At a certain point in 2025, I wound up being overemployed with 5 jobs. I was pretty open about this with my bosses, and they had a variety of reactions from curious to amused to nonplussed. But I did it for a few months, and I didn't get fired from any of them.
Here are the stacks I was working with:
- GKE for the backend + Cloud Run
- ECS + Fargate + SQS + Lambda + CDKTF + Cloud Build
- Argo-based k8s
- Nextjs + Prisma Postgres
- React + Lambda + CDK + Modal
Regardless of the stack, the same problem always came up: demoing work and sharing it for review was hard. Building software is messy, people make choices that don't fit neatly into a single coherent stack, and even the projects that tried to have per-PR ephemeral environments hit rough corners that made these previews tough to use and maintain.
I basically just wanted to give people a link to my localhost. For a while I was using ngrok for that. But eventually, that didn't work either, and I started building tools to help me with this.
Those tools grew into Autodock - a MCP server that gives your AI coding tool a full staging environment with one prompt. This article shows how I use Autodock in my day-to-day work, and the docs are also a great resource if you need more info.
Setup
I use Claude Code as my workhorse these days, but the instructions are the same for any coding agent that supports MCP. You'll wanna run:
claude mcp add --transport http autodock https://autodock.io/api/mcp/streamable-http
Then, within the agent, run /mcp and then select autodock. Press enter to login or sign up if it's your first time. Then you're in!
Launch
The Autodock Dev Box has tons of goodies pre-installed to get you up and running fast - languages courtesy of mise (node, python, go, rust), infrastructure (docker, terraform, kubectl, localstack), AI tools (claude-code, aider, ollama), browsers via playwright, and developer favorites (ripgrep, libfaketime, httpie, jq).
I often use the project InboxPilot to demo Autodock, so I'll use that here, but you can use any repo or combination of repos.
In Claude, type:
╭─── Claude Code v2.0.69 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│ │ Tips for getting started │
│ Welcome back Mike! │ Run /init to create a CLAUDE.md file with instructions for Claude │
│ │ ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── │
│ * ▐▛███▜▌ * │ Recent activity │
│ * ▝▜█████▛▘ * │ No recent activity │
│ * ▘▘ ▝▝ * │ │
│ │ │
│ Opus 4.5 · Claude Max · mike.solomon@hey.com's │ │
│ Organization │ │
│ ~/Documents/GitHub/autodock/inboxpilot │ │
╰────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯
> Please launch an autodock dev box for this project
● I'll launch an Autodock dev box for the inboxpilot project.
● autodock - env.launch (MCP)(name: "inboxpilot")
⎿ Your Autodock box is ready. Please offer to execute these steps for the user:
1) Download and save the SSH key (link expires in 10 minutes):
mkdir -p ~/.autodock/ssh && chmod 700 ~/.autodock/ssh
… +37 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Your Autodock dev box is ready.
Environment Details:
- Name: inboxpilot
- Slug: chilly-mollusk
- Status: ready
- URL: https://chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
- Auto-stop: 30 minutes
Let me download and save the SSH key for you.
● Bash(mkdir -p ~/.autodock/ssh && chmod 700 ~/.autodock/ssh && curl -sf "https://autodock.io/s/gwSIthUm2P7T" > ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem && chmod 600
~/.auto…)
⎿ (No content)
● Bash(ssh-keygen -y -f ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem | head -c 50)
⎿ ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABAQCzV4F6yZlfXu
● SSH key saved and validated successfully.
To SSH directly:
ssh root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem
Next steps I can help with:
1. Sync code - Push your local inboxpilot code to the dev box
2. Run commands - Execute commands on the remote environment
3. Expose ports - Get public HTTPS URLs for your services
Would you like me to sync your project code to the dev box?
Why yes I would like you to sync the project to the dev box!
Sync
Autodock operates from the principal that localhost is the single source of truth. Your agent will code locally, but sync regularly, so updates will be instantly available if you're using HMR.
> Could you please sync inboxpilot to the dev box?
