HostStack Docs

AI Dev Environments

A dev environment on HostStack is a private service running our hoststack/dev-env:claude image — a persistent cloud container with coding agents and MCP servers preinstalled. Open the Terminal tab (it works great from a phone) and run your agent on your repos, on European infrastructure.

It's just a service. No new resource type to learn — it provisions, deploys, scales, suspends, streams logs and bills exactly like any other private service. git push from inside ships through your normal deploy pipeline.

What's inside

Coding agents: claude (Anthropic Claude Code), codex (OpenAI Codex), and opencode (SST OpenCode) — all on PATH.
MCP servers wired into all three agents: hoststack (manage your projects, services, deploys, databases, domains), poststack (email), filesystem, and git.
Toolchain: git, GitHub CLI (gh), Node 22, Bun, Python 3, uv, ripgrep, fzf, jq, tmux, postgresql-client, redis-tools, and the usual editors.
Persistent /workspace volume — your repos, agent logins and node_modules survive restarts and redeploys.

Create one (one click)

In the dashboard, create a new service and pick the AI Dev Environment template. It pre-selects the image, makes the service private (no public ingress), attaches a 10 GB /workspace volume, and prompts you for the optional MCP API keys — then deploys.

Log your agent in

The image is never pre-authenticated. Open the Terminal tab and log in once — the credentials persist on the /workspace volume, so you only do this the first time:

bash

# Claude Code — opens a device-code login flow
claude /login

# Then just run an agent
claude            # interactive
codex             # OpenAI Codex
opencode          # SST OpenCode

Enable the HostStack & PostStack MCPs

The hoststack and poststack MCP servers read their API keys from the environment. Set them as service environment variables (Settings → Environment) — they are never baked into the image:

bash

HOSTSTACK_API_KEY=hs_live_…    # mint under Settings → API Keys
POSTSTACK_API_KEY=sk_live_…    # optional, for email

Once set, your agent can manage your HostStack resources directly: "deploy the api service", "show me the last failed deploy's logs", "add a DNS record". The filesystem and git MCPs work with no key.

Code from your phone

The Terminal is built mobile-first. Install HostStack as a PWA (Add to Home Screen) or just open it in any mobile browser. Tap the terminal to bring up your keyboard; a soft-key bar gives you the keys phones lack — Esc, Tab, common Ctrl combos (Ctrl-C/D/Z/R/L), arrow keys, and shell symbols. The view tracks the on-screen keyboard so your prompt is never hidden. Kick off an agent, lock your phone, come back later — the session keeps running on our infra.

Shipping from inside

Your dev environment shares the same git + deploy plumbing as the rest of HostStack. Have your agent commit and git push, and the push hits your service's normal deploy webhook — no extra wiring. Clone any repo into /workspace and work on it there.

Billing

A dev environment is billed exactly like the private service it is — by the plan size you pick, plus the /workspace volume's per-GB-month storage. Suspend it from the dashboard when you're not using it to stop compute charges; the volume (and your agent login) is retained.