> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.boxlite.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Choose an image for a Cloud box

> The three images the console offers, what an image reference looks like from code, and which one to start from.

A box starts from an image. Pick the one that already has your runtime rather than installing it on every start.

## Prerequisites

* An API key from the console, exported as `BOXLITE_API_KEY`. See [API keys](/cloud/api-keys).
* `pip install boxlite`, and the REST URL exported as `BOXLITE_REST_URL`. See [Quickstart](/cloud/quickstart).

## Choose an image

The **New Box** dialog offers three images:

| Console option | Use it for                                            |
| -------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Base**       | A general-purpose Linux box you install into yourself |
| **Python**     | Python workloads without a build step                 |
| **Node.js**    | Node workloads without a build step                   |

From code you pass an image reference instead. The official SDK examples use `ghcr.io/boxlite-ai/boxlite-agent-base:v0.1.0`, and that is the image to start from when you have no reason to pick another:

```python theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"}}
import asyncio
import os
import time

from boxlite import ApiKeyCredential, Boxlite, BoxliteRestOptions, BoxOptions

async def main() -> None:
    box_id = None
    rt = None
    try:
        # export BOXLITE_API_KEY=<YOUR_API_KEY> before running
        rt = Boxlite.rest(BoxliteRestOptions(
            url=os.environ.get("BOXLITE_REST_URL", "https://api.boxlite.ai"),
            credential=ApiKeyCredential(os.environ["BOXLITE_API_KEY"]),
        ))

        box = await rt.create(
            BoxOptions(image="ghcr.io/boxlite-ai/boxlite-agent-base:v0.1.0"),
            name=f"image-check-{int(time.time())}",
        )
        box_id = box.id
        await box.start()

        execution = await box.exec("cat", args=["/etc/os-release"])
        output = ""
        async for line in execution.stdout():
            output += line
        result = await execution.wait()

        print(f"exit code: {result.exit_code}")
        print(output)
    except Exception as exc:
        print(f"box failed: {type(exc).__name__}: {exc}")
    finally:
        if rt is not None and box_id:
            try:
                await rt.remove(box_id, force=True)
            except Exception as exc:
                print(f"remove failed: {exc}")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    asyncio.run(main())
```

An API key carries the `Boxes` permission, and the console describes what that includes:

> Boxes API access — This key can create and manage Boxes. Shared Linux base images are available automatically.

So you do not stage or pull a base image before your first `create`. Image operations such as pulling are not supported over the REST runtime — see [Cloud vs open source](/cloud/vs-opensource).

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Boxes" icon="arrow-left" href="/cloud/boxes">
    Everything else about configuring a box on Cloud.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>