vastai-hello-world

name	vastai-hello-world
description	Rent your first GPU instance on Vast.ai and run a workload. Use when starting a new Vast.ai integration, testing your setup, or learning basic Vast.ai GPU rental patterns. Trigger with phrases like "vastai hello world", "vastai example", "vastai quick start", "rent first gpu", "vastai first instance".
allowed-tools	Read, Write, Edit, Bash(vastai:*), Bash(curl:*), Bash(ssh:*)
version	1.11.0
license	MIT
author	Jeremy Longshore <[e-mail]>
tags	["saas","vast-ai","api","testing"]
compatibility	Designed for Claude Code, also compatible with Codex and OpenClaw

Vast.ai Hello World

Overview

Rent your first GPU instance on Vast.ai, run a PyTorch workload, and destroy the instance when done. Demonstrates the full lifecycle: search offers, create instance, connect via SSH, run a job, and tear down.

Prerequisites

• Completed vastai-install-auth setup
• Vast.ai account with credits ($1+ recommended for testing)
• SSH key uploaded to Vast.ai (cloud.vast.ai > Account > SSH Keys)

Instructions

Step 1: Search for Available GPUs (CLI)

# Find cheap single-GPU offers sorted by price
vastai search offers 'num_gpus=1 gpu_ram>=8 inet_down>100 reliability>0.95' \
  --order 'dph_total' --limit 5

# Output columns: ID, GPU, VRAM, $/hr, DLPerf, Reliability, Location

Step 2: Search for Available GPUs (REST API)

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $VASTAI_API_KEY" \
  "https://cloud.vast.ai/api/v0/bundles/?q=%7B%22num_gpus%22%3A%7B%22eq%22%3A1%7D%2C%22gpu_ram%22%3A%7B%22gte%22%3A8%7D%2C%22reliability2%22%3A%7B%22gte%22%3A0.95%7D%2C%22rentable%22%3A%7B%22eq%22%3Atrue%7D%7D&order=dph_total&limit=5" \
  | jq '.offers[:3] | .[] | {id, gpu_name, num_gpus, gpu_ram, dph_total, reliability2}'

Step 3: Create an Instance (CLI)

# Replace OFFER_ID with the ID from search results
vastai create instance OFFER_ID \
  --image pytorch/pytorch:2.2.0-cuda12.1-cudnn8-runtime \
  --disk 20 \
  --onstart-cmd "echo 'Instance ready'"

Step 4: Create an Instance (Python)

from vastai_client import VastClient

client = VastClient()

# Search for affordable RTX 4090 offers
offers = client.search_offers({
    "num_gpus": {"eq": 1},
    "gpu_name": {"eq": "RTX_4090"},
    "reliability2": {"gte": 0.95},
    : {: },
})


best = (offers[], key= o: o[])[]
()


instance = client.create_instance(
    offer_id=best[],
    image=,
    disk_gb=,
    onstart=,
)
()