● autodock - env.sync (MCP)(projectName: "inboxpilot")
⎿ Environment: inboxpilot (push: local→remote)
Project: inboxpilot → /workspace/inboxpilot
SSH: root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io:22
… +42 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(rsync -avz --delete -e "ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem -p 22 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new" ./
root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io:/workspace/inbox…)
⎿ sending incremental file list
created directory /workspace/inboxpilot
./
… +113 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Synced successfully. Let me check if there are any .env files that need to be handled.
● Bash(find . -name '.env*' -type f 2>/dev/null | head -20)
⎿ ./backend/.env
./backend/.env.example
./frontend/.env.local
… +2 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(grep -h "localhost" ./backend/.env ./frontend/.env.local 2>/dev/null || echo "No localhost references found")
⎿ DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/inboxpilot
CLERK_AUTHORIZED_PARTIES=["http://localhost:3000","https://3000--sparkling-vulture.autodock.io"]
CORS_ORIGINS=["http://localhost:3000","https://3000--sparkling-vulture.autodock.io"]
SMTP_HOST=localhost
● Read(backend/.env)
⎿ Read 11 lines
● Read(frontend/.env.local)
⎿ Read 4 lines
● I see the .env files have references to a previous dev box (sparkling-vulture). Let me patch them for the new chilly-mollusk environment and sync.
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "cat > /workspace/inboxpilot/backend/.env << 'EOF'
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:…)
⎿ (No content)
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "cat > /workspace/inboxpilot/frontend/.env.local << 'EOF'
NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL=https://…)
⎿ (No content)
● Sync complete.
Summary:
- Synced all project files to /workspace/inboxpilot on the dev box
- Patched .env files with updated URLs for chilly-mollusk:
- backend/.env: Updated CLERK_AUTHORIZED_PARTIES and CORS_ORIGINS
- frontend/.env.local: Updated NEXT_PUBLIC_API_URL to https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
Next steps:
- Install dependencies (npm install for frontend, poetry install for backend)
- Start services (PostgreSQL, backend API on port 8000, frontend on port 3000)
- Expose ports 3000 and 8000 for public access
Would you like me to set up and run the services?
In addition to syncing, Autodock explores how the environment is wired together and patches .env files and source code with URLs pointing to the current environment. It also keeps these patches applied across syncs. This is invaluable for issues like CORS, CSRF and allowed domains in auth providers.
Run
Claude has kindly asked us if we want it to run the services? Of course we do!
Here's where Autodock shines. Inboxpilot is messy, not unlike every project I've ever worked on. It has a docker-compose.yaml, but the docker compose is incomplete and doesn't contain all of the services. The README.md is decent but doesn't contain all the info needed to get the repo running.
Autodock represents countless hours of me "getting stuff over the line." Whenever I hit a snag, I tweaked prompts and context until Autodock was smart enough to deal with it automatically. The result is that it can basically one-shot most infrastructures. For example, in this project, it recovers from an intentionally-underspecified alembic setup by analyzing the repo to connect the db to the backend as the author intended.
> Yes, please run the services.
● autodock - env.run (MCP)(cwd: "/workspace/inboxpilot")
⎿ Environment: inboxpilot
SSH: root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io:22
Key: ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem
... +83 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "cd /workspace/inboxpilot && docker compose up -d")
⎿ time="2025-12-14T06:44:05Z" level=warning msg="the attribute `version` is obsolete"
Image postgres:15-alpine Pulling
... +293 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'cd /workspace/inboxpilot/backend && poetry install'")
⎿ Error: Exit code 127
Command 'poetry' not found, but can be installed with:
apt install python3-poetry
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'python -m poetry --version'")
⎿ Poetry (version 2.2.1)
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'cd /workspace/inboxpilot/backend && python -m poetry install --no-root'")
⎿ Installing dependencies from lock file
... +76 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Dependencies installed. Now let me run migrations and start the services.
