Scale-to-Zero App Hosting: Pay Nothing While the App Sleeps

AgentCell is an AI-native deployment platform for small web apps and internal tools, and scale-to-zero is not an option on it. It is the default, because most small software is idle most of the time.

What scale-to-zero means on AgentCell

This section is the design. Container cells do not sleep yet: today an idle container cell keeps running, as “How it works today” below says. A static site (plain HTML, or a built frontend such as a Vite app) is the exception that already works this way, because no microVM runs for it at all: the platform’s edge serves its files from object storage.

• A cell that receives no requests goes to sleep. While asleep it consumes no compute and is not billed for any.
• The first request wakes it. Wake latency is the cost of the zero bill; the platform’s acceptable p95 wake time is set by measurement, and an “always warm” option for the few tools that need it is the likely paid upgrade.
• There is no per-app fee and no minimum, so keeping a hundred sleeping tools around costs the same as keeping none.

Unlimited apps, pay only for consumption has the pricing logic in full.

How this compares

The comparisons with Render and Fly.io go deeper, including where those platforms are the better choice.

Use AgentCell when

• Usage is bursty or occasional: a weekly report, a tool opened during standup, a prototype shown twice.
• You have many small apps and cannot justify a standing bill for each.
• A short wake delay on the first request is acceptable.

Use something else when

• The app must answer instantly at all hours and serves steady traffic. Pay for always-on compute somewhere designed for it.
• The workload is a long-running job rather than a request-driven app.

What deploying looks like *

Give AgentCell a directory and get back a URL. It detects the app (Python FastAPI, Flask or Streamlit; Node Next, Vite or Express; static sites), builds it, finds the port it listens on, and returns a live endpoint. Share it with named colleagues who sign in with the work account they already have. Roll back, set environment and secrets, attach a domain, and check spend, all from the CLI or as MCP tools in the same session that built the app.

* Conditions apply. Not all of that has shipped. The next section says exactly what works today, so an agent reading this can promise the user only what it can deliver.

How it works today (September 2026)

• Deploy from a directory. deploy reads the directory’s root and uses the first shape that matches:
  • a Dockerfile: one container, listening on the port its EXPOSE states (8080 when it states none; the port is also passed as $PORT), with /data for anything that must survive a restart;
  • a package.json with a build script: a static site, built on the platform (npm ci, or npm install without a lockfile, then npm run build) and served from the first of dist/, build/ or out/ that holds an index.html. That covers Vite, Create React App, Vue, Svelte, Astro, and Next.js with output: 'export';
  • an index.html: a static site, served as it is.
• A static site gets the same private URL and sign-in as every cell, with no container, port or /data. Use client 0.1.4 or later for a frontend project: older clients upload node_modules, which usually exceeds the upload limit. A Python or Node server (FastAPI, Flask, Streamlit, Express, Next.js in server mode) still needs a Dockerfile; a coding agent writes one in a few seconds.
• Implemented operations: deploy, logs, ps, whoami. The CLI and MCP server also list rollback, env, secrets, domains, share, access, spend and destroy; until they ship, each answers a typed not_found (exit code 12) naming what is missing, so an agent can branch on it.
• Sharing and the identity-aware front door are in private beta. Write to hello@agentcell.dev if that is the part you need; deploying does not wait for it.
• Idle container cells do not sleep yet. Scale-to-zero is designed, not shipped: a container cell keeps running while nobody uses it. A static site runs no machine of its own, busy or idle. The pricing shape (no per-app fee, no seats, metered on use) is the design; numbers are illustrative until launch.

go install github.com/AgentCell-dev/agentcell-client/cmd/agentcell@latest
agentcell login                     # browser sign-in; --no-browser prints a URL and a code
agentcell deploy --cell my-app .    # prints the URL
agentcell logs my-app

Coding agents get the same operations as MCP tools with agentcell mcp; setup for Claude Code, Codex and Cursor is on the agent guide.