crabbox-quickstart

1# Crabbox Quickstart
2 
3Crabbox runs your repository's commands on a disposable box — a container on
4your own machine, or a remote machine you lease. It syncs your working tree,
5runs one command, streams the output back, and exits with that command's code.
6 
7## The loop
8 
9```text
10lease -> sync -> run -> read output -> stop
11```
12 
13- **Lease** a box from a provider. `--provider local-container` uses Docker or
14  Podman on your own machine: no account, no login, no spend.
15- **Sync** your current checkout onto it. Crabbox builds the file list from
16  Git, so the directory must be a repository.
17- **Run** one command there. Its exit code becomes Crabbox's exit code.
18- **Read** the streamed output, and optionally timing and test-result files.
19- **Stop** the box. A one-shot `run` does this for you; a warm box does not.
20 
21## Install and check
22 
23```sh
24crabbox --version                  # already installed? skip the install
25brew install openclaw/tap/crabbox  # or github.com/openclaw/crabbox/releases
26crabbox doctor --provider local-container
27```
28 
29`doctor` with a provider is the readiness check that matters: it names the
30container runtime, the leases you already hold, and the `image=` your commands
31will run inside.
32 
33## First run, no account needed
34 
35With Docker or Podman running, this works in any Git repository with no config
36file, no login, and no cloud spend:
37 
38```sh
39git init                                  # only if not already a repository
40crabbox run --provider local-container -- uname -a
41```
42…