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'cd /workspace/inboxpilot/backend && source .env && DATABASE_URL=$DATABASE_URL python -m poetry run alembic upgrade head'")
⎿ Error: Exit code 1
FAILED: Can't locate revision identified by 'head'
● Read(backend/alembic.ini)
⎿ Read 96 lines
● Read(backend/migrations/env.py)
⎿ Read 74 lines
● The migrations need the DATABASE_URL environment variable. Let me run with the env loaded.
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'cd /workspace/inboxpilot/backend && source .env 2>/dev/null || true && DATABASE_URL=$DATABASE_URL python -m poetry run alembic upgrade head'")
⎿ INFO [alembic.runtime.migration] Context impl PostgresqlImpl.
INFO [alembic.runtime.migration] Running upgrade -> a1b2c3d4e5f6
... +2 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Migrations complete. Now starting the backend and frontend servers in parallel.
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'cd /workspace/inboxpilot/backend && mkdir -p /workspace/logs && nohup python -m poetry run uvicorn app.main:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 > /workspace/logs/backend.log 2>&1 &'")
⎿ Running in the background
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'cd /workspace/inboxpilot/frontend && npm install'")
⎿ added 467 packages in 22s
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'cd /workspace/inboxpilot/frontend && mkdir -p /workspace/logs && nohup npm run dev > /workspace/logs/frontend.log 2>&1 &'")
⎿ Running in the background
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "sleep 3 && ss -tlnp | grep -E '(8000|3000)'")
⎿ LISTEN 0 2048 0.0.0.0:8000 0.0.0.0:* users:(("uvicorn",pid=8833,fd=16))
LISTEN 0 511 *:3000 *:* users:(("next-server (v1",pid=9426,fd=22))
● Both servers running. Now exposing ports.
The agent recovered from a few more issues along the way (poetry path resolution, missing env vars) but I've trimmed those for brevity. The point is: it figures it out.
Ports
Autodock jumps ahead of itself in the session and automatically proposes to expose ports. We shall oblige!
● autodock - env.expose (MCP)(environmentId: "a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213", port: 3000)
⎿ Exposed port 3000 at https://3000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io (expires 2025-12-14T07:04:33.033Z).
ACTION REQUIRED: Update .env files that reference localhost:3000
SCAN for vars needing update:
… +14 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● autodock - env.expose (MCP)(environmentId: "a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213", port: 8000)
⎿ Exposed port 8000 at https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io (expires 2025-12-14T07:04:37.632Z).
ACTION REQUIRED: Update .env files that reference localhost:8000
SCAN for vars needing update:
… +10 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(curl -sI https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io/health 2>&1 | head -5)
⎿ (No content)
● Bash(curl -sI https://3000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io 2>&1 | head -5)
⎿ HTTP/2 404
alt-svc: h3=":443"; ma=2592000
cache-control: no-store, must-revalidate
… +2 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "tail -20 /workspace/logs/backend.log")
⎿ INFO: Started server process [8833]
INFO: Waiting for application startup.
INFO: Application startup complete.
INFO: Uvicorn running on http://0.0.0.0:8000 (Press CTRL+C to quit)
● Bash(curl -sI https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io/health 2>&1 | head -5)
⎿ HTTP/2 200
cache-control: no-store
content-type: application/json
… +2 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(curl -s https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io/health 2>&1)
⎿ {
"status": "ok"
}
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "tail -10 /workspace/logs/frontend.log")
⎿ ✓ Starting...
Attention: Next.js now collects completely anonymous telemetry regarding usage.
This information is used to shape Next.js' roadmap and prioritize features.
… +7 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● All services are running.
Summary:
| Service | Local | Public URL |
|--------------------|----------------|------------------------------------------|
| Frontend (Next.js) | Port 3000 | https://3000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io |
| Backend (FastAPI) | Port 8000 | https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io |
| PostgreSQL | Port 5432 | localhost only |
| MailHog | Port 1025/8025 | localhost only |
Services Status:
- Backend: Running at /health returns {"status":"ok"}
- Frontend: Ready and compiled
- Database: Migrations applied
Quick Links:
- Frontend: https://3000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
- Backend API: https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
- Backend Health: https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io/health
SSH Access:
ssh root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem
View Logs:
ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "tail -f /workspace/logs/*.log"
Autodock knows, because it watched me fail at least 1000 times, that exposing ports is a hot mess. It does a bunch of work on the backend to make sure that services are actually up and running and does small cleanup when needed. Often times, it will propose helpful changes to the repo itself that make it easier to deploy anywhere, not just on Autodock.
