I'm trying to create a sandbox checkpoint to launch new sandboxes from. When I launch a sandbox from a saved checkpoint, the launched sandbox has none of what was supposed to be on the checkpoint, instead it silently reverts back to the stock image. Steps to reproduce: 1. railway sandbox create 2. railway sandbox ssh 3. git clone https://github.com/some/project /myrepo 4. sync && exit 5. railway sandbox checkpoint create test1 6. railway sandbox destroy 7. railway sandbox create --checkpoint test1 8. railway ssh 9. ls /myrepo - not found. nothing from the checkpoint exists. I can also reproduce this using the typescript SDK instead of the railway CLI.

sandbox checkpoints not working - Railway Central Station

sandbox checkpoints not working

durzo

FREEOP

19 days ago

I'm trying to create a sandbox checkpoint to launch new sandboxes from.

When I launch a sandbox from a saved checkpoint, the launched sandbox has none of what was supposed to be on the checkpoint, instead it silently reverts back to the stock image.

Steps to reproduce:

railway sandbox create
railway sandbox ssh
git clone https://github.com/some/project /myrepo
sync && exit
railway sandbox checkpoint create test1
railway sandbox destroy
railway sandbox create --checkpoint test1
railway ssh
ls /myrepo - not found. nothing from the checkpoint exists.

I can also reproduce this using the typescript SDK instead of the railway CLI.

Solved

6 Replies

Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway • 19 days ago

mayori

MODERATOR

19 days ago

I tried to reproduce it, and the repo I cloned existed on the checkpoint as expected

The 8th step should be railway sandbox ssh not railway ssh since you want to connect to a sandbox not service

mykal

EMPLOYEE

19 days ago

Taf is correct, under my testing this is working as well.

Can you try their steps and see if things are working that way?

Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway • 19 days ago

durzo

FREEOP

19 days ago

step 8 was a typo, i was running railway sandbox ssh on my side, because i don't have any services for railway ssh to even connect to.

I just tried to reproduce it again, and now it's working - it has not been working for the last 4 hours, so i guess writing this post fixed it !?

full console output from the original run:


$ railway sandbox create

Warning: Railway sandboxes are experimental and APIs may change or break during testing.

✓ Created sandbox db7af00f-de0b-458e-b593-cfea1e9a005a (now active)

  status: RUNNING

  region: us-west2

  idle timeout: 30m

Connect with:

  railway sandbox ssh

$ railway sandbox ssh

Warning: Railway sandboxes are experimental and APIs may change or break during testing.

Using SSH key from agent: durzo@redacted

Warning: Permanently added 'ssh.railway.com' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.

Railway durable session smooth-oliver-pc0. Use CTRL + \ then D to detach and come back later

~ ❯ mkdir test

~ ❯ echo 1 > test/test

~ ❯ sync

~ ❯ exit

logout

Connection to ssh.railway.com closed.

$ railway sandbox checkpoint create test2

Warning: Railway sandboxes are experimental and APIs may change or break during testing.

✓ Checkpoint test2 captured from db7af00f-de0b-458e-b593-cfea1e9a005a

Boot a sandbox from it with:

  railway sandbox create --checkpoint test2

$ railway sandbox create --checkpoint test2

Warning: Railway sandboxes are experimental and APIs may change or break during testing.

✓ Created sandbox 44d04010-484a-4b66-be00-fde210c00f81 (now active)

  status: RUNNING

  region: us-west2

  idle timeout: 30m

Connect with:

  railway sandbox ssh

$ railway sandbox ssh

Warning: Railway sandboxes are experimental and APIs may change or break during testing.

Using SSH key from agent: durzo@redacted

Warning: Permanently added 'ssh.railway.com' (ED25519) to the list of known hosts.

Railway durable session eager-flyer-gd1. Use CTRL + \ then D to detach and come back later

~ ❯ ls

~ ❯ ls -al

.rw-r--r-- 1.1k root 13 Jul 03:37 .bashrc

.rw-r--r--  607 root 13 Jul 03:37 .bashrc.bak.1783913865

drwxr-xr-x    - root  2 Aug 17:22 .cache

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:37 .claude

.rw-------  483 root 13 Jul 03:37 .claude.json

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:37 .codex

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:37 .config

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:37 .cursor

drwx------    - root 13 Jul 03:36 .gnupg

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:37 .grok

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:36 .local

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:36 .npm

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:37 .opencode

drwxr-xr-x    - root 13 Jul 03:37 .pi

.rw-r--r-- 1.1k root 13 Jul 03:37 .profile

~ ❯ exit

logout

Connection to ssh.railway.com closed.

So I know I'm not going crazy!

Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway • 19 days ago

mykal

EMPLOYEE

19 days ago

Thanks for the detailed console output and for confirming the correct command was used. Sandboxes are still in Priority Boarding, and this looks like a transient issue with checkpoint restoration that has since resolved. Glad it's working now.

Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway • 19 days ago

Status changed to Solved mykal • 19 days ago

durzo

FREEOP

19 days ago

Ah, I can reproduce it again using the SDK if I pass region: europe-west4-drams3a to the sandbox.create and sandbox.checkpoint calls.

If i stop passing this option, and use the default of us-west2 then it works.

Status changed to Awaiting Railway Response Railway • 19 days ago

mykal

EMPLOYEE

19 days ago

Thanks for the repro - that's a useful find. Checkpoint restoration failing specifically in the europe-west4-drams3a region while working in us-west2 is a bug on our side. We've noted the region-specific reproduction steps and have escalated this up to our team for review.

Status changed to Awaiting User Response Railway • 19 days ago

Railway

BOT

12 days ago

This thread has been marked as solved automatically due to a lack of recent activity. Please re-open this thread or create a new one if you require further assistance. Thank you!

Status changed to Solved Railway • 12 days ago

Welcome!