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Quickstart

Create a runtime, start it, run a prompt against it, and pause it — end-to-end in five commands.

Go from nothing to a running sandbox backing an interactive session, then pause it cleanly so credits stop accruing.

Prerequisites

Section titled “Prerequisites”
  • The Dreadnode CLI authenticated (dn login) — see Authentication
  • A workspace scope on your active profile (dn profile show)

1. Create the runtime

Section titled “1. Create the runtime”
Terminal window
dn runtime create my-runtime --key scratch --name "Scratch Runtime"
✓ Created runtime 'Scratch Runtime' in project 'my-runtime'
7c1e2d4f-...  idle  Scratch Runtime (scratch)  my-runtime

create is idempotent. Running it again with the same key returns the existing runtime instead of failing.

If you omit <project>, the CLI uses the active project scope from your profile, then falls back to the workspace default project.

2. Start it

Section titled “2. Start it”
Terminal window
dn runtime start 7c1e2d4f
✓ Started runtime 'Scratch Runtime'
7c1e2d4f-...  running  Scratch Runtime (scratch)  my-runtime
URL:   https://sandbox-xyz.e2b.dev

Starting provisions a sandbox, links it to the runtime, and returns a sandbox URL you can use for provider-level operations.

UUID prefix matching works anywhere an ID is expected — the first eight characters are enough.

3. Run a one-shot prompt against it

Section titled “3. Run a one-shot prompt against it”
Terminal window
dn --print --prompt "list files in /workspace" --model openai/gpt-4.1-mini

The default dn command opens the interactive app. --print runs one turn against your runtime and exits — useful for smoke tests and scripting.

To open the full interactive app instead, just run dn.

4. Keep it alive while you work

Section titled “4. Keep it alive while you work”
Terminal window
dn sandbox list --state running

Each sandbox has an expiry window. If you’re working in longer bursts, the TUI runtimes screen has a one-keystroke extend action, or you can call the keepalive action from the App.

5. Pause when you’re done

Section titled “5. Pause when you’re done”

Pause from the TUI (Ctrl+R, select the runtime, press pause) or the App to stop credit accrual while preserving sandbox state. Resume the same way — no state is lost, capability bindings are intact, and session history comes back with the runtime.

When you want a clean environment again, reset discards the sandbox and returns the runtime to idle without losing the runtime’s identity, bindings, or project association.

What to reach for next

Section titled “What to reach for next”
  • Author a runtime.yaml so the configuration lives in source → Configuration
  • Learn the full lifecycle (pause, resume, reset, keepalive, connect) → Managing runtimes
  • Install a capability bundle on the runtime → Capabilities
  • Inspect the sandbox behind the runtime → Sandboxes
  • Browse every CLI flag → dn runtime