Idle stop#
A runtime holds its machine's GPUs for as long as it runs. So that a GPU goes back to the pool when you stop working — not when you remember to press Stop — a runtime that sees no activity for its idle timeout is stopped. This page explains the defaults, what counts as activity, and how to keep a runtime up longer.
The timeout#
| Runtime | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| A notebook's | 30 minutes without activity | 5 to 1440 minutes (a day) |
| An environment (shell or IDE) | 60 minutes with nobody connected | 5 to 1440 minutes |
| A runtime that never stops when idle | 0: an admin's choice |
— |
Set it when you create an environment (Idle stop in New
environment, --idle on astra env create, idle_timeout_minutes in
the API). A notebook's runtime takes it from the open request
(idle_timeout_minutes in POST /notebooks/{name}/open); the console's
notebook form has no field for it.
A runtime's page and the lists show when it will stop: in 12 min if nobody connects. In the notebook editor, the runtime's chip turns to Idle stop in N min in its last 10 minutes.
What counts as activity#
Activity is a person's traffic reaching the runtime through the machine's connection:
| Runtime | Activity | Not activity |
|---|---|---|
| A notebook's | Running cells, editing, saving — and, while the notebook is open, its outputs arriving (the editor saves them to the drive as they come) | A browser tab merely open; Jupyter's own status polls |
| Any, with SSH | An open SSH session — terminal, scp, rsync, an editor's Remote-SSH — for as long as it is open, typed into or not |
— |
| An IDE | An open IDE window, for as long as it is open (VS Code keeps talking to its server) | — |
| Any, with apps | Requests and messages you send to an app | — |
Work running inside the container with nobody connected is not
activity. A training script left running in tmux after you disconnect, or
a notebook cell still running after you close its tab, is stopped when the
timeout passes. For long work:
- run it as an Astraeus run — from a notebook, see From a notebook to a training run;
- keep the notebook open, or an SSH session open;
- or ask for a longer timeout, up to a day.
Astralyx decides from what the machine reports (at most every 10 seconds), not the machine: a machine that goes silent does not keep its GPU.
When it stops#
The runtime goes Stopping, then Stopped with the reason Stopped after 30 minutes idle. Its container is removed and its GPUs are free. Its drive keeps your files; a kernel's variables and the processes you started are gone.
Opening the notebook again, astra ssh, an editor connecting, Open IDE
or Start start it again — a new run on the same drive. Run the
notebook's cells again.
Never idle#
An admin may make a runtime that is never stopped when idle
(idle_timeout_minutes: 0, Idle stop 0, --idle 0): a shared, always-on
environment such as a team's login node. It runs
until a person stops it. Anyone else asking for 0 is refused:
403 ADMIN_ONLY idle_timeout_minutes 0 (never stopped when idle) is for
the workspace's admins: a shared environment that stays up. Choose 5 to
1440 minutes.
Cost
A runtime that never stops holds its machine's cores, memory and GPUs around the clock. Give such an environment no GPU: runs go to the GPUs from it.