Create instance - San Francisco Compute Docs

Create instance

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "pool": "<string>",
  "image": "<string>",
  "sku": "sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "name": "my-resource-name",
  "cloud_init_user_data": "IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=",
  "_preview_enable_public_ipv4": true,
  "_preview_firewall": "frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "tags": {
    "env": "prod",
    "team": "infra"
  },
  "_preview_enable_infiniband": false
}
'

import requests

url = "https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances"

payload = {
    "pool": "<string>",
    "image": "<string>",
    "sku": "sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
    "name": "my-resource-name",
    "cloud_init_user_data": "IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=",
    "_preview_enable_public_ipv4": True,
    "_preview_firewall": "frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
    "tags": {
        "env": "prod",
        "team": "infra"
    },
    "_preview_enable_infiniband": False
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    pool: '<string>',
    image: '<string>',
    sku: 'sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    name: 'my-resource-name',
    cloud_init_user_data: 'IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=',
    _preview_enable_public_ipv4: true,
    _preview_firewall: 'frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    tags: {env: 'prod', team: 'infra'},
    _preview_enable_infiniband: false
  })
};

fetch('https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'pool' => '<string>',
    'image' => '<string>',
    'sku' => 'sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    'name' => 'my-resource-name',
    'cloud_init_user_data' => 'IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=',
    '_preview_enable_public_ipv4' => true,
    '_preview_firewall' => 'frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    'tags' => [
        'env' => 'prod',
        'team' => 'infra'
    ],
    '_preview_enable_infiniband' => false
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"pool\": \"<string>\",\n  \"image\": \"<string>\",\n  \"sku\": \"sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"name\": \"my-resource-name\",\n  \"cloud_init_user_data\": \"IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=\",\n  \"_preview_enable_public_ipv4\": true,\n  \"_preview_firewall\": \"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"tags\": {\n    \"env\": \"prod\",\n    \"team\": \"infra\"\n  },\n  \"_preview_enable_infiniband\": false\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"pool\": \"<string>\",\n  \"image\": \"<string>\",\n  \"sku\": \"sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"name\": \"my-resource-name\",\n  \"cloud_init_user_data\": \"IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=\",\n  \"_preview_enable_public_ipv4\": true,\n  \"_preview_firewall\": \"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"tags\": {\n    \"env\": \"prod\",\n    \"team\": \"infra\"\n  },\n  \"_preview_enable_infiniband\": false\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"pool\": \"<string>\",\n  \"image\": \"<string>\",\n  \"sku\": \"sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"name\": \"my-resource-name\",\n  \"cloud_init_user_data\": \"IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=\",\n  \"_preview_enable_public_ipv4\": true,\n  \"_preview_firewall\": \"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"tags\": {\n    \"env\": \"prod\",\n    \"team\": \"infra\"\n  },\n  \"_preview_enable_infiniband\": false\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "id": "inst_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "resource_path": "<string>",
  "workspace": {
    "object": "workspace_summary",
    "id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>"
  },
  "name": "<string>",
  "object": "instance",
  "sku": {
    "object": "sku",
    "id": "<string>",
    "alias": "<string>"
  },
  "created_at": 1738972800,
  "_preview_updated_at": 1738972800,
  "image": {
    "object": "image_summary",
    "id": "image_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
    "name": "<string>"
  },
  "cloud_init_user_data_used": true,
  "pool": {
    "object": "pool_summary",
    "id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>"
  },
  "managed_by": {
    "id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>",
    "object": "deployment"
  },
  "_preview_enable_public_ipv4": true,
  "_preview_public_ip": "<string>",
  "_preview_firewall": "frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "tags": {
    "env": "prod",
    "team": "infra"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "<string>",
    "details": [
      {
        "code": "<string>",
        "message": "<string>",
        "field": "<string>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "authentication_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "forbidden",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "not_found",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "conflict",
    "message": "<string>",
    "details": [
      {
        "code": "<string>",
        "message": "<string>",
        "field": "<string>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "unprocessable_entity",
    "message": "<string>",
    "details": [
      {
        "code": "<string>",
        "message": "<string>",
        "field": "<string>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "api_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

