boxctl
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Changelog

What changed in boxctl, newest first.

Releases are numbered from 0.5.6 on; the version in the footer of every page links here. What shipped before that, during the beta, is listed by date.

0.5.7 — 2026-10-23

The install one-liner installs. curl -fsSL https://boxctl.io/get.sh | bash now puts boxctl in ~/.local/bin, adds that directory to your PATH in your shell's startup file, and leaves nothing behind in the directory you ran it from. There is no sudo install step afterwards any more.

  • The download is checked against the release's checksums before it is installed.
  • BOXCTL_VERSION=v0.5.0 installs a particular release and edge the tip of main, which is all get-edge.sh does now. BOXCTL_INSTALL_DIR picks another directory.
  • The script ends by printing the version it installed and how old that build is.
  • An older boxctl left in /usr/local/bin by the previous instructions may still run instead of the new one; the script names it if so.

0.5.6 — 2026-10-20

Out of beta. boxctl has booted boxes every day for seven weeks; the Beta badge comes off. Nothing changes about how a box works. Backups, public URLs, the CLI, and browser login all stay as they are.

  • Every page's footer shows the version and the build it was deployed from, and links to this changelog.
  • The landing page says what is new in the current version.
  • The pages are tidier at phone width.
  • The Claude Code page explains why a box, not a container.

2026-10-19

  • The image picker lists whatever the backend offers, fetched on each dashboard load instead of being a fixed list. A new image appears without a dashboard change.
  • A box restored from a backup that ended up sharing an IP address with another of your boxes is flagged on its row.
  • Docs: a backup is kept for 30 days; what Ctrl+C, or leaving the page, does to a box that is still being created.
  • The Claude Code page has its own look, puts the install command first, and says plainly that the box holds your GitHub and Claude logins while it runs.

2026-10-18

  • boxctl login opens the browser. One click on boxctl.io approves the CLI and mints its token on the spot; nothing to copy and paste. See API tokens.
  • The install scripts work on Windows too, x64 and arm64.

2026-10-15

  • A page for running Claude Code on a box, at boxctl.io/claude, with a demo video of boxctl claude.
  • Docs: boxctl claude --repo, working across several repositories, and --goal. See AI agents.
  • The install scripts set up bash tab completion.

2026-10-14

  • Open terminals come back after a page refresh. The box's shell keeps running between connections, so closing a tab no longer ends it.
  • The dashboard stops following a template install once it has finished.

2026-10-11

  • A self-hosted build of the dashboard: a container image that runs next to your own boxctl server, with local accounts instead of Google.
  • Docs: using a box as the sandbox a coding agent works in.
  • On the Public URLs tab, a box's name links to the box.

2026-10-08

  • Public URLs: publish any port on any of your boxes at https://<label>.boxctl.app, from a tab of its own on the dashboard. Free on every plan, five per account.
  • Small boxes come with a 10 GiB disk.

2026-10-05

  • Template guides: read a template's guide under the boot form as soon as you pick it, see its next steps on the box's row once booted, and find all of them at /docs/templates.
  • A box says when its template is still being applied.
  • Backups record the size the box was taken at and restore at it by default; a restore can pick another size.
  • A box's next-steps panel stays closed once you close it.

2026-10-02

  • Dark mode, with a light/dark toggle in the header.
  • Backups show upload progress and status, and each box's row shows its backup count and the time of the latest one. A backup's download waits until the upload is done.
  • Docs: a copy button in the corner of every code block.
  • Windows guest images were removed.

2026-09-27

  • Box sizes: boot a box as small, medium, or large, with the disk shown under the picker.
  • Ubuntu 26.04 LTS image; debian-slim is the preselected image.
  • The usage page shows real box-hours, with a chart per day.
  • The box list is ordered by state and paginated past five boxes.
  • Delete asks for confirmation.
  • A teaser for Stacks, several boxes booted together.

2026-09-25

  • A usage page under the dashboard.
  • Idle auto-pause explained on the dashboard: a box nobody has used for six hours is paused for you.
  • A terminal closes when its shell exits.

2026-09-15

  • Public documentation at /docs.
  • Backup and restore replace download and upload: a backup goes straight to cloud storage with retries, a live timer on the button, and a Backups tab under the box list.
  • Terminal and desktop sessions stay open while you switch tabs.
  • A box's row shows the picked image while it is still booting.

2026-09-12

  • API tokens for the boxctl CLI, with install scripts at boxctl.io/get.sh and boxctl.io/get-edge.sh.
  • Download a paused box as a bundle.
  • Popped-out terminal and desktop windows can be docked back to the dashboard.
  • Image names and OS icons in the box list.

2026-09-07

  • Pause and resume.
  • A live elapsed timer while a box boots.
  • A VS Code Desktop image.
  • Clipboard sync between the browser and the box's desktop.
  • The landing page shows the real dashboard.

2026-09-02

  • boxctl becomes a product of its own, split out from onctl: its own domain, Google sign-in, and landing page.
  • Boot, connect to, and destroy boxes from the dashboard, with a terminal in the browser and a desktop (VNC) that pops out into its own window.
  • An image picker with Ubuntu and debian-slim.