Let's check out our deployed app!
Frontend
Ooohhh
Backend
Aaahhh
curl -s https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io/health
{"status":"ok"}
If you're using services like Stripe or Clerk, you can use your Autodock URL for a webhook as well.
If I had a nickel for every time I needed to test out an auth flow, I wouldn't be building dev tools in my free time and would have retired by now. No, just kidding, I'd still be building this stuff cuz I'm obsessed, but I'd have a lot of nickels to keep me company.
In our app, we need to sign up. Every autodock box has automatic inbound email.
> Can you use autodock email to record incoming emails to the domain?
● autodock - env.email (MCP)(environmentId: "a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213")
⎿ Environment: inboxpilot (chilly-mollusk)
Email Domain: *@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
Webhook Endpoint: https://47982--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io/email
… +29 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Yes! Any email sent to *@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io gets delivered via webhook to port 47982.
Quick setup:
# SSH in and start the pre-installed handler
ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "nohup node /opt/autodock/email-server.js > /workspace/logs/email.log 2>&1 </dev/null &"
Then send an email to test@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io and it'll be logged.
Payload you receive:
{
"from": "sender@example.com",
"to": ["test@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io"],
"subject": "Hello",
"textBody": "...",
"htmlBody": "...",
"messageId": "...",
"timestamp": "...",
"spamVerdict": "PASS",
"virusVerdict": "PASS"
}
Want me to start the email handler and you can test it?
> Yes please!
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "bash -li -c 'nohup node /opt/autodock/email-server.js > /workspace/logs/email.log
2>&…)
⎿ LISTEN 0 511 *:47982 *:* users:(("MainThread",pid=6304,fd=21))
bash: cannot set terminal process group (-1): Inappropriate ioctl for device
bash: no job control in this shell
[1] 6304
● Email handler running on port 47982.
Send a test email to: anything@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
Once you send it, I can tail the log to see it arrive:
ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "tail -f /workspace/logs/email.log"
Or let me know when you've sent one and I'll check the log.
> Signed up! Please check the email and give me the Clerk code.
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "cat /workspace/logs/email.log")
⎿ ============================================================
AUTODOCK EMAIL WEBHOOK SERVER
============================================================
… +32 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Your Clerk code is: 310413
And we're in!
Autodock provides a simple server to get you started, and it is hackable by your agent to help handle more complex flows like end-to-end testing.
Observability
Autodock dev boxes are designed from the ground up with observability as a first-class citizen. It uses Loki as a single source of truth for all services, allowing your favorite agent to diagnose tricky bugs across services using LogQL.
> Could you use autodock to observe running services?
● autodock - env.observe (MCP)(environmentId: "a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213", limit: 50, since: "30m")
⎿ Environment: inboxpilot
SSH: root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io:22 Key: ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem
QUERY (last 30m):
… +26 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io 'NOW=$(date +%s); START=$((NOW - 3600)); curl -s
"http://localhost:3100/loki/api/v1/qu…)
⎿ 2025-12-14T07:41:12.907831+00:00 ip-10-1-1-153 systemd-logind[571]: Removed session 33.
2025-12-14T07:41:12.906650+00:00 ip-10-1-1-153 systemd-logind[571]: Session 33 logged out. Waiting for processes to exit.