POST

instances

Create instance

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "pool": "<string>",
  "image": "<string>",
  "sku": "sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "name": "my-resource-name",
  "cloud_init_user_data": "IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=",
  "_preview_enable_public_ipv4": true,
  "_preview_firewall": "frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "tags": {
    "env": "prod",
    "team": "infra"
  },
  "_preview_enable_infiniband": false
}
'

import requests

url = "https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances"

payload = {
    "pool": "<string>",
    "image": "<string>",
    "sku": "sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
    "name": "my-resource-name",
    "cloud_init_user_data": "IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=",
    "_preview_enable_public_ipv4": True,
    "_preview_firewall": "frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
    "tags": {
        "env": "prod",
        "team": "infra"
    },
    "_preview_enable_infiniband": False
}
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.post(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({
    pool: '<string>',
    image: '<string>',
    sku: 'sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    name: 'my-resource-name',
    cloud_init_user_data: 'IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=',
    _preview_enable_public_ipv4: true,
    _preview_firewall: 'frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    tags: {env: 'prod', team: 'infra'},
    _preview_enable_infiniband: false
  })
};

fetch('https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "POST",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'pool' => '<string>',
    'image' => '<string>',
    'sku' => 'sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    'name' => 'my-resource-name',
    'cloud_init_user_data' => 'IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=',
    '_preview_enable_public_ipv4' => true,
    '_preview_firewall' => 'frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F',
    'tags' => [
        'env' => 'prod',
        'team' => 'infra'
    ],
    '_preview_enable_infiniband' => false
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"pool\": \"<string>\",\n  \"image\": \"<string>\",\n  \"sku\": \"sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"name\": \"my-resource-name\",\n  \"cloud_init_user_data\": \"IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=\",\n  \"_preview_enable_public_ipv4\": true,\n  \"_preview_firewall\": \"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"tags\": {\n    \"env\": \"prod\",\n    \"team\": \"infra\"\n  },\n  \"_preview_enable_infiniband\": false\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("POST", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.post("https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"pool\": \"<string>\",\n  \"image\": \"<string>\",\n  \"sku\": \"sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"name\": \"my-resource-name\",\n  \"cloud_init_user_data\": \"IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=\",\n  \"_preview_enable_public_ipv4\": true,\n  \"_preview_firewall\": \"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"tags\": {\n    \"env\": \"prod\",\n    \"team\": \"infra\"\n  },\n  \"_preview_enable_infiniband\": false\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://api.sfcompute.com/v2/instances")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Post.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"pool\": \"<string>\",\n  \"image\": \"<string>\",\n  \"sku\": \"sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"name\": \"my-resource-name\",\n  \"cloud_init_user_data\": \"IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo=\",\n  \"_preview_enable_public_ipv4\": true,\n  \"_preview_firewall\": \"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F\",\n  \"tags\": {\n    \"env\": \"prod\",\n    \"team\": \"infra\"\n  },\n  \"_preview_enable_infiniband\": false\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

{
  "id": "inst_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "resource_path": "<string>",
  "workspace": {
    "object": "workspace_summary",
    "id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>"
  },
  "name": "<string>",
  "object": "instance",
  "sku": {
    "object": "sku",
    "id": "<string>",
    "alias": "<string>"
  },
  "created_at": 1738972800,
  "_preview_updated_at": 1738972800,
  "image": {
    "object": "image_summary",
    "id": "image_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
    "name": "<string>"
  },
  "cloud_init_user_data_used": true,
  "pool": {
    "object": "pool_summary",
    "id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>"
  },
  "managed_by": {
    "id": "<string>",
    "name": "<string>",
    "object": "deployment"
  },
  "_preview_enable_public_ipv4": true,
  "_preview_public_ip": "<string>",
  "_preview_firewall": "frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F",
  "tags": {
    "env": "prod",
    "team": "infra"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "invalid_request_error",
    "message": "<string>",
    "details": [
      {
        "code": "<string>",
        "message": "<string>",
        "field": "<string>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "authentication_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "forbidden",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "not_found",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "conflict",
    "message": "<string>",
    "details": [
      {
        "code": "<string>",
        "message": "<string>",
        "field": "<string>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "unprocessable_entity",
    "message": "<string>",
    "details": [
      {
        "code": "<string>",
        "message": "<string>",
        "field": "<string>"
      }
    ]
  }
}

{
  "error": {
    "type": "api_error",
    "message": "<string>"
  }
}

Authorizations

Authorization

string

header

required

Create an API token using sf tokens create or at https://sfcompute.com/account/api-keys.

Body

application/json

pool

string

required

A resource path like 'sfc:pool:acme:prod:my-pool' or an ID. Resource paths are human-readable but not stable - they change when resources are renamed or moved. IDs are stable and permanent.

