create instance

Creates a new instance by accepting an “ask” contract from a provider.

• Use the search offers endpoint to discover available machines.
• If template_id is provided, those template defaults are either merged or overridden by parameters specified in the request body.

Template Precedence Rules:

• Scalar fields (image, disk, runtype, etc.): Request value overrides template value
• env: Merged by key. Request values win on key conflicts
• extra_filters: Merged by key. Request values win on key conflicts

For detailed template usage, see Creating and Using Templates with API.

CLI Usage: vastai create instance <offer_id> <image> [options]

PUT /api/v0/asks/{id}

create instance

cURL

curl --request PUT \
  --url https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/asks/{id} \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <token>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '
{
  "image": "vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag"
}
'

import requests

url = "https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/asks/{id}"

payload = { "image": "vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag" }
headers = {
    "Authorization": "Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
}

response = requests.put(url, json=payload, headers=headers)

print(response.text)

const options = {
  method: 'PUT',
  headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>', 'Content-Type': 'application/json'},
  body: JSON.stringify({image: 'vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag'})
};

fetch('https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/asks/{id}', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/asks/{id}",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "PUT",
  CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS => json_encode([
    'image' => 'vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag'
  ]),
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "Authorization: Bearer <token>",
    "Content-Type: application/json"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

package main

import (
	"fmt"
	"strings"
	"net/http"
	"io"
)

func main() {

	url := "https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/asks/{id}"

	payload := strings.NewReader("{\n  \"image\": \"vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag\"\n}")

	req, _ := http.NewRequest("PUT", url, payload)

	req.Header.Add("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
	req.Header.Add("Content-Type", "application/json")

	res, _ := http.DefaultClient.Do(req)

	defer res.Body.Close()
	body, _ := io.ReadAll(res.Body)

	fmt.Println(string(body))

}

HttpResponse<String> response = Unirest.put("https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/asks/{id}")
  .header("Authorization", "Bearer <token>")
  .header("Content-Type", "application/json")
  .body("{\n  \"image\": \"vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag\"\n}")
  .asString();

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'

url = URI("https://console.vast.ai/api/v0/asks/{id}")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Put.new(url)
request["Authorization"] = 'Bearer <token>'
request["Content-Type"] = 'application/json'
request.body = "{\n  \"image\": \"vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag\"\n}"

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

200

{
  "success": true,
  "new_contract": 1234568
}

{
  "success": false,
  "msg": "error 400/3467: Invalid args: 'id' is required and must be a valid offer ID",
  "ask_id": 1234567
}

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "<string>",
  "msg": "<string>"
}

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "invalid_args",
  "msg": "error 403/3586: Offer 1234567 is not your own. Hosts can only rent their own machines.",
  "ask_id": 1234567
}

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "invalid_args",
  "msg": "error 404/3603: no_such_ask Instance type by id 1234567 is not available.",
  "ask_id": 1234567
}

{
  "success": false,
  "error": "no_such_ask",
  "msg": "error 410/3907: no_such_ask Instance type 1234567 is no longer available.",
  "ask_id": 1234567
}

{
  "detail": "API requests too frequent endpoint threshold=4.5"
}

Authorizations

Authorization · string · header · required

API key must be provided in the Authorization header

Path Parameters

id · integer · required

ID of the offer to accept (ask_id)

Body

application/json

image · string · default: vastai/base-image:@vastai-automatic-tag · required

Docker image to use for the instance.

template_hash_id · string

Content-based hash ID of a template to use as base configuration. Template values are merged with or overridden by request parameters (see precedence rules in endpoint description). When using a template, the image field is optional as the template provides it.

Example: 4e17788f74f075dd9aab7d0d4427968f

label · string

Custom name for the instance

disk · number<float>

Size of local disk partition (in GB)

runtype · enum<string>

Launch mode for the instance. If omitted, defaults to 'ssh' unless args/args_str is provided.

Available options: ssh, jupyter, args, ssh_proxy, ssh_direct, jupyter_proxy, jupyter_direct

target_state · enum<string>

Desired initial state of the instance

Available options: running, stopped

price · number

Bid price per machine (in $/hour). Only for interruptible instances

Required range: 0.001 <= x <= 128

env · string

Environment variables and port mappings in Docker flag format. When using a template, request env is merged with template env - existing keys are retained, new keys are appended, conflicting keys use the request value.

Example: "-e HF_TOKEN=hf_xxx123456789 -e MODEL_ID=TheBloke/Llama-2-7B-Chat-GPTQ -p 8000:8000"

cancel_unavail · boolean

Whether to cancel if instance cannot start immediately. Defaults to false for interruptibles. Defaults to true for on-demand with target_state='running'

vm · boolean

Whether this is a VM instance

onstart · string

Commands to run when instance starts

Example : env | grep _ >> /etc/environment; echo 'starting up'

args · string[]

Arguments array to passed to the image entrypoint

Example : ["bash", "-c", "env | grep _ >> /etc/environment; echo 'starting up'"]

args_str · string

Arguments string to pass to the entrypoint (alternative to args)

Example : args_str: bash -c "env | grep _ >> /etc/environment; echo 'starting up'"

use_jupyter_lab · boolean

Launch instance with jupyter lab instead of notebook

jupyter_dir · string

Directory to launch Jupyter from

Example : /home/notebooks

python_utf8 · boolean

Set python's locale to C.UTF-8

lang_utf8 · boolean

Set locale to C.UTF-8

force · boolean

Skip sanity checks when creating from an existing instance

user · string

User to use with docker create (breaks some images, use with caution)

image_login · string

Docker registry credentials if needed

volume_info · object

Volume creation/linking information

Show child attributes

Response

200

application/json

Instance created successfully

success · boolean

If the instance was created successfully

Example:

true

new_contract · integer

ID of the newly created instance contract

Example:

1234568