gibil create

The core command. Generates SSH keys, creates a server on your chosen provider (Hetzner or Vultr), attaches a cloud-init script, and waits until the box is ready to use.

Usage

gibil create [options]

Description

Forges a new Gibil box. Generates SSH keys, creates a server on your chosen provider, uploads your SSH key, attaches a cloud-init script, and waits until the box is ready. Set --ttl anywhere from 15m to 30d; extend it later with gibil extend if the work runs long.

Options

Examples

# Basic — forge a server on the default provider
gibil create --name my-app

# With a repo — clones and runs tasks from .gibil.yml
gibil create --name my-app --repo https://github.com/you/project --ttl 30m

# Pick a specific cloud and region (e.g. Tokyo on Vultr)
gibil create --name tokyo --provider vultr --location nrt --size small --ttl 30m

# Fleet mode — 3 servers in parallel
gibil create --name fleet --fleet 3 --ttl 15

# JSON output for AI agents
gibil create --name agent-task --repo https://github.com/you/repo --json --ttl 20

# Native SKU override (escape hatch when --size doesn't fit)
gibil create --name benchmark --server-type cax31 --location fsn1

What happens

1. Resolves the provider from --provider or the configured default
2. Reads provider-specific defaults from ~/.gibil/config.json
3. Generates SSH key pair → ~/.gibil/keys/<name>/id_ed25519
4. Uploads public key to the chosen provider
5. Generates cloud-init script (installs runtime, Docker, clones repo)
6. Creates the server with cloud-init + SSH key
7. Polls until server status = running
8. Polls until SSH port 22 responds
9. Polls until cloud-init is complete (/root/.gibil-ready, 6 min timeout)
10. Saves instance metadata (including provider) to ~/.gibil/instances/<name>.json

JSON output

{
  "name": "my-app",
  "ip": "49.13.42.101",
  "server_id": 12345678,
  "status": "ready",
  "ttl": 30,
  "created_at": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
}

Next steps

• gibil ssh — connect to your server
• gibil run — execute commands remotely
• Configuration — customize with .gibil.yml
• Fleet Mode — create multiple servers at once