Auto Lifecycle

Configure automatic stop, archive, and delete intervals for Daytona sandboxes

Overview

Daytona provides automatic lifecycle management to optimize resource usage and costs. Sandboxes can be configured to automatically stop, archive, or delete after periods of inactivity.

Lifecycle Stages

Stage	Description	Data Preservation
Running	Sandbox is active and consuming resources	Full state
Stopped	Sandbox is paused, disk persisted	Full state
Archived	Sandbox stored in cold storage	Full state
Deleted	Sandbox permanently removed	None

Auto-Stop

Automatically stop sandboxes after a period of inactivity.

Configure Auto-Stop

TypeScript

import { Daytona } from '@daytonaio/sdk'

const daytona = new Daytona()

// Auto-stop after 30 minutes of inactivity
const sandbox = await daytona.create({
  autoStopInterval: 30  // minutes
})

console.log(`Auto-stop interval: ${sandbox.autoStopInterval} minutes`)

Update Auto-Stop Interval

TypeScript

// Change auto-stop interval on existing sandbox
await sandbox.setAutostopInterval(60)  // 1 hour

// Disable auto-stop
await sandbox.setAutostopInterval(0)

await sandbox.refreshData()
console.log(`New auto-stop: ${sandbox.autoStopInterval} minutes`)

Default Auto-Stop

If not specified, sandboxes use a default auto-stop interval of 15 minutes.

Auto-Archive

Automatically archive sandboxes that have been stopped for a specified period.

Configure Auto-Archive

TypeScript

// Auto-archive after 24 hours of being stopped
const sandbox = await daytona.create({
  autoArchiveInterval: 1440  // 24 hours = 1440 minutes
})

console.log(`Auto-archive interval: ${sandbox.autoArchiveInterval} minutes`)

Update Auto-Archive Interval

TypeScript

// Change to 1 hour
await sandbox.setAutoArchiveInterval(60)

// Use maximum interval (organization default)
await sandbox.setAutoArchiveInterval(0)

await sandbox.refreshData()
console.log(`New auto-archive: ${sandbox.autoArchiveInterval} minutes`)

Default Auto-Archive

If not specified, sandboxes use a default auto-archive interval of 7 days (10,080 minutes).

Auto-Delete

Automatically delete sandboxes that have been stopped for a specified period.

Auto-delete permanently removes sandboxes and all their data. This action cannot be undone.

Configure Auto-Delete

TypeScript

// Auto-delete after 7 days of being stopped
const sandbox = await daytona.create({
  autoDeleteInterval: 10080  // 7 days = 10080 minutes
})

console.log(`Auto-delete interval: ${sandbox.autoDeleteInterval} minutes`)

Update Auto-Delete Interval

TypeScript

// Enable auto-delete after 1 day
await sandbox.setAutoDeleteInterval(1440)

// Delete immediately upon stopping
await sandbox.setAutoDeleteInterval(0)

// Disable auto-delete
await sandbox.setAutoDeleteInterval(-1)

await sandbox.refreshData()
console.log(`Auto-delete: ${sandbox.autoDeleteInterval} minutes`)

Default Auto-Delete

By default, auto-delete is disabled (autoDeleteInterval = -1).

Ephemeral Sandboxes

Create sandboxes that are automatically deleted when stopped:

TypeScript

// Ephemeral sandbox - deleted immediately upon stopping
const ephemeralSandbox = await daytona.create({
  ephemeral: true
})

// Equivalent to:
// await daytona.create({ autoDeleteInterval: 0 })

console.log(`Auto-delete: ${ephemeralSandbox.autoDeleteInterval}`)  // 0

Lifecycle Configuration Examples

Development Environment

// Development sandbox with moderate lifecycle
const devSandbox = await daytona.create({
  autoStopInterval: 60,      // Stop after 1 hour idle
  autoArchiveInterval: 1440, // Archive after 1 day stopped
  autoDeleteInterval: -1,    // Never auto-delete
  labels: {
    environment: 'development'
  }
})

CI/CD Pipeline Sandbox

// Short-lived CI sandbox
const ciSandbox = await daytona.create({
  autoStopInterval: 5,      // Stop after 5 minutes idle
  autoDeleteInterval: 60,   // Delete after 1 hour stopped
  labels: {
    purpose: 'ci-pipeline',
    pipeline_id: 'build-123'
  }
})

Long-Term Research Environment

// Long-lived research sandbox
const researchSandbox = await daytona.create({
  autoStopInterval: 240,      // Stop after 4 hours idle
  autoArchiveInterval: 0,     // Maximum archive interval
  autoDeleteInterval: -1,     // Never auto-delete
  labels: {
    project: 'ml-research',
    preserve: 'true'
  }
})

Temporary Demo Environment

// Ephemeral demo sandbox
const demoSandbox = await daytona.create({
  ephemeral: true,           // Delete on stop
  autoStopInterval: 120,     // Stop after 2 hours
  public: true,              // Public preview URLs
  labels: {
    purpose: 'demo',
    temporary: 'true'
  }
})

Activity Refresh

Reset the inactivity timer to prevent auto-stop:

TypeScript

// Keep sandbox alive during long-running operations
await sandbox.refreshActivity()

// The auto-stop timer is now reset

What Counts as Activity?

The following actions reset the inactivity timer:

• SDK operations (file operations, process execution, etc.)
• State changes (start, stop)
• Configuration updates
• Manual activity refresh

Note: Preview URL access does NOT count as activity.

Lifecycle Interval Reference

Parameter	Type	Default	Special Values
autoStopInterval	number	15	0 = disabled
autoArchiveInterval	number	10080 (7 days)	0 = max interval
autoDeleteInterval	number	-1 (disabled)	-1 = disabled 0 = immediate
ephemeral	boolean	false	Sets autoDeleteInterval = 0

Time Conversion Helper

// Helper function to convert time units to minutes
function toMinutes(value: number, unit: 'minutes' | 'hours' | 'days'): number {
  const multipliers = {
    minutes: 1,
    hours: 60,
    days: 1440
  }
  return value * multipliers[unit]
}

// Examples:
const sandbox = await daytona.create({
  autoStopInterval: toMinutes(2, 'hours'),      // 120 minutes
  autoArchiveInterval: toMinutes(3, 'days'),    // 4320 minutes
  autoDeleteInterval: toMinutes(7, 'days')      // 10080 minutes
})

Best Practices

1. Development environments: Use moderate auto-stop (30-60 min) to save resources while maintaining convenience.

2. CI/CD sandboxes: Use aggressive auto-delete (ephemeral or short intervals) to minimize costs.

3. Production-like environments: Disable auto-delete and use long archive intervals to preserve important work.

4. Demos and testing: Use ephemeral sandboxes for temporary workloads.

5. Long-running jobs: Call refreshActivity() periodically to prevent auto-stop during extended operations.

6. Cost optimization: Enable auto-archive and auto-delete for unused sandboxes to reduce storage costs.

Related

• Resource Management - Configure CPU and memory
• Custom Images - Build custom environments
• Monitoring - Track sandbox usage