Spawn

Launch any AI agent on any cloud with a single command. Coding agents, research agents, self-hosted AI tools — Spawn deploys them all. All models powered by OpenRouter. (ALPHA software, use at your own risk!)

10 agents. 8 clouds. 79 working combinations. Zero config.

Install

macOS / Linux — and Windows users inside a WSL2 terminal (Ubuntu, Debian, etc.):

curl -fsSL https://openrouter.ai/labs/spawn/cli/install.sh | bash

Windows PowerShell (outside WSL):

irm https://openrouter.ai/labs/spawn/cli/install.ps1 | iex

Usage

spawn                         # Interactive picker
spawn <agent> <cloud>         # Launch directly
spawn matrix                  # Show the full agent x cloud matrix

Examples

spawn                                    # Interactive picker
spawn claude sprite                      # Claude Code on Sprite
spawn codex hetzner                      # Codex CLI on Hetzner
spawn claude sprite --prompt "Fix bugs"  # Non-interactive with prompt
spawn codex sprite -p "Add tests"        # Short form
spawn claude                             # Show clouds available for Claude
spawn delete                             # Delete a running server
spawn delete -c hetzner                  # Delete a server on Hetzner

Commands

Config File

The --config flag loads options from a JSON file. CLI flags override config values.

{
  "model": "openai/gpt-5.3-codex",
  "steps": ["github", "browser", "telegram"],
  "name": "my-dev-box",
  "setup": {
    "telegram_bot_token": "123456:ABC-DEF...",
    "github_token": "ghp_xxxx"
  }
}

spawn codex gcp --config setup.json --headless --output json

Setup Steps

Control which optional setup steps run with --steps:

spawn openclaw gcp --steps github,browser     # Only GitHub + Chrome
spawn claude gcp --steps ""                    # Skip all optional steps

Available steps vary by agent:

Fast Mode

Use --fast for significantly faster deploys. Enables all speed optimizations:

spawn claude hetzner --fast

What --fast does:

• Parallel boot: server creation runs concurrently with API key prompt and account checks
• Tarballs: installs agents from pre-built tarballs instead of live install
• Skip cloud-init: for lightweight agents (Claude, OpenCode, Hermes), skips the package install wait since the base OS already has what's needed
• Snapshots: uses pre-built cloud images when available (Hetzner, DigitalOcean)

Beta Features

Individual optimizations can be enabled separately with --beta <feature>. The flag is repeatable:

spawn claude gcp --beta tarball --beta parallel

--fast enables tarball, images, and parallel (not recursive).

Secure Boot (GCP)

GCP instances are provisioned as Shielded VMs by default — Secure Boot, vTPM, and integrity monitoring are all enabled. This hardens the boot chain and is required for the Cloudflare (CF) skill to attest the VM. GCP's default Ubuntu LTS images are Shielded-VM-compatible, so this works out of the box.

Opt out for a custom image that is not UEFI/Secure-Boot-capable:

spawn claude gcp --no-secure-boot

Secure Boot is a GCP-only feature here. AWS spawns run on Lightsail, which does not expose Secure Boot; the flag is a no-op on other clouds.

Recursive Spawn

Use --beta recursive to let spawned VMs create their own child VMs:

spawn claude hetzner --beta recursive

What this does:

• Installs spawn CLI on the remote VM
• Delegates credentials (cloud + OpenRouter) so child VMs can authenticate
• Injects parent tracking (SPAWN_PARENT_ID, SPAWN_DEPTH) into the VM environment
• Passes --beta recursive to children so they can also spawn recursively

View the spawn tree:

spawn tree
# spawn-abc  Claude Code / Hetzner  2m ago
#   ├─ spawn-def  Codex CLI / Hetzner  1m ago
#   └─ spawn-ghi  OpenClaw / Hetzner  30s ago
#       └─ spawn-jkl  Claude Code / Hetzner  10s ago

Tear down an entire tree:

spawn delete --cascade <id>    # Delete a VM and all its children

Local Sandbox

The sandbox cloud runs an agent inside a throwaway Docker container on your own machine, instead of directly on your host:

spawn claude sandbox

What this does:

• Pulls the agent's Docker image from ghcr.io/openrouterteam/spawn-<agent>
• Runs the agent in a container with filesystem, network, and process isolation
• Auto-installs Docker if not present (OrbStack on macOS, docker.io on Linux)
• Cleans up the container automatically when the session ends

It's the same setup as the local cloud, but the agent can't touch your host filesystem, shell, or SSH keys. (This was previously the --beta sandbox flag.)

Without the CLI

Every combination works as a one-liner — no install required:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://openrouter.ai/labs/spawn/{cloud}/{agent}.sh)

Non-Interactive Mode

Skip prompts by providing environment variables:

# OpenRouter API key (required for all agents)
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-xxxxx

# Cloud-specific credentials (varies by provider)
# Note: Sprite uses `sprite login` for authentication
export HCLOUD_TOKEN=...           # For Hetzner
export DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN=...  # For DigitalOcean

# Run non-interactively
spawn claude hetzner

You can also use inline environment variables:

OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-v1-xxxxx spawn claude sprite

Get your OpenRouter API key at: https://openrouter.ai/settings/keys

For cloud-specific auth, see each cloud's README in this repository.

