exe.dev

Computers for developers and agents — spin up real Linux VMs so agents run in their own instances, not on your laptop’s last free GB of RAM

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Why this page exists

Friend and builder Ian Borders (Eve Studio / Mac control surface for agents — see /eve) flagged exe.dev as something to get excited about: spin up virtual machines so agents can run in different instances — isolated, durable, not fighting your local machine.

That matches a pattern we keep hitting: local agents eat RAM, mix credentials, and make every experiment feel risky. exe.dev is the “give the agent a real computer on the internet” layer. This page is field notes to learn and use it more.

One-sentence TL;DR

exe.dev is a subscription for fast, durable Linux VMs (KVM isolation, root, SSH, persistent disk, public HTTPS hostname) aimed at developers and AI agents — buy a pool of CPU/RAM/disk, spin up many VMs, pre-install coding agents (Claude, Codex, pi, Shelley), and treat each box as a sandbox or long-lived workspace.

What exe.dev is

Tagline from the product: Computers for developers and agents. Durable sandboxes that are fast, secure, and sharable.

Just a computer

Real Linux VMs — not a proprietary container shape. Root, apt, systemd, SSH. Disks persist; stopped VMs cost disk-only in the model they describe.

Pool, not per-VM tax

You buy a pool of CPU, RAM, and disk. Spin up as many VMs as your plan allows (e.g. Personal: many VMs sharing the pool). Make a bunch.

Agent-native

New VMs can ship with coding agents pre-installed (claude, codex, pi) plus web agent Shelley. Drive boxes over SSH or HTTPS from code.

Networked & shareable

Public hostname / HTTPS proxy with sensible auth defaults — share a web server like a Doc, keep private by default, IAM for sharing.

Core entry: ssh exe.dev (see exe.dev). Docs stress real isolation (KVM VMs, not shared kernels) and minimal blast radius: the VM only has what you put on it, so a runaway agent has less to exfiltrate than your full laptop.

Why Ian’s “spin up VMs for agents” pitch lands

Problem on one Mac exe.dev-shaped fix
One agent fills RAM; meetings + agents fight for CPU Agent lives on its own VM; laptop stays for humans
Agent needs root / installs / long builds Full Linux with root and persistent disk
Parallel experiments step on each other Many VMs — one per task, brand, or agent role
Security: tools + secrets on the same machine as personal data Put only task data in the VM; pragmatic sandbox while “agent security” is unsolved
Show a prototype without deploy theater HTTPS hostname on the VM; share the running app

Community language matches Ian’s excitement: people spin disposable VMs multiple times a day, hand agents micro-VMs for tests, or run multi-hour dedicated sessions — faster loop than waiting on full CI or thrashing a shared laptop.

Running agents on exe.dev

From their agent use-case docs: create a VM (e.g. ssh exe.dev new), then use preinstalled agents for research, prototypes, installs, and long-lived work. Long-lived boxes need explicit agent upgrades (image ships versions at build time; apt upgrade won’t move Claude/Codex).

  • Sandbox posture: “Put your agent in a VM and let it be” — install the agent, give it a job, supervise lightly; isolation is the pragmatic control plane.
  • Shelley: built-in web coding agent on the platform (they dogfood building exe on exe VMs).
  • OAuth for agents: product direction is “agents should access what they need” without parking permanent leakable credentials on the box (blog).
  • Agent skill: teach other coding agents about exe.dev via their skill docs / SKILL.md pattern.

Pricing snapshot (check live — moves)

Source: exe.dev/pricing (captured Aug 2026; confirm before budgeting).

Plan Rough shape
Personal ~$20/month — e.g. 50 VMs, pooled disk (~100 GB), data transfer cap; VMs share pool resources
Team ~$25/user/month — similar VM counts per user, admin/SSO, burst across teammates
Reserved Cloud Pool Hourly large pool (thousands of VMs class) — serious agent/factory scale

Default disk sizes and overage rates are documented on the pricing page. Shelley tokens often track underlying model provider rates (no markup claim — verify in billing).

How it maps to our stack

Layer Question exe.dev role
Local / Mac agent Always-on laptop agents (OpenClaw, Codex CLI) Offload heavy or risky jobs to a VM; keep local for thin control
OpenClaw / Mac Mini (/openclaw) Dedicated home server for one stack Cloud complement: more instances without buying more hardware
Eve / Ian Borders (/eve) Mac UI to run/chat/deploy agents exe.dev = where agent compute lives; Eve-class tools = human front door
PowerLobster / harness Tasks, squads, waves Each task or agent identity can target a VM (or pool) as execution environment
Kitesurf (/kitesurf) Agent browser on Cloudflare Browse layer ≠ full OS; exe.dev is for install/build/long process
Safety (/gymhack) Goal-seeking agents break real systems Contain tools and credentials per VM; least privilege by machine, not hope

Design rule

One sensitive job family → one VM (or class of VMs). Don’t give the “book a gym class” agent the same box as bank cookies and production admin. Isolation is product architecture, not just infrastructure fashion.

Practical pilot (learn by doing)

  1. Create an account on exe.dev and open the CLI path (ssh exe.dev / new).
  2. Spin one disposable VM for a single coding agent task (clone a repo, run tests, tear down).
  3. Spin a second long-lived VM for a recurring agent (heartbeat, weekly research) — upgrade agents explicitly.
  4. Map to a real product job — e.g. a product brain research agent for Para Living that only has market data tools, not full theflysales.com admin.
  5. Wire identity lightly — prefer short-lived OAuth / integrations over permanent secrets on disk (see their OAuth-for-agents post).
  6. Document cost — pool RAM/CPU vs number of always-on agents; stop idle VMs when disk-only is enough.

Official links

Related on this site

Field notes · August 2026 · Credit: Ian Borders for the nudge · exe.dev

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