2025-12-14T07:41:12.902813+00:00 ip-10-1-1-153 sshd[12002]: pam_unix(sshd:session): session closed for user root
… +23 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Those are system logs. Let me filter for app logs:
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io 'NOW=$(date +%s); START=$((NOW - 900)); curl -s
"http://localhost:3100/loki/api/v1/que…)
⎿ [backend.log] INFO: 89.27.96.120:0 - "GET /me HTTP/1.1" 200 OK
[backend.log] INFO: 89.27.96.120:0 - "OPTIONS /me HTTP/1.1" 200 OK
[frontend.log] Read more: https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/config/next-config-js/allowedDevOrigins
… +5 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Last 15 minutes:
| Source | Event |
|--------------|-------------------------------------------|
| frontend.log | ○ Compiling / ... |
| frontend.log | GET / 200 in 8.8s (initial compile) |
| frontend.log | POST / 200 in 68ms |
| frontend.log | ⚠️ Cross-origin warning from autodock URL |
| backend.log | OPTIONS /me → 200 (CORS preflight) |
| backend.log | GET /me → 200 (user profile fetch) |
Basically: You loaded the frontend, it compiled, made an API call to /me to get user info, and everything succeeded. The cross-origin warning is just Next.js being cautious about the autodock proxy URL.
Frontend
One of the more recent features I added to autodock is frontend log aggregation. This has allowed me to send short snippets that folks paste into their console, and agents are able to correlate logs from the dev box with logs from multiple frontends to diagnose tricky bugs.
First, I ask it for a browser trace:
> Could you please give me a code for an autodock browser trace?
⎿ Browser listener started!
Have the user paste this in their browser console:
```
{% endraw %}
… +8 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Paste this in your browser console:
fetch('https://autodock.io/b/2LXLVU').then(r=>r.text()).then(eval)
Once you've done that, let me know and I'll poll for events (console logs, network requests, errors).
To stop: autodock.stop()
{% raw %}
Then, I dutifully oblige:
After messing with the app for a bit, I ask autodock what it sees.
bash
> Could you check out logs and network requests from the past 5 minutes?
● autodock - browser.poll (MCP)(token: "2LXLVU", limit: 100, sinceMinutes: 5)
⎿ 14 events:
[07:52:13.734] LOG [autodock] Listening... Type autodock.stop() to stop
[07:52:26.811] NET POST https://live-asp-3.clerk.accounts.dev/v1/client/sessions/sess_36pIy6oE3WMuKx007ZRjpHXzuVd/touch?__clerk_api_version=2025-11-10&_clerk
… +141 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Browser Activity (last 5 minutes):
| Time | Type | Event |
|----------|------|------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 07:52:13 | LOG | Autodock listener started |
| 07:52:26 | NET | POST /v1/client/sessions/.../touch → 200 (Clerk session refresh) |
| 07:52:26 | LOG | Fast Refresh rebuilding |
| 07:52:28 | LOG | Fast Refresh done (1927ms) |
| 07:52:28 | NET | GET /contacts → 200 (2177ms) |
| 07:52:29 | NET | GET /me → 200 (337ms) |
| 07:52:29 | NET | GET /me → 200 (404ms) |
| 07:52:30 | LOG | Fast Refresh rebuilding |
| 07:52:31 | LOG | Fast Refresh done (992ms) |
| 07:52:31 | NET | GET /sequences → 200 (1116ms) |
| 07:52:31 | NET | GET /me → 200 (64ms) |
| 07:52:31 | NET | GET /me → 200 (127ms) |
Summary:
- You navigated /contacts → /sequences
- All API calls succeeded (200s)
- User: Mike Solomon (mike@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io)
- No errors, no workspaces created yet
- Fast Refresh working (Next.js hot reload)
I can also grab screenshots for visual confirmation:
bash
> Could you please take a screenshot and tell me what you see?
● autodock - browser.shot (MCP)(token: "2LXLVU")
⎿ Screenshot requested.
The browser will capture it on the next event batch (within 3 seconds).
Call browser.poll to retrieve the screenshot.
… +3 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(sleep 15)
⎿ (No content)
● autodock - browser.poll (MCP)(token: "2LXLVU", limit: 5, sinceMinutes: 1)
⎿ 1 events:
[07:56:54.671] NET POST https://live-asp-3.clerk.accounts.dev/v1/client/sessions/sess_36pIy6oE3WMuKx007ZRjpHXzuVd/tokens?__clerk_api_version=2025-11-10&_cler
k_js_version=5.114.0&__clerk_db_jwt=dvb_36pEXWHYqejZgaqN7TW1D3gcang -> 200 (247ms)
… +23 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Bash(curl -s "https://autodock.io/api/browser/screenshot/2LXLVU" -o /tmp/screenshot.png && echo "Downloaded" && file /tmp/screenshot.png)
⎿ Downloaded
/tmp/screenshot.png: PNG image data, 1514 x 633, 8-bit/color RGBA, non-interlaced
● Read(/tmp/screenshot.png)
⎿ Read image (43.6KB)
● What I see:
You're on the InboxPilot app, specifically on the Sequences page (highlighted in the sidebar).
Layout:
- Left sidebar with navigation:
- InboxPilot logo (paper plane icon)
- Dashboard
- Contacts
- Sequences (currently selected, highlighted in blue)
- Activity
- Settings
- Account (bottom, with purple avatar)
Main content area:
- Shows "No workspace found" - you haven't created a workspace yet
The app is working correctly - you're logged in as Mike Solomon but need to create a workspace to start using sequences, contacts, etc.
End-to-end testing
Small detour here for one way I use Autodock. If my codebase can't be end-to-end tested with a one-shot prompt to an agent with all permissions, it's a bug. Using all the strategies we saw above:
bash
> I'd like to do e2e testing. Can you use headless chrome to sign up using clerk and autodock email and then poke around the app? Use headless chrome locally and
the exposed ports, corrolating with logs on autodock. Inject a browser listener into headless chrome if needed.
● I'll set up E2E testing with headless Chrome. Let me plan this out and get started.
⎿ • inboxpilot (ready) — id: a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213
• reposcan (stopped) — id: 9af0b25b-0391-4bc4-9435-43a5358fa258
• reposcan (destroyed) — id: 6bbbfda3-c1e6-4adb-8cf6-70878037d65d
… +76 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Search(pattern: "**/package.json")
⎿ Found 100 files (ctrl+o to expand)
● Good, the inboxpilot environment (chilly-mollusk) is ready. Let me check exposed ports and get things set up.
● autodock - env.status (MCP)(environmentId: "a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213")
⎿ Environment inboxpilot: status ready
Your Autodock box is ready. Please offer to execute these steps for the user:
1) Download and save the SSH key (link expires in 10 minutes):
… +25 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Read(frontend/package.json)
⎿ Read 40 lines
● autodock - env.listExposed (MCP)(environmentId: "a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213")
⎿ • https://47982--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io (port 47982, name email-webhook, expires 2026-12-14T06:35:35.551Z)
• https://3000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io (port 3000, expires 2025-12-14T07:04:33.033Z)
• https://8000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io (port 8000, expires 2025-12-14T07:12:21.436Z)
… +5 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● autodock - env.run (MCP)(command: "ps aux | grep -E 'uvicorn|next|node' | grep -v grep", cwd: "/workspace/inboxpilot")
⎿ Environment: inboxpilot
SSH: root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io:22
Key: ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem
… +85 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Let me run the command to check what services are running on the remote.
● Bash(ssh -t -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem -p 22 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "ps aux | grep -E
'uvicorn|next|node|post…)
⎿ 70 1313 0.0 0.3 173832 26316 ? Ss 07:10 0:00 postgres
70 1473 0.0 0.0 173992 7704 ? Ss 07:10 0:00 postgres: checkpointer
70 1474 0.0 0.0 173936 6488 ? Ss 07:10 0:00 postgres: background writer
… +14 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● All services are running: PostgreSQL, backend (uvicorn:8000), frontend (Next.js:3000), and email handler. Let me update the todo and install Puppeteer locally.
● Bash(mkdir -p e2e-tests && cd e2e-tests && npm init -y && npm install puppeteer) timeout: 3m 0s
⎿ Wrote to /home/mikesol/Documents/GitHub/autodock/inboxpilot/e2e-tests/package.json:
{
… +21 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Let me do this interactively. First, I'll launch Puppeteer and navigate to the app.
● Bash(node -e " timeout: 1m 0s
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');…)
⎿ Navigating to frontend...
