> ## 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. # What is BoxLite Cloud > A hosted agent runtime built on BoxLite — the same SDK and the same core API, reached with a URL and an API key, with managed storage and a managed box lifecycle. **BoxLite Cloud is a hosted agent runtime.** It runs microVM boxes on BoxLite's resource pool, so your machines need no hardware virtualization — your code needs a URL and an API key. It is built for people building agents: compute, persistent storage, and a managed box lifecycle, shaped around what an agent needs to keep working. ## Two shapes, one runtime A box is more than a place to throw code at. Cloud serves both of the shapes agent builders reach for, and you choose per box. | Shape | What it looks like | What Cloud contributes | | ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Disposable container** | Create a box, run untrusted or model-generated code in it, remove it | Hardware-level isolation without a virtualization host of your own | | **A home for an agent** | One box that keeps its filesystem, its installed packages, and its working state across sessions | Managed storage that outlives the box, plus a managed stop-and-wake lifecycle | The second shape is what a stateful microVM makes possible: an agent installs its tools once, writes files, stops, and picks the work back up later instead of rebuilding its world on every run. ## The same SDK, a different runtime handle Cloud is not a separate client library. You install the same package as open-source BoxLite and swap the runtime handle from a local one to `Boxlite.rest(...)`. ```bash theme={"theme":{"light":"github-light","dark":"github-dark"}} pip install boxlite ``` ```python hello_cloud.py 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: api_key = os.environ.get("BOXLITE_API_KEY") # — create one in the console if not api_key: print("Set BOXLITE_API_KEY before running this script.") return # Synchronous construction; every runtime method below is awaited. rt = Boxlite.rest( BoxliteRestOptions( url=os.environ.get("BOXLITE_REST_URL", "https://app.boxlite.ai/api"), credential=ApiKeyCredential(api_key), ) ) box = None try: box = await rt.create( BoxOptions(image="ghcr.io/boxlite-ai/boxlite-agent-base:v0.1.0"), name=f"hello-cloud-{int(time.time())}", ) await box.start() execution = await box.exec("echo", args=["Hello from BoxLite Cloud"]) 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"Cloud call failed: {exc!r}") finally: if box is not None: await rt.remove(box.id, force=True) asyncio.run(main()) ``` The core API is the same one documented across this site — `create`, `start`, `exec`, `remove`, boxes, volumes. The call shapes differ in a handful of specific places, and the differences are enumerated on one page: [Cloud vs open source](/cloud/vs-opensource). Read it before you port existing code. Node, the CLI, and raw REST are covered in the [Cloud quickstart](/cloud/quickstart). ## What lets an agent stay up An agent that lives somewhere needs its state to survive, and it needs someone to run the lights. Three capabilities carry that: * **Storage that outlives the box.** A box loses everything on its disk when it is destroyed. A managed volume does not — mount it into a box to read and write, and another box can mount it later. See [Volumes](/cloud/volumes). * **A managed lifecycle.** When you create a box in the console you set **Stop when idle**, **Wake on access**, and **Delete after stopping**. A stopped box wakes on SDK exec, file operations, or a terminal attach, so the agent's home comes back on demand instead of burning compute while nothing is asking it to work. See [Boxes](/cloud/boxes). * **Concurrency you do not capacity-plan.** Your plan sets how many boxes run at the same time. Raising it is a plan change, not a hardware purchase. See [Plans, wallet, and usage](/cloud/billing). One detail matters when you design around this: idle means no SDK, terminal, or preview traffic. Work running inside the box does not count, so a long job can be stopped mid-run. [Boxes](/cloud/boxes) explains how to set the idle switches for long-running work. ## What you pay for Usage is metered. A subscription plan includes a quota, the quota is consumed first, and a wallet balance funds anything beyond it. Plan tiers, quota amounts, concurrency limits, and per-box resource ceilings all live on [Plans, wallet, and usage](/cloud/billing). ## Start here Create a key, install the SDK, and run your first command on Cloud. Every difference between the hosted runtime and self-hosted BoxLite, in one table. Create, scope, expire, and rotate the `blk_live_...` keys your code authenticates with. Images, sizes, and the idle-stop, wake-on-access, and delete-after-stopping switches. Managed storage that outlives a box, and how to mount it. How metering works, what each plan includes, and the per-box resource ceilings.