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Use this bead sandbox FAQ when choosing a workflow or checking how an account or machine behaves. Each answer points to the relevant guide for the next step.

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Getting started

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Can an agent sign up by itself?

Yes. Run bead signup without a card or human sign-in. Agent enrollment can receive trial credit. Check bead balance for your grant and expiry. Human GitHub signup starts with zero credit. See Agent trial credit.

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How do I see an agent’s machines in the dashboard?

Create an ownership link with bead account claim-link using admin scope. The intended human signs in and confirms the claim. It adds no credit and keeps trial restrictions. See Account ownership.

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Pricing and limits

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Do idle machines cost money?

Running machines incur configured memory charges and measured busy CPU charges. Paused machines incur retained storage charges. Run bead pricing or call GET /v1/pricing for current rates. See workload estimates.

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Why is available credit less than balance?

Credit is reserved for authorized work before usage settles. Reservations are commitments, rather than final charges. See Prepaid credit.

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Does credit guarantee capacity?

No. Admission also checks organization limits, shape limits, and placement capacity. Inspect bead limits and the returned next_action.

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Machines and snapshots

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What is the difference between temporary and persistent?

Temporary machines delete when their timeout ends. Persistent machines keep memory and disk when paused and use funded storage. See Machine lifetime.

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Do snapshots keep running processes?

Snapshots capture memory, disk, and device state. External connections may need to reconnect. Environment values, files, and browser sessions can survive capture. See Snapshots.

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Can I resume at a different size?

Memory restores and forks retain the source CPU and memory bounds. To use another size, create a new machine from a disk template. See Machine sizes.

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Local tools and networking

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Are my laptop tools installed remotely?

No. Worktree commands run on Linux with the selected template’s tools. Your preparation script installs project dependencies. See Set up a worktree.

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Do edits sync continuously?

Worktree sync is explicit and one way. A dev service syncs once when it starts; stop and restart it to sync edits. See Dev services.

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Is every application URL public?

Machine application URLs require authentication. Worktree preview links grant possession-based access to a specific application. See Application URLs and Preview sharing.

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Where do I check service health?

Open status.bead.run. Read timestamps as well as status; missing observations do not prove availability. See Service status.