Configuration Options — machine.dev docs

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This page is the canonical reference for every label you can pass to runs-on: with machine.dev. For pricing see Pricing; for which workload fits which runner see CPU vs GPU.

Required label

Label	Description
`machine`	Required on every machine.dev job. Tells GitHub Actions to route the job to a machine.dev runner.

Runner type (pick one)

Label	Description
`cpu=N`	CPU runner. `N` is one of: `2`, `4`, `8`, `16`, `32`, `48`, `64`
`gpu=TYPE`	GPU runner. `TYPE` is one of: `t4g`, `t4`, `l4`, `a10g`, `l40s`, `trainium`, `inferentia2`

Optional labels

Label	Default	Description
`architecture`	`x64`	`x64` or `arm64`. CPU runners support both. T4G is always ARM64.
`cpu`	`4`	With `gpu=` only. Scales vCPU: `4`, `8`, or `16`.
`ram`	varies	With `gpu=` only. See GPU Runners.
`tenancy`	`on_demand`	`on_demand` or `spot`. Spot is 70–90% cheaper.
`regions`	auto	Comma-separated AWS region codes. Auto picks cheapest.
`disk_size`	`100`	Root volume in GB. Range: 1–16,384.
`disk_iops`	`6000`	Provisioned IOPS. Range: 6,000–16,000.
`disk_throughput`	`250`	Throughput in MB/s. Range: 250–1,000.
`metrics`	`true`	`true` or `false`. Enables instance metrics.
`metrics_interval`	`60`	Collection interval in seconds. Range: 1–60.

Storage: Every runner uses a gp3 EBS root volume. The default 6,000 IOPS and 250 MB/s throughput are included at no charge. Increasing above the defaults incurs prorated EBS charges — see Pricing.

Metrics: machine.dev collects metrics by default for every job and renders them as sparkline charts on the dashboard. Collected: CPU, memory, disk I/O, network, plus GPU utilization/memory/temperature/power on GPU runners.

There are no environment variables. machine.dev reads your requirements from the labels in runs-on:. Your job’s environment is determined by the runner image, not by machine.dev — use the labels themselves as your source of truth (gpu=l4, etc.).

Available regions

Region code	Location
`us-east-1`	US East (N. Virginia)
`us-east-2`	US East (Ohio)
`us-west-2`	US West (Oregon)
`ca-central-1`	Canada (Central)
`eu-south-2`	Europe (Spain)
`ap-southeast-2`	Asia Pacific (Sydney)

See Regions & availability for which GPU types are available in which regions and how auto-selection works.

Examples

Minimal CPU job

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: [machine, cpu=8]
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: make

Minimal GPU job

jobs:
  train:
    runs-on: [machine, gpu=t4g]   # 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 16 GB VRAM, ARM64
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: nvidia-smi

Spot CPU build with multiple regions

runs-on:
  - machine
  - cpu=32
  - tenancy=spot
  - regions=us-east-1,us-east-2,eu-south-2

Full-control GPU fine-tune with custom storage and metrics

runs-on:
  - machine
  - gpu=l40s
  - cpu=16
  - ram=128
  - tenancy=spot
  - regions=us-east-1
  - disk_size=500          # Bigger volume for model checkpoints
  - disk_iops=10000        # Higher IOPS for fast checkpoint writes
  - metrics_interval=10    # Finer-grained metrics

ARM64 CPU build

runs-on: [machine, cpu=16, architecture=arm64]

Next steps

GPU Runners — every GPU type and configuration
CPU Runners — every CPU configuration
Regions — region availability and auto-selection
Pricing — full per-minute rates