Your laptop sleeps. Your box works through the night
Keep the laptop for the work you watch. Hand the long runs to a box that stays on, keeps its sessions when Wi-Fi drops and shows every limit on one board. From $5 a month.
From $5 a month · Docker and sudo included · Cancel from the dashboard any time
| Them | Your laptop | detachbox |
|---|---|---|
| Lid closed | The agent stops | The agent keeps working |
| Wi-Fi drops | The session goes with it | The session waits on the box |
| Docker | Yes, on your RAM and battery | Yes, on the box's own CPU and memory |
| Check from your phone | Only while the laptop is awake | Any time, from the phone's browser |
| All subscription limits in one view | Open each account | One board, with reset times |
| Cost | Battery, fan noise and a machine you cannot close | $5, $12 or $24 a month |
When it is the better pick
Keep the laptop for short sessions you sit and watch, offline work, and anything that needs your local files or hardware. Everything longer than a coffee break goes to the box.
Questions about this
What about caffeinate or keeping the lid open?
They keep the laptop awake at home. They fail on the train, in a backpack and when the battery runs out. A box stays on without any of that.
Do I lose my local setup?
Your dotfiles and repos come along with a git clone. The box runs Ubuntu 26.04 with Docker, Node, Python and the agent CLIs already installed.
Can I still run the agent locally sometimes?
Yes. Sign in to your CLI on the laptop as usual and keep the box for the long runs. Sign in on each machine separately; copying auth files between them is what breaks sessions.
Other comparisons
- €5.49 + an eveningvs a DIY VPSA bare VPS is cheap until you count the evening of setup.
- $0.18 an hourvs GitHub CodespacesCodespaces stops when idle. An agent job needs a machine that stays on.
- €6vs TerminalboxBoth stay on. One runs Docker, ten tabs and a limits board for less.
- $0 extravs cloud agentsCloud agents start fresh each task. A box remembers everything.
- API ratesvs Cursor background agentsCursor meters agent runs at API rates. A box runs your own plan at a flat price.
- $20–$200vs DevinDevin is its own agent on its own plans. A box runs the agents you already use.
Your laptop sleeps. Your box works through the night
Start a box, hand the agent the job and close the tab. Come back to finished work.
Start my boxCharged when the box starts · Cancel from the dashboard; the box runs to the end of the paid month