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From the Dashboard

  1. Navigate to the Dashboard and click Create Pod
  2. Fill in the creation form:
    • Name: A unique name for your pod. Must be lowercase alphanumeric with hyphens (e.g., my-app, staging-api). This becomes your subdomain.
    • Preset: Choose your development stack — Static, PHP, Node.js, or Python
    • Version (optional): For PHP, Node.js, and Python, pick a runtime version (e.g., Node.js 22, PHP 8.4). Defaults to the latest stable.
    • Plan: Select a resource tier — Launch, Build, Grow, Scale, or Turbo
    • Region (optional): Pick a geographic region, or leave blank for auto-selection
    • SSH Key (optional): Paste a public SSH key for immediate access
  3. Click Create
Your pod will be ready in 1-2 seconds. You’ll be redirected to the pod detail page.

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From the CLI

instapods pods create my-app -p nodejs --plan build

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Available Flags

FlagDescriptionDefault
-p, --presetPreset slug: static, php, nodejs, pythonAuto-detected
-v, --versionRuntime version (e.g., 8.4, 22, 3.11)Preset default
--planPlan slug: launch, build, grow, scale, turbolaunch
-r, --regionRegion slug (e.g., eu-nbg)Auto-select (closest)
--ssh-keySSH public key or path to key fileNone
-w, --waitWait until pod is running before returningfalse
--timeoutMax seconds to wait for pod creation120
The CLI returns immediately by default. Use -w to wait until the pod is fully running. If --preset is omitted, the CLI auto-detects from your current directory (e.g., package.json → Node.js, requirements.txt → Python).

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Examples

# Basic creation
instapods pods create my-site -p static

# With specific plan and region
instapods pods create api-server -p nodejs --plan scale -r eu-nbg

# With SSH key
instapods pods create dev-env -p python --ssh-key ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

# With a specific runtime version
instapods pods create my-app -p nodejs --version 22

# Wait until pod is fully running
instapods pods create my-site -p static -w

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From the API

curl -X POST https://app.instapods.com/api/pods \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "my-app",
    "preset": "nodejs",
    "plan": "build",
    "region": "sg",
    "ssh_key": "ssh-ed25519 AAAA... user@host"
  }'

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What Happens During Creation

  1. Server selection — The orchestrator picks the best server in your chosen region (or the closest region if unspecified)
  2. Container launch — A container is created from the pre-built image for your preset
  3. Network setup — A unique SSH port is allocated and the proxy route is configured
  4. DNS — Your pod’s subdomain is immediately available via wildcard DNS

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Pod Naming Rules

  • Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only
  • Must start with a letter
  • 3-40 characters long
  • Must be unique within the platform
  • The name becomes your subdomain: {name}.{server-domain}