Every organization keeps the CLI entry point, Git checkout, tmux sessions, editors, Claude, Codex, workspace metadata, logs, and signed dev link state ready outside runtime-awake billing.
Runtime-awake billing
Pay for the runtime only while it is awake.
EnvForge keeps the organization shell and workspace storage baseline ready, then meters Small, Medium, or Large runtime capacity only while service processes are awake. Auto-sleep stops runtime billing, and customer-cloud resources stay on the cloud bill that owns them.
Organization baseline
Shell and storage are the always-ready layer.
The baseline gives developers and agents a stable place to land before service processes need CPU and memory. It keeps workspace continuity without charging runtime hours for an idle shell.
Repo storage, branch workspace metadata, signed-link state, and declared workspace artifacts remain available while the runtime is asleep.
Web, API, worker, database proxy, cache, and services reached through signed dev links wake on demand and bill only while the runtime VM is awake.
First-release receipt
First-release pricing receipt.
Pricing copy should make the runtime meter auditable before a team lets humans, agents, and reviewers share a workspace. The receipt names what is included, what wakes service capacity, what stops the meter, and what remains a separate cloud resource cost.
shell baselineThe CLI, Git checkout, tmux, editors, Claude, Codex, retained logs, metadata, and signed-link state stay available before runtime billing starts.
signed dev.envforge.ai trafficThe first signed dev request can wake web, /api, assets, or realtime routes when the workspace runtime is asleep.
runtime awake windowRuntime billing follows the selected Small, Medium, or Large size until idle auto-sleep or envforge sleep stops service CPU and memory.
customer-cloud resourcesDatabases, storage, queues, caches, egress, backups, and third-party API usage remain visible on the customer cloud or provider bill.
security boundary unchangedAuth0, root policy, and signed-link state remain active while the meter is off.
Operational checks
Pricing should leave a usage trail before and after runtime wake.
A production-facing pricing model needs more than size names. Teams should see what can wake paid capacity, what the active session is accumulating, what sleep recorded, and which resources stay on a separate cloud bill.
estimate + cap visibleThe pricing surface should show the selected runtime size, cap posture, and what can wake paid service capacity before tests, jobs, or reviewers start it.
session minutes visibleAn active runtime session should show awake minutes, estimated spend, service state, and the actor or trigger that woke the runtime.
receipt retainedSleep should leave a usage receipt with wake and sleep timestamps, selected size, cap events, and whether signed dev traffic can wake the runtime later.
customer-cloud billDatabase, storage, queue, cache, egress, backup, and third-party costs remain visible as provider costs outside EnvForge runtime minutes.
Awake-only runtime
Runtime hourly billing follows the size that wakes.
Runtime size sets reserved CPU and memory for awake periods. The hourly meter starts when service processes run and stops after auto-sleep, so dev URL traffic, tests, workers, and agent jobs carry the runtime cost only while they need the VM.
Everyday branch work
- Reserved CPU
- 1 vCPU reserved
- Reserved memory
- 4 GB RAM reserved
- Burst ceiling
- up to 2 shared vCPU / 8 GB burst
Full-stack test loops
- Reserved CPU
- 2 vCPU reserved
- Reserved memory
- 8 GB RAM reserved
- Burst ceiling
- up to 4 shared vCPU / 16 GB burst
Agent-heavy runs
- Reserved CPU
- 4 vCPU reserved
- Reserved memory
- 16 GB RAM reserved
- Burst ceiling
- up to 8 shared vCPU / 32 GB burst
- Shell opens
A developer or agent runs envforge up and lands in the workspace shell without starting the runtime meter.
- Runtime wakes
Signed dev traffic, tests, background jobs, or service commands wake the selected Small, Medium, or Large runtime.
- Auto-sleep stops billing
When service work goes idle, EnvForge sleeps the runtime and leaves the shell and workspace storage ready for the next wake.
Usage boundary
What stays ready is different from what bills.
The product plan keeps a workspace handoff ready for envforge up and signed dev links, then meters only the awake runtime work needed to serve dev.envforge.aitraffic or run services.
- Included baseline
envforge upShell access stays ready.
envforge up lands in the branch workspace shell with Git, tmux, editors, Claude, Codex, logs, workspace metadata, and signed dev link state. That baseline is not runtime-metered while services are idle.
- Retained dev route
dev.envforge.aiSigned dev links keep their handoff handle.
The service--workspace--org.dev.envforge.ai host and signed session metadata remain known while the runtime sleeps. A request to web, /api, assets, or realtime paths can wake the selected runtime.
- Metered runtime
awake servicesCPU and memory bill only while awake.
Web, API, workers, tests, database, cache, mail, storage, and queue processes bill during awake runtime periods. Auto-sleep stops the runtime meter without deleting the workspace.
Customer-cloud resources
Resource billing stays with the cloud account that owns it.
EnvForge meters the awake runtime. Databases, storage buckets, queues, caches, egress, backups, and third-party APIs remain customer-cloud costs so teams can audit infrastructure spend where the resources are created.
Managed databases, buckets, queues, caches, search indexes, and other cloud resources declared for a workspace stay on the customer cloud account or provider bill.
Storage, I/O, egress, backups, retained snapshots, and third-party API usage are not hidden inside EnvForge runtime minutes.
The repo contract records which resources a workspace needs so teams can review cost-bearing infrastructure before branch workspaces depend on it.
Pricing principles to review before rollout.
- The organization baseline is for always-ready developer access: shell, repo workspace storage, metadata, logs, and signed dev link state.
- Runtime billing is awake-only: select Small, Medium, or Large, then pay for the periods when service processes are running.
- Auto-sleep turns off the runtime meter without deleting the workspace or interrupting the next envforge up.
- Customer-cloud resource consumption remains a separate cloud/provider bill, so infrastructure cost stays auditable in the account that owns it.