Troubleshooting

Installation issues

If spawn fails to install, try these steps:

1. Check bun version: spawn requires bun >= 1.2.0

   bun --version
   bun upgrade  # if needed

2. Manual installation: If auto-install fails, install bun first

   curl -fsSL https://bun.sh/install | bash
   source ~/.bashrc  # or ~/.zshrc for zsh
   curl -fsSL https://openrouter.ai/labs/spawn/cli/install.sh | bash

3. PATH issues: If spawn command not found after install

   # Add to your shell config (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc)
   export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

Windows (PowerShell)

1. Use the PowerShell installer — not the bash one:

   irm https://openrouter.ai/labs/spawn/cli/install.ps1 | iex

   The .ps1 extension is required. The default install.sh is bash and won't work in PowerShell.

2. Set credentials via environment variables before launching:

   $env:OPENROUTER_API_KEY = "sk-or-v1-xxxxx"
   $env:DIGITALOCEAN_ACCESS_TOKEN = "dop_v1_xxxxx"  # For DigitalOcean
   $env:HCLOUD_TOKEN = "xxxxx"              # For Hetzner
   spawn openclaw digitalocean

3. Local build failures during auto-update are normal on Windows — the CLI falls back to a pre-built binary automatically. You may see a brief build error followed by a successful update.

4. EISDIR or EEXIST errors on config files: If you see errors about digitalocean.json being a directory, delete it:

   Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$HOME\.config\spawn\digitalocean.json" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
   spawn openclaw digitalocean

Headless JSON mode — agent exits immediately

When using --headless --output json with Claude Code, you must also pass --prompt (or -p). Without it, Claude exits with Input must be provided through stdin or --prompt and the JSON output will show "status":"error":

# WRONG — Claude exits immediately
spawn claude gcp --headless --output json

# RIGHT — provide a prompt
spawn claude gcp --headless --output json --prompt "Fix all linter errors"

Note: auto-update messages may appear before the JSON on older CLI versions. Run spawn update to get the fix.

Agent launch failures

If an agent fails to install or launch on a cloud:

1. Check credentials: Ensure cloud provider credentials are set

   # Example for Hetzner
   export HCLOUD_TOKEN=your-token-here
   spawn claude hetzner

2. Try a different cloud: Some clouds may have temporary issues

   spawn <agent>  # Interactive picker to choose another cloud

3. Use --dry-run: Preview what spawn will do before provisioning

   spawn claude hetzner --dry-run

4. Check cloud status: Visit your cloud provider's status page

   • Many failures are transient (network timeouts, package mirror issues)
   • Retrying often succeeds

Getting help

• View command history: spawn list shows all previous launches
• Rerun last session: spawn last or spawn rerun
• Check version: spawn version shows CLI version and cache status
• Update spawn: spawn update checks for the latest version
• Report bugs: Open an issue at https://github.com/OpenRouterLabs/spawn/issues

Matrix

How it works

Each cell in the matrix is a self-contained bash script that:

1. Provisions a server on the cloud provider
2. Installs the agent
3. Injects your OpenRouter API key so every agent uses the same billing
4. Drops you into an interactive session

Scripts work standalone (bash <(curl ...)) or through the CLI.

Development

git clone https://github.com/OpenRouterLabs/spawn.git
cd spawn
git config core.hooksPath .githooks

Structure

sh/{cloud}/{agent}.sh     # Agent deployment script (thin bash → bun wrapper)
packages/cli/             # TypeScript CLI — all provisioning logic (bun)
manifest.json             # Source of truth for the matrix

Adding a new cloud

1. Add cloud-specific TypeScript module in packages/cli/src/{cloud}/
2. Add to manifest.json
3. Implement agent scripts
4. See CLAUDE.md for full contributor guide

Adding a new agent

1. Add to manifest.json
2. Implement on 1+ cloud by adapting an existing agent script
3. Must support OpenRouter via env var injection

Contributing

The easiest way to contribute is by testing and reporting issues. You don't need to write code.

Test a cloud provider

Pick any agent + cloud combination from the matrix and try it out:

spawn claude hetzner      # or any combination

If something breaks, hangs, or behaves unexpectedly, open an issue using the bug report template. Include:

• The exact command you ran
• The cloud provider and agent
• What happened vs. what you expected
• Any error output

Request a cloud or agent

Want to see a specific cloud provider or agent supported? Use the dedicated templates:

• Request a cloud provider
• Request an agent
• Request a CLI feature

Requests with real-world use cases get prioritized.

Report auth or credential issues

Cloud provider APIs change frequently. If you hit authentication failures, expired tokens, or permission errors on a provider that previously worked, please report it — these are high-priority fixes.

Code contributions

See CLAUDE.md for the full contributor guide covering shell script rules, testing, and the shared library pattern.

License

Apache 2.0