Pricing & Limits

SeaCloud Sandbox usage is metered around runtime resources, template/build resources, and storage policy. Exact commercial pricing, free-tier rules, and public price examples are not yet published in this MVP document.

Billing Dimensions

Dimension	Metering model	Notes
Sandbox runtime	CPU and memory over runtime duration	Lifecycle `timeout` limits how long a sandbox can stay alive.
Template builds	Build CPU/memory and build duration	Heavy dependency installation should move to templates when reused.
Template storage	Stored custom template images	Concrete `tpl-...` images may be retained across releases.
Persistent workspace storage	Storage type and retained data	Depends on `nfs`, `block`, `object`, or environment-specific storage mounts.
Network traffic	Ingress/egress and public port routing	Product pricing and hard caps are pending.

Default Runtime Guardrails

These are current platform defaults surfaced by the sandbox architecture docs. Product plans may override them through the trusted gateway entitlement layer.

Limit	Default
Per-user held sandboxes	`20`
Per-user `running + starting` sandboxes	`10`
Per-user `starting` sandboxes	`5`
Per-user daily sandbox creates	`100`
Per-project held sandboxes	`200`
Per-project `running + starting` sandboxes	`100`
Per-project `starting` sandboxes	`50`
Per-project daily sandbox creates	`1000`
Max continuous sandbox runtime	`86400s`

Default Resource Guardrails

Resource	Default ceiling
Sandbox CPU	`8`
Sandbox memory	`64Gi`
Sandbox storage	`200Gi`
Custom templates per user	`50`
Concurrent builds per user	`3`
Template CPU	`8`
Template memory	`16384MiB`
Template storage	`200GiB`
Single build context archive	`100MiB`
Build context storage per template	`1GiB`
Build context storage per user	`5GiB`
Build job active deadline	`3600s`

Public clients should not send or rely on internal X-Sandbox-Limit-* headers. Hermes resolves plan and entitlement, then forwards sanitized limits to Atlas and Sandbox Builder for enforcement.

Query Current Sandbox Limits

GET /api/v1/usage/limits
X-API-Key: <SEACLOUD_API_KEY>

The response reports user and project quota usage:

{
  "resource": "sandboxes",
  "unlimited": false,
  "user": {
    "usage": {
      "held": 2,
      "running": 1,
      "starting": 0,
      "dailyCreates": 12
    },
    "limits": {
      "held": { "limit": 20, "used": 2, "remaining": 18, "enforced": true },
      "running": { "limit": 10, "used": 1, "remaining": 9, "enforced": true }
    }
  },
  "runtime": {
    "maxRuntimeSeconds": 86400
  }
}

Query Template And Build Limits

GET /api/v1/usage/template-limits
X-API-Key: <SEACLOUD_API_KEY>

This endpoint reports custom template count, concurrent builds, and resource ceilings such as maxTemplateCPU, maxTemplateMemoryMB, and maxTemplateStorageGB.

Limit Terms

Field	Meaning
`held`	Sandboxes that are not deleted or destroying.
`running`	Running plus starting sandboxes, matching create/start enforcement.
`starting`	Sandboxes in startup phases such as new, warming, warm, or creating.
`dailyCreates`	Calendar-day sandbox creates, reset at UTC midnight.
`enforced`	`false` means the value is visible for planning but not enforced.
`unlimited`	Commercial sandbox limits were bypassed by trusted gateway entitlement.
`maxRuntimeSeconds`	Maximum lifecycle duration the platform reports for the caller.

When A Quota Is Hit

Create/start requests can return 429 with details such as scope, resource, metric, used, limit, remaining, and usageEndpoint. Use the returned endpoint before retrying.

{
  "code": 429,
  "message": "sandbox limit exceeded",
  "details": {
    "reason": "usage_limit",
    "scope": "project",
    "resource": "sandboxes",
    "metric": "dailyCreates",
    "used": 1001,
    "limit": 1000,
    "remaining": 0,
    "usageEndpoint": "/api/v1/usage/limits"
  }
}