Archil workspace (run session tools in the cloud)

What it is

Archil is a cloud storage and compute service: each command runs in its own short-lived Linux microVM next to an Archil disk. With the Archil workspace switched on, a