry computer create shuts down when idle and keeps its home; it takes no snapshots.

3. Work in it

ry exec dev-1 -- git status
ry exec dev-1 --dir /data -- npm test
ry ssh dev-1
ry forward dev-1 3000:3000

ry exec runs one command and exits with its exit code; ry ssh opens an interactive shell over the Rytiv API, no SSH keys needed; ry forward brings a port of the computer to your machine without a public port. Each of them wakes a shut-down computer. Through MCP, computer_exec does what ry exec does, as an argument list without a shell.

Files you want to keep go under /data, the home. The root disk is the image’s and starts fresh at every boot.

4. Watch or take over the desktop

ry computer view dev-1
ry computer control dev-1
ry computer release dev-1
ry computer audit dev-1

view gives a link to watch, for any number of viewers, valid 60 to 3600 seconds (default 900). control gives a link to take keyboard and mouse: there is one holder per machine, the agent inside pauses while you have control, and --force takes control from the current holder. audit shows who got which link and how control ended. The console shows the same desktop on the computer’s page.

5. Idle shutdown

After 10 minutes without activity the computer shuts down; your files stay. Every size is above the 2048 MB up to which a machine sleeps with its memory, so a computer stops instead: open programs end, and the next ry exec, ry ssh, request or console visit boots it fresh with the home disk as it was. CPU load, a held control lease and an open viewer with frames flowing count as activity.

While it is shut down it costs nothing for memory and CPU; the home disk is billed as a volume. See Credit and prices.

Snapshots

A machine created with durableCheckpoint: true (what the MCP tool computer_create does, and POST /v1/apps/:name/machines with that field) can be snapshotted and restored:

Method	Path	What it does
POST	/v1/machines/:id/checkpoints	{label, memory, comment}. Takes a snapshot now.
GET	/v1/machines/:id/checkpoints	The machine’s named snapshots
POST	/v1/machines/:id/checkpoints/:label/restore	Brings the machine back to that snapshot. With keepCurrent: true (the default) the current state is saved first.
DELETE	/v1/machines/:id/checkpoints/:label	Forgets a snapshot

Disk only (memory: false, the default) is a short pause, and a restore boots fresh with the files as they were. With memory (memory: true) a restore resumes the very processes; the pause grows with the machine’s memory. Labels use letters, digits, ., - and _, start with a letter or digit, and are at most 63 characters; auto- is reserved. Through MCP, computer_snapshot takes one. Such a machine also survives a host failure with its last automatic checkpoint.

Delete

ry apps destroy dev-1
ry volume destroy vol-1a2b3c4d

Deleting the app removes the machine; the home volume stays until you delete it too (ry volume list shows it). Both cannot be undone; the CLI asks you to type the name, automation passes --yes.