Boot Instance from Snapshot

Boot starts a brand-new VM from a snapshot's disk image (a cold boot). It restarts the operating system and does not preserve any in-memory process or other volatile state. Use boot when you want to change the machine configuration (vCPU, memory, disk) or create fresh instances from a snapshot. If you want to restore memory and running process state from a saved snapshot, use instance start instead.

Boot Instance from Snapshot

Python
TypeScript
CLI

from morphcloud.api import MorphCloudClient

client = MorphCloudClient()

# Boot instance from snapshot with default settings
snapshot_id = "snapshot_your_snapshot_id"  # Replace with a valid snapshot ID
instance = client.instances.boot(snapshot_id=snapshot_id)

print(f"Instance ID: {instance.id}")
print(f"Instance Status: {instance.status}")

import { MorphCloudClient } from 'morphcloud';

const client = new MorphCloudClient();

async function bootFromSnapshot() {
  const snapshot_id = "snapshot_your_snapshot_id"; // Replace with a valid snapshot ID
  const instance = await client.instances.boot({ snapshot_id: snapshot_id });

  console.log(`Instance ID: ${instance.id}`);
  console.log(`Instance Status: ${instance.status}`);
}

bootFromSnapshot();

# Boot instance from snapshot
morphcloud snapshot boot snapshot_your_snapshot_id

Boot with Custom Resource Specifications

You can override the snapshot's default resource specifications when booting:

Python
TypeScript
CLI

from morphcloud.api import MorphCloudClient

client = MorphCloudClient()

snapshot_id = "snapshot_your_snapshot_id"  # Replace with a valid snapshot ID

# Boot with custom resource specifications
instance = client.instances.boot(
    snapshot_id=snapshot_id,
    vcpus=4,           # Override CPU cores
    memory=4096,       # Override memory (MB)
    disk_size=20480,   # Override disk size (MB) 
)

print(f"Instance ID: {instance.id}")
print(f"vCPUs: {instance.spec.vcpus}")
print(f"Memory: {instance.spec.memory}MB")
print(f"Disk Size: {instance.spec.disk_size}MB")

import { MorphCloudClient } from 'morphcloud';

const client = new MorphCloudClient();

async function bootWithCustomSpecs() {
  const snapshot_id = "snapshot_your_snapshot_id"; // Replace with a valid snapshot ID

  // Boot with custom resource specifications
  const instance = await client.instances.boot({
    snapshot_id: snapshot_id,
    vcpus: 4,           // Override CPU cores
    memory: 4096,       // Override memory (MB)
    disk_size: 20480,    // Override disk size (MB)
  });

  console.log(`Instance ID: ${instance.id}`);
  console.log(`vCPUs: ${instance.spec.vcpus}`);
  console.log(`Memory: ${instance.spec.memory}MB`);
  console.log(`Disk Size: ${instance.spec.disk_size}MB`);
}

bootWithCustomSpecs();

# Boot with custom resource specifications
morphcloud snapshot boot snapshot_your_snapshot_id \
  --vcpus 4 \
  --memory 4096 \
  --disk-size 20480

Boot with Time-to-Live (TTL) Settings

Set automatic expiration for instances by configuring TTL settings:

Python
TypeScript
CLI

from morphcloud.api import MorphCloudClient

client = MorphCloudClient()

snapshot_id = "snapshot_your_snapshot_id"  # Replace with a valid snapshot ID

# Boot instance with TTL settings
instance = client.instances.boot(
    snapshot_id=snapshot_id,
    ttl_seconds=3600,    # Instance expires in 1 hour
    ttl_action="pause"   # Pause instead of stop when TTL expires
)

print(f"Instance ID: {instance.id}")
print(f"TTL: 1 hour (will be paused when expired)")

import { MorphCloudClient } from 'morphcloud';

const client = new MorphCloudClient();

async function bootWithTTL() {
  const snapshot_id = "snapshot_your_snapshot_id"; // Replace with a valid snapshot ID

  // Boot instance with TTL settings
  const instance = await client.instances.boot({
    snapshot_id: snapshot_id,
    ttl_seconds: 3600,    // Instance expires in 1 hour
    ttl_action: "pause"   // Pause instead of stop when TTL expires
  });

  console.log(`Instance ID: ${instance.id}`);
  console.log("TTL: 1 hour (will be paused when expired)");
}

bootWithTTL();

# Boot instance with TTL settings
morphcloud snapshot boot snapshot_your_snapshot_id \
  --ttl-seconds 3600 \
  --ttl-action pause

Best Practices

Verify snapshot exists before attempting to boot
Set appropriate TTL to avoid unexpected costs
Use custom resources only when necessary
Monitor boot status for mission-critical instances

Files missing after boot?

If new files don’t show up after booting from a snapshot, run Linux sync inside the VM before creating the snapshot to flush pending writes:

# inside the VM (or via exec)
sudo sync

Booting from snapshots provides a quick way to create instances with pre-configured disk state, ideal for scaling applications and resizing into different resources. For restoring active memory/process state, prefer instance start.