How much CPU and RAM does a coding agent actually need?

Every size runs the same software and the same tools, and you have root on all of them. What a bigger size buys is room — cores, memory, and disk — and therefore how much you can keep running at once. The smallest size is also the narrowest in other ways: it is sold in Europe only, it is not backed up, and it has no path to a bigger one later. The pricing page lists the differences side by side.

Start smaller than you think

Most development is bursty. You compile, then read; you run tests, then think. A smaller size handles that rhythm fine, and it is cheaper to be surprised into resizing up than to pay for headroom you never touch.

What each dimension buys

• vCPU: parallel builds, test suites, and running several services at once.
• Memory: large language servers, big repositories, and memory-hungry toolchains.
• Disk: container images, datasets, and dependency caches, which grow quietly.

Resizing later

Because your work lives on a persistent machine, outgrowing a size is a normal event rather than a migration: ask, and we move you to a bigger one. That path starts one rung up — the smallest size does not have it — so if you already suspect you will outgrow it, start above it. Otherwise pick the size that fits this month and revisit it when something actually feels tight. The current sizes and prices are the place to start.