
Set up
The plugin is merged into Paperclip but not yet published to npm, so install it from a Paperclip checkout.1
Create an API key
2
Build the plugin
From the Paperclip checkout, with Node 24.11 or later and pnpm:
3
Install it into your Paperclip instance
With your instance running, from the root of the checkout:
4
Add a boxd environment
In Instance Settings → Environments, add an environment, select the
boxd provider, and paste the API key. Paperclip saves it as a company secret, and falls back to BOXD_API_KEY on the Paperclip host when an environment has no key.Keep a machine between runs
By default the plugin deletes a run’s machine when the run ends. SetreuseLease to true and it suspends the machine instead: the next run on the same issue resumes it with its files, memory, and running processes where they were. In the plugin’s live tests, resuming took about 0.13 seconds.
To start every run from a prepared machine, with your tools and repository already in place, set snapshot to the name or id of a snapshot.
What each machine gets
- Isolation: every machine is created isolated, with no metadata endpoint, no in-machine
boxdCLI or account integrations, and no route to your organization’s other machines. The API key stays in the plugin worker and never enters the machine. - A size:
vcpupicks one of boxd’s machine sizes, 1, 2, 4, or 8 vCPUs with 4 GiB each. Left blank, it uses your organization’s default. A machine from a snapshot keeps the size it was saved at. - Labels: each machine carries
paperclip-provider=boxdand the ids of its environment and run, soboxd machine list --label paperclip-provider=boxdfinds them. - A deadline: when Paperclip sets a lease expiry, the plugin sets the machine’s delete-after timer at or before it.
- Cleanup: a finished run deletes its machine, and a failed start deletes the machine it made. If boxd can’t confirm a deletion, Paperclip records the machine and tries again.