Transfer a Pod

You can give a pod to someone else’s InstaPods account - a client taking over the site you built for them, a project moving to a company account, or a co-founder picking up a service you no longer run. A transfer is a two-step handshake. You make an offer; the recipient has to accept it. Nothing moves, and nobody’s bill changes, until they do.

Sending an offer

Open the pod and find the Transfer ownership card at the bottom of its Overview tab. Click Transfer this pod, enter the recipient’s email address, and optionally add a message. The recipient gets an email with a link into their dashboard. The offer stays open for 7 days and then expires. Over the API:

curl -X POST https://app.instapods.com/api/pods/my-app/transfer \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "email": "them@example.com",
    "message": "All yours - the deploy docs are in the README."
  }'

While an offer is pending you can withdraw it at any time (Withdraw offer on the card, or DELETE /api/pods/my-app/transfer). Only one offer can be outstanding per pod.

The recipient doesn’t have to have an InstaPods account yet. They’ll be prompted to create one, and the offer is matched to whatever account signs in with that email address.

What the recipient inherits

Almost everything keyed to the pod goes with it:

Files and application data
Databases and managed services
Environment variables
Backups
Custom domains
Deployment history, including build logs
Any visitor feedback the pod has collected

Two things are deliberately removed at the moment of handover, because they are your credentials rather than the pod’s:

Your Git connection. The repository link, deploy key and webhook are deleted, and the token embedded in the checkout’s origin remote is stripped. Auto-deploy stops until the new owner connects their own repository.
Your SSH keys. The pod’s authorized_keys is emptied. The new owner adds their own key from the dashboard to get shell access.

Once the recipient accepts, you lose all access to the pod and it disappears from your dashboard. There is no undo - getting it back means asking the new owner to transfer it to you.

Accepting an offer

Incoming offers appear as a banner on your dashboard and on the Transfers page. Each one shows the pod, its plan, and who it’s from.

# See offers addressed to you
curl https://app.instapods.com/api/pod-transfers \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

# Take the pod on
curl -X POST https://app.instapods.com/api/pod-transfers/TRANSFER_ID/accept \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

# Or turn it down
curl -X POST https://app.instapods.com/api/pod-transfers/TRANSFER_ID/decline \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Accepting a pod puts a recurring charge on your account, so the same checks apply as when you create a pod yourself:

Requirement	Why
A payment method on file	The pod bills to you from the moment you accept
No unpaid invoices	You can’t take on another charge while past due
Trust limits, for new accounts	A brand-new account can’t accept a Scale or Turbo pod, or exceed its pod cap, until its first payment clears

The dashboard shows why an offer can’t be accepted before you click, rather than failing at the last step.

How billing splits

Billing splits at the moment of acceptance, not at the start or end of the month. The sender is invoiced for the days up to the handover; the recipient is invoiced from then on. Neither side pays for the handover day twice.

You can’t transfer a pod out of an account with an unpaid invoice - settle it first. Days already accrued stay on your invoice either way.

When a transfer is refused

Message	What to do
The pod is creating, migrating or otherwise unsettled	Wait for it to finish and try again
The pod’s container is missing	Contact support before transferring
Settle your outstanding invoice first	Pay the open invoice on the sending account
This transfer expired	Offers last 7 days - ask the sender for a new one
This pod is already owned by your active team	Switch to the team you meant to receive it into

Getting Started

Dashboard

Presets

Services

SSH & Files

Guides

Partners

Support

Sending an offer

What the recipient inherits

Accepting an offer

How billing splits

When a transfer is refused

​Sending an offer

​What the recipient inherits

​Accepting an offer

​How billing splits

​When a transfer is refused

Sending an offer

What the recipient inherits

Accepting an offer

How billing splits

When a transfer is refused