vast-ai-cli

name	vast-ai-cli
description	vastai CLI tool — search GPU offers, launch/create/manage/destroy instances, volumes, templates
user-invocable	false
allowed-tools	Read, Grep, Glob, Bash
model	sonnet

vastai CLI

Binary at /storage/raid/home/getty/python/bin/vastai. API key stored at ~/.config/vastai/vast_api_key.

Global flags: --raw (JSON output), --explain (show REST call), --api-key KEY.

Search Offers

# RTX 4090, reliable, on-demand
vastai search offers 'gpu_name=RTX_4090 num_gpus=1 reliability>0.98'

# Multi-GPU, datacenter only, sorted by price
vastai search offers 'num_gpus>=4 datacenter=True gpu_ram>=24' -o 'dph'

# Specific region, exclude countries
vastai search offers 'gpu_name=H100_SXM num_gpus>=8 geolocation notin [CN,VN]'

# Interruptible/spot pricing
vastai search offers 'gpu_name=RTX_4090' --type=bid

Query syntax: field op value — ops: <, <=, ==, !=, >=, >, in, notin GPU names: underscores not spaces: RTX_4090, H100_SXM, A100_SXM4

Key fields: gpu_name, num_gpus, gpu_ram, reliability, dph ($/hr), datacenter, geolocation, cuda_vers, disk_space, duration, direct_port_count, inet_down, total_flops

Launch Instance (search + create in one)

# Simplest — picks best offer automatically
vastai launch instance -g RTX_4090 -n 1 -i pytorch/pytorch --ssh --direct

# With disk and region
vastai launch instance -g RTX_3090 -n 4 -i pytorch/pytorch -d 64 -r North_America --ssh --direct

Create Instance (from offer ID)

# Get offer ID from search first
vastai search offers 'gpu_name=RTX_4090 num_gpus=1 reliability>0.98'

# Create from offer ID
vastai create instance 384826 --image pytorch/pytorch --disk 40 --ssh --direct

# With env vars, ports, onstart script
vastai create instance 384826 \
  --image myregistry/myimage:latest \
  --login '-u user -p token docker.io' \
  --disk 64 --ssh --direct \
  --env '-e HF_TOKEN=hf_xxx -e MODEL=llama3 -p 8080:8080' \
  --onstart-cmd 'cd /workspace && bash setup.sh'

# From template
vastai create instance 384826 --template_hash 661d064bbda1f2a133816b6d55da07c3 --disk 64

# Interruptible (spot) with bid price
vastai create instance 384826 --image pytorch/pytorch --disk 40 --bid_price 0.10

Launch modes:

• --ssh --direct — SSH, direct connection (fastest)
• --ssh — SSH via Vast proxy
• --jupyter --direct — Jupyter + SSH, direct
• No flag + --args — preserves image entrypoint, args as CMD

Manage Instances

vastai show instances              # List all
vastai show instance 12345         # Details
vastai stop instance 12345         # Stop (keeps storage, no GPU charges)
vastai start instance 12345        # Restart stopped instance
vastai reboot instance 12345       # Stop + start
vastai label instance 12345 "my-job"
vastai destroy instance 12345      # Irreversible, deletes data
vastai logs 12345                  # Container logs

SSH Access

vastai ssh-url 12345               # Print SSH command
vastai scp-url 12345               # Print SCP command
vastai attach ssh 12345 KEY_ID     # Attach SSH key

Volumes

vastai show volumes
vastai create volume ...
vastai delete volume 123

Attach to instance: vastai create instance ID ... --env '-v /volume:/workspace'

Templates

vastai search templates 'query'
vastai create template ...
vastai delete template 123

Serverless Endpoints

vastai create endpoint ...
vastai show endpoints
vastai delete endpoint 123
vastai get endpt-logs 123

Data Transfer

vastai copy SRC_ID:/path DST_ID:/path
vastai cloud copy ...
vastai cancel copy ID

Useful Patterns

# JSON output for scripting
vastai show instances --raw | jq '.[] | {id, gpu_name, status: .actual_status, dph: .dph_total}'

# See what REST call the CLI makes
vastai search offers 'gpu_name=RTX_4090' --explain

# Destroy all instances
vastai show instances --raw | jq '.[].id' | xargs -I{} vastai destroy instance {}