Pattern: (pool_[0-9a-zA-Z_-]{1,21})|(sfc:pool:[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+(:[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+){2,2})

Example:

"pool_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F"

image

string

required

A resource path like 'sfc:image:acme:prod:my-image' or an ID. Resource paths are human-readable but not stable - they change when resources are renamed or moved. IDs are stable and permanent.

Pattern: (image_[0-9a-zA-Z_-]{1,21}|vmi_[0-9a-zA-Z_-]{1,21})|(sfc:image:[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+(:[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+){2,2})

Example:

"image_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F"

sku

string

required

SKU this instance will run on, as a sku_-prefixed id. The instance is pinned to the SKU's underlying hardware pool at create time — it will not land on any other SKU. See GET /v2/skus to enumerate the SKUs visible to your account.

Pattern: sku_[0-9a-zA-Z_-]{1,21}

Example:

"sku_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F"

name

null | string

Required string length: 1 - 255

Pattern: [a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9._-]{0,254}

Example:

"my-resource-name"

cloud_init_user_data

string<byte>

Base64-encoded cloud-init user data. Maximum 64KB.

Example:

"IyEvYmluL2Jhc2gKZWNobyBoZWxsbyB3b3JsZAo="

_preview_enable_public_ipv4

boolean

Preview. Whether to assign a public IPv4 address to this instance. When false (the default), only SSH (TCP port 22) is open on the instance and no other ports accept inbound traffic. When true, the chosen sku must advertise the SKU property public_ipv4 with value "yes".

_preview_firewall

null | string

Preview. Firewall to attach to this instance's public IP, e.g. sfc:firewall:acme:prod:default to use the workspace's auto-managed default firewall.

Required when _preview_enable_public_ipv4 = true; forbidden otherwise.

Pattern: (frwl_[0-9a-zA-Z_-]{1,21})|(sfc:firewall:[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+(:[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+){2,2})

Example:

"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F"

Response

Instance created.

Identity block flattened into [InstanceResponse]. Response-only: handlers build it from the resolver's [crate::types::resource_path::InstanceScope] at the response boundary.

string

required

Pattern: inst_[0-9a-zA-Z_-]{1,21}

Example:

"inst_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F"

resource_path

string

required

A resource path for a instance resource. Format: sfc:instance:::.

Pattern: sfc:instance:([a-zA-Z0-9._-]+:){2}[a-zA-Z0-9._-]+

Example:

"sfc:instance:<account_id>:<workspace>:<name>"

workspace

object

required

Workspace this instance belongs to.

Show child attributes

name

string

required

Required string length: 1 - 255

Pattern: [a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9._-]{0,254}

Example:

"my-resource-name"

object

string

default:instance

required

read-only

Allowed value: "instance"

state

enum<string>

required

awaiting_allocation when waiting for compute allocation on its capacity, running once assigned and the physical machine is running (still takes time for the image to be downloaded and booted), terminated when stopped by the user or after running out of allocation, failed on hardware fault.

Values are not exhaustive across API versions. Clients should tolerate new statuses.

Available options:

awaiting_allocation,

running,

terminated,

failed

sku

object

required

SKU this instance is pinned to.

Show child attributes

created_at

integer<int64>

required

Unix timestamp.

Example:

1738972800

_preview_updated_at

integer<int64>

required

Unix timestamp (seconds) when the instance was last updated.

Example:

1738972800

image

object

required

Image this instance was launched from.

Show child attributes

cloud_init_user_data_used

boolean

required

Whether cloud-init user data is configured for this instance. Fetch the data itself from GET /instances/{id}/cloud_init_user_data.

pool

null | object

Pool this instance is utilizing.

Show child attributes

managed_by

object

Deployment or spot deployment managing this instance, if any.

Option 1
Option 2

Show child attributes

_preview_enable_public_ipv4

boolean

Preview. Whether this instance requires a public IPv4 address. When false, only SSH (TCP port 22) is open on the instance and no other ports accept inbound traffic.

_preview_public_ip

string

Preview. Public IPv4 address assigned to this instance. Present only when _preview_enable_public_ipv4 = true; omitted otherwise.

_preview_firewall

null | string

Preview. Firewall attached to this instance's public IP. Omitted when the instance has _preview_enable_public_ipv4 = false.

Pattern: frwl_[0-9a-zA-Z_-]{1,21}

Example:

"frwl_k3R-nX9vLm7Qp2Yw5Jd8F"