Run a long-running command in a Vercel Sandbox in detached mode and stream its stdout/stderr in real time.
domain: vercel.com · 6 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
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Documented steps
Create a sandbox with a timeout long enough for the task: `const sandbox = await Sandbox.create({ timeout: 120_000 })` (milliseconds). Docs: https://vercel.com/docs/sandbox/working-with-sandbox#execute-long-running-tasks
Launch the command detached so it returns immediately: `const command = await sandbox.runCommand({ cmd: 'bash', args: ['-lc', 'for i in 1 2 3; do echo $i; sleep 1; done'], detached: true })`. In Python use `command = await sandbox.run_command_detached('bash', [...])`.
Stream log entries as they arrive: `for await (const line of command.logs()) { if (line.stream === 'stdout') process.stdout.write(line.data); else process.stderr.write(line.data); }`. Each entry has `{ stream: 'stdout'|'stderr', data: string }`.
Wait for completion and get the final result: `const finished = await command.wait(); console.log(finished.exitCode);`.
Store `command.cmdId` if you need to reattach to this command later (e.g. from another process) via `sandbox.getCommand(cmdId)`.
Stop the sandbox with `await sandbox.stop()` once the detached process and any follow-up work is complete.
Known gotchas
`command.logs()` may throw `StreamError` if the sandbox stops while streaming — handle this if the process might outlive your timeout.
For a non-detached (blocking) `runCommand()`, you get a `Promise<CommandFinished>` directly; for `detached: true` you get a `Promise<Command>` whose `exitCode` starts as `null` until `command.wait()` resolves.
`runCommand()` also accepts `stdout`/`stderr` as `Writable` streams to pipe output directly, as an alternative to iterating `logs()`.
Active CPU billing only counts time your code actively uses the CPU — time spent blocked on I/O (network, DB, model calls) during a long detached process is not billed as Active CPU, but Provisioned Memory is still billed for the full wall-clock duration (1-minute minimum increments).
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