Sharing an environment

The unit you share is an Environment version. By default that is all that travels: the recipient's new pod gets the environment you shared plus a brand new, empty volume of their own. You can optionally include files too: a frozen copy of one saved point on your volume, at the time you share. The recipient never gets your live volume either way; an included copy becomes a new volume of their own, duplicated from that point.

Sharing a version

From the pod header or the Environment picker's … menu, choose Share environment. On a Stopped pod this shares the environment as it already stands. On a Running pod it takes a fresh capture first, mints the next version if anything changed, and then shares that. The console dialog also offers Include files, unchecked by default, to add a frozen copy of your volume's current saved point.

aq env share <name|id>

The aq command always shares the environment only. That returns a link to one Environment version. Anyone who opens it starts a new pod with that version preselected and, unless you included files from the console, an empty volume.

What the dialog shows you before it sends anything

The Share dialog previews exactly what is going out, built from the version's stored included and left-out paths, so it works even with no box running:

• The top-level paths going out
• The paths held back: everything under /root outside a small allowlist (a detected venv or conda directory, ~/.local, ~/ComfyUI), and anything matching a credential pattern anywhere in the capture (.ssh, .aws, tokens, .env files, and similar)
• The startup script, scanned for a token shape. A hit refuses the Share and shows you the line, because a leaked key in a startup script is worse than a leaked file

Keeping one without a link

Keep this environment does the same capture and versioning as Share, but asks for a name instead of returning a link. A kept environment lists under Yours in the New pod picker and survives if you delete the pod it came from.

aq env keep <name|id> <environment-name>

Opening a link someone sent you

Opening the link starts a New pod screen with their Environment version preselected under Shared with me, and a volume of your own: fresh and empty, or a new volume duplicated from the sharer's included point if they added one. Nothing about the original changes, and the person who shared it is not billed for your pod.

aq env ls

lists the environments in your own library, including ones shared with you.

What it costs

An environment version bills at $0.02/GiB per month for as long as it exists, whether kept, shared, or both. Deleting a kept or shared environment breaks nothing already running; it only stops new pods from picking it up, and existing share links stop working.