--- name: vastai-hello-world-49ecd75c54ea description: >- Rent, verify, use, and destroy a first Vast.ai GPU instance with bounded cost and explicit failure cleanup. Use when running a safe platform canary or onboarding exercise. Trigger with: "rent my first Vast.ai GPU", "run a Vast.ai canary", "test Vast.ai end to end". allowed-tools: Read, Grep, Write, Edit version: 2.0.0 argument-hint: '[gpu-requirement-budget-and-image]' model: inherit effort: high license: MIT author: Jeremy Longshore tags: - saas - vastai - instances - onboarding - cost-control compatibility: 'Requires the Vast.ai CLI, a valid API key, account credit, an SSH public key, and an approved container image.' --- # First Vast.ai GPU Rental With a Cost Fence ## Overview Prove the complete renter lifecycle without leaving billable storage behind. Search a verified offer, register SSH before creation, capture the returned contract ID, bound readiness polling, run one GPU check, retrieve evidence, and destroy. ## Prerequisites - Maximum hourly price, maximum elapsed time, GPU/VRAM need, disk size, and region policy - Approved image tag and registered SSH public key - Cleanup owner who can destroy the contract even when the workload fails ## Instructions ### Step 1: Verify identity and budget Run `vastai show user --raw`; confirm the intended account and enough credit. Set an external deadline and total-spend ceiling before searching. ### Step 2: Search a suitable offer Use `vastai search offers --raw` with `verified=true`, `rentable=true`, reliability, direct-port, GPU, disk, and price constraints. Record the selected offer ID and quoted price components. ### Step 3: Create exactly one instance Create with an immutable image tag, SSH, direct networking when required, and the smallest sufficient disk. Capture `new_contract` as the instance ID. ### Step 4: Wait with terminal branches Poll `vastai show instance ID --raw` until `actual_status` is `running`. Abort and clean up on timeout, `exited`, `unknown`, or `offline`; never poll forever. ### Step 5: Run and collect the canary Resolve the SSH URL, execute `nvidia-smi`, run the bounded workload, and copy out the small result or checksum. ### Step 6: Destroy and prove cleanup Destroy the instance non-interactively and confirm it no longer appears. Destruction is irreversible but is required to stop storage charges. ## Authentication Use a scoped key that can search offers and manage instances but cannot transfer credit or administer teams. Keep SSH private keys local and never pass them through instance environment variables. ## Tool Discipline Use Read and Grep to inspect manifests, configuration, provider output, and existing tests before proposing a mutation. Use Write or Edit only for the approved plan, implementation, test, or redacted receipt; do not create, update, destroy, or fund Vast.ai resources without explicit operator approval. ## Output - Selected offer and cost-policy decision - Instance state timeline and GPU canary result - Artifact checksum plus confirmed destruction receipt Return account ID, offer ID, instance ID, price, state transitions, canary result, and cleanup confirmation with secrets removed. ## Examples An operator rents one verified RTX 4090 below the approved hourly ceiling, reaches `running` within the deadline, records a CUDA device check, copies out a checksum, and destroys the contract in a guaranteed cleanup path. ## Error Handling | Failure | Response | | --- | --- | | No offer satisfies policy | Do not relax controls silently; report which constraint eliminated capacity. | | Instance remains loading | Respect the deadline, inspect image size and host network, then destroy and choose another offer. | | Instance becomes exited, unknown, or offline | Stop polling, salvage only if safe, destroy, and retry on a different host. | | Cleanup command fails | Escalate immediately with the instance ID because storage may still be billing. | ## Resources - [First-party source notes](references/official-docs.md) - [CLI hello world](https://docs.vast.ai/cli/hello-world) - [Manage instances](https://docs.vast.ai/guides/instances/manage-instances) - [Official CLI skill](https://github.com/vast-ai/vast-cli/blob/master/vastai/SKILL.md) --- Source attribution: jeremylongshore Original project: https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/blob/ab85a061f7bcc039dac13ee193de7a4cd4388571/plugins/saas-packs/vastai-pack/skills/vastai-hello-world/SKILL.md License: MIT License information: https://opensource.org/license/mit Original upstream instructions; downloaded from Mega AI Hub. ## Upstream license notice MIT License Copyright (c) 2025 Jeremy Longshore Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions: The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. # Mega AI Hub resource metadata Creator / publisher: jeremylongshore Original project: https://github.com/jeremylongshore/claude-code-plugins-plus-skills/blob/ab85a061f7bcc039dac13ee193de7a4cd4388571/plugins/saas-packs/vastai-pack/skills/vastai-hello-world/SKILL.md Attribution basis: Source repository record Fields of work: Development & Engineering Roles: Backend Developer, Data Engineer, DevOps / SRE Specialties: API, Backend, Design, DevOps, Frontend, Testing Tools: Vastai Country applicability: Country not specified Classification basis: Source catalog labels Instruction SHA-256: 1ffd7d33fd70f88160b3d8dea2b1bd664e2a2f7b50691e0f779827d60527a555