Quickstart

Install envctl, lease a Linux build box, build a project there and get the binary back, in about three minutes.

You need a Mac or a Linux machine and a CLI token from the console.

Setting this up for a coding agent instead? Follow Set up a coding agent. It installs the envlink skill, which walks the agent through the same loop.

1. Install envctl

   curl -fsSL https://envlink.projectinwork.com/install/install.sh | sh
   

   The script picks the build for your system, checks it against its published checksum, and puts envctl in /usr/local/bin, or ~/.local/bin when that isn’t writable. See Install for other ways.

2. Log in

   In the console, open Settings → CLI tokens and create a token. Then:

   envctl login --api https://envlink-api.projectinwork.com --token elk_...
   

   The token is stored in ~/.envlink/credentials.json, readable only by you. On a CI runner, set ENVLINK_API and ENVLINK_TOKEN instead.

3. Make this machine the sandbox

   From the folder you want to work in:

   envctl sandbox up
   

   envd starts in the background and joins your organization’s tailnet. Share paths you use later are relative to this folder.

4. Lease a build box and share your folder

   envctl env create linux-build --share src=. --label demo=quickstart
   

   It prints the box’s name, such as linux-build-3f2a, once it’s ready, usually in three to four seconds. Your folder syncs to its /work. Files your .gitignore leaves out stay home, and so do secret files like .env.

5. Build there

   envctl exec linux-build-3f2a -- sh -c 'cd /work && go test ./... && go build -o out/app .'
   

   Output streams back as it happens, and envctl exits with the command’s exit code. Anything the command writes to /work/out is on your machine by the time exec returns:

   ls .remote/linux-build-3f2a/out/
   
6. Release it

   envctl env delete linux-build-3f2a
   

   The container and its data are removed. An environment you forget stops on its own after its idle timeout, an hour for linux-build.

Try a database

envctl env create postgres
psql postgres://app:app@127.0.0.1:5432/app -c 'select version()'

The database listens on your machine’s 127.0.0.1:5432, carried over the tailnet. “Ready” means it accepts connections. See Services on localhost.

Next

Concepts

Environments, templates, shares, projects and snapshots.

File sync

What travels, what stays home, and how to change it.