CONSOLE: Note that 'script-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback.
CONSOLE: Clerk: Clerk has been loaded with development keys. Development instances have strict usage limits and should not be used when deploying your applicat
… +24 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● I see the Clerk sign-in page. Let me click "Sign up" and start the signup process.
● Bash(node -e " timeout: 1m 0s
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');…)
⎿ Navigating to frontend...
CONSOLE: Note that 'script-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback.
CONSOLE: Clerk: Clerk has been loaded with development keys. Development instances have strict usage limits and should not be used when deploying your applicat
… +8 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Good, I'm on the signup page. Let me fill in the signup form with a test email.
● Bash(node -e " timeout: 1m 0s
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');…)
⎿ Navigating to signup page...
CONSOLE: Note that 'script-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback.
CONSOLE: Clerk: Clerk has been loaded with development keys. Development instances have strict usage limits and should not be used when deploying your applicat
… +55 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● I see the form fields. Let me fill in the signup form with a test user using the Autodock email domain.
● Bash(node -e " timeout: 1m 0s
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');…)
⎿ Using test email: e2etest1765699741041@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
Navigating to signup page...
CONSOLE: Note that 'script-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback.
… +35 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● The form didn't submit properly. Let me try clicking the button more directly.
● Bash(node -e " timeout: 1m 0s
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');…)
⎿ Using test email: e2etest1765699759921@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
Navigating to signup page...
RESPONSE: 200 https://live-asp-3.accounts.dev/sign-up?redirect_url=https%3A%2F%2F3000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io%
… +81 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Let me check what the page looks like and find the correct submit mechanism.
● Read(step5-after-submit.png)
⎿ Read image (28KB)
● I see the form is filled correctly with the green checkmark. The Continue button is cut off at the bottom. Let me scroll and click it properly.
● Bash(node -e " timeout: 1m 0s
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');…)
⎿ Using test email: e2etest1765699795640@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
CONSOLE: Note that 'script-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback.
CONSOLE: Clerk: Clerk has been loaded with development keys. Development instances have strict usage limits and should not be used when deploying your applicat
… +40 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Let me check the full screenshot and look for the button.
● Read(step6-after-enter.png)
⎿ Read image (57.3KB)
● I see the issue - there's a Cloudflare "Verify you are human" captcha. Let me try clicking it and waiting for it to pass.
● Bash(node -e " timeout: 1m 0s
const puppeteer = require('puppeteer');…)
⎿ Using test email: e2etest1765699843887@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
CONSOLE: Note that 'script-src' was not explicitly set, so 'default-src' is used as a fallback.
CONSOLE: Clerk: Redirect URL https://3000--chilly-mollusk.autodock.io/ is not on one of the allowedRedirectOrigins, falling back to the default redirect URL.
… +6 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● The Continue button is enabled. Let me check the screenshot and then click Continue to submit.
● Read(step7-captcha.png)
⎿ Read image (55.3KB)
● The captcha is gone and Continue is ready. Let me click it and proceed with the signup.
And so forth and so on until it is satisfied or finds a bug.
I haven't really found a need to add any testing features to Autodock as the agent does a good job with just mcp, and it pings me using sendmail when it's done. But I'm pretty speedy with feature requests if you need anything!
Saving
Autodock can save its work, creating an AUTODOCK.md that can IMHO go pound-for-pound with the likes of helm, nix, bazel and docker for packaging and reproducing builds.
bash
> Please use autodock save to store what we've learned.
● autodock - env.save (MCP)(environmentId: "a88c5ed4-b10c-4c1b-8da6-35143591a213")
⎿ Environment is stopped, not ready for sync
[structured]: {"error":"no_environments","suggestions":[{"type":"tool","command":"env.launch","label":"Launch environment"}]}
● Now let me write the AUTODOCK.md file with everything we've learned.
