spore.host

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Installation ​

Prerequisites ​

  • An AWS account with credentials configured (aws configure or environment variables)
  • macOS, Linux, or Windows

Core tools ​

Truffle and Spawn are the tools you'll use for every workflow. Install both.

sh
brew install spore-host/tap/truffle
brew install spore-host/tap/spawn
powershell
scoop bucket add spore-host https://github.com/spore-host/scoop-bucket
scoop install truffle
scoop install spawn
sh
curl -LO https://github.com/spore-host/spore-host/releases/latest/download/truffle_linux_amd64.deb
curl -LO https://github.com/spore-host/spore-host/releases/latest/download/spawn_linux_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i truffle_linux_amd64.deb spawn_linux_amd64.deb
sh
sudo rpm -i https://github.com/spore-host/spore-host/releases/latest/download/truffle_linux_amd64.rpm
sudo rpm -i https://github.com/spore-host/spore-host/releases/latest/download/spawn_linux_amd64.rpm

Verify:

sh
truffle --version
spawn --version

Optional tools ​

Install these as your workflow grows.

Lagotto — capacity watching ​

sh
brew install spore-host/tap/lagotto   # macOS / Linux
scoop install lagotto                 # Windows

MCP Server — AI assistant integration ​

sh
brew install spore-host/tap/spore-host-mcp

Then add to ~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "spore-host": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/spore-host-mcp"
    }
  }
}

AWS credentials ​

spore.host uses whichever credentials are active in your shell — the same ones the AWS CLI uses. No additional configuration is required if you've already run aws configure.

sh
# Verify credentials are working
aws sts get-caller-identity

If you use multiple AWS profiles, you can set the active profile per-command:

sh
AWS_PROFILE=my-research-account spawn launch --name experiment --instance-type g5.xlarge --ttl 8h

Or set it as a default for your shell session:

sh
export AWS_PROFILE=my-research-account

IAM permissions ​

Your AWS credentials need permission to describe and launch EC2 instances, create tags, and set up an IAM instance profile for the spored daemon. The minimal policy is documented in the IAM Permissions reference.

Using a shared account?

If your AWS account is managed by your institution, you may need to ask your cloud administrator to attach the spore.host policy to your user or role.

Save your defaults ​

If you always launch with the same Slack workspace ID, idle timeout, or active processes, save them so you don't have to type them every time:

sh
spawn defaults set slack-workspace T03NE3GTY
spawn defaults set idle-timeout 1h
spawn defaults set active-processes rsession   # for RStudio users
spawn defaults list

These are stored in ~/.spawn/config.yaml and applied to every spawn launch unless overridden on the command line. See Configuration for all options.