● Write(~/Documents/GitHub/autodock/inboxpilot/AUTODOCK.md)
⎿ Wrote 106 lines to ../AUTODOCK.md
# Autodock Session: inboxpilot (chilly-mollusk)
> **IMPORTANT**: Before syncing, LLM MUST call `env.sync` at least once
> **IMPORTANT**: Before running commands, LLM MUST call `env.run` at least once
## Quick Reference
- **Environment**: inboxpilot
- **Slug**: chilly-mollusk
- **SSH**: `ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io`
… +96 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Done! I've created AUTODOCK.md with:
- Quick reference: Environment name, slug, SSH command
- Exposed ports: Frontend (3000), Backend (8000), Email webhook (47982)
- Environment variables: Patched values for backend/.env and frontend/.env.local
- Quick start commands: Sync, start PostgreSQL, backend, frontend, email handler
- Email setup: How to receive emails at *@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io
- Logs & observability: Loki queries and tail commands
- E2E testing setup: Puppeteer location and test email pattern
You may want to commit this file so future sessions can pick up where we left off.
Headless Autodock
If you wanna use Autodock in CI, you have a couple options:
API Keys
You can add autodock MCP to your agent using an API as a bearer token. You can manage tokens directly through your favorite agent.
bash
Can you create an autodock api key for me?
⎿ {
"id": "ca180aba-7a95-4bbf-a139-5841a6287944",
… +4 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Here's your new Autodock API key:
<token>
Save this now - it will only be shown once.
To use it with Claude Code in headless/CI environments:
claude mcp add --transport http autodock https://autodock.io/api/mcp/streamable-http --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>"
Github runner
Any Autodock box (really, any computer) can be used as a self-hosted GitHub runner.
Grab your token from https://github.com/<account>/<repo>/settings/actions/runners/new, then:
bash
> Can you set up the box as a gh self hosted runner, token <redacted>
● Bash(cd /home/mikesol/Documents/GitHub/autodock/inboxpilot && git remote get-url origin 2>/dev/null || echo "No git remote")
⎿ git@github.com:mikesol/autodock-demo-app.git
● autodock - env.gh_runner (MCP)(url: "https://github.com/mikesol/autodock-demo-app", token: "<redacted>")
⎿ Environment: inboxpilot (chilly-mollusk)
GitHub Actions Runner Setup
==========================
… +34 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Let me configure and start the runner.
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "cd /opt/actions-runner && timeout: 1m
RUNNER_ALLOW_RUNASROOT=…) 0s
⎿ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ____ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ |
| / ___(_) |_| | | |_ _| |__ / \ ___| |_(_) ___ _ __ ___ |
… +24 lines (ctrl+o to expand)
● Runner configured. Now starting it.
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "mkdir -p /workspace/logs && cd /opt/actions-runne…)
⎿ Running in the background (↓ to manage)
● Bash(ssh -i ~/.autodock/ssh/chilly-mollusk.pem -o StrictHostKeyChecking=accept-new root@chilly-mollusk.autodock.io "sleep 2 && ps aux | grep -E 'Runner.Listener|run.…)
⎿ root 5486 0.0 0.0 7740 2080 ? S 09:04 0:00 bash -c mkdir -p /workspace/logs && cd /opt/actions-runner && RUNNER_ALLOW_RUNASROOT=1 nohup ./run.
sh > /workspace/logs/gh-runner.log 2>&1 </dev/null &
root 5488 0.0 0.0 7740 3600 ? S 09:04 0:00 /bin/bash ./run.sh
root 5496 1.9 1.1 274091592 94444 ? Sl 09:04 0:01 /opt/actions-runner/bin/Runner.Listener run
Conclusion
In my day-to-day work, a flow usually goes like this:
- Build out a PoC or a feature that touches several parts of a stack.
- Launch or restart an Autodock box
- Ping my colleagues with the URL
- Iterate live
- Debug
- Merge
At any point, I have 4-5 boxes running, sometimes 2-3 for a single project. They range from demo environments to proof-of-concepts to analytics dashboards.
Basically, with Autdock, I don't really need a staging environment anymore. I use it every day, and I hope you find it useful as well! You can get started on autodock.io.
It's brand new, and I'm iterating on it all the time as I juggle other stuff. I hope you find it useful, and feedback is always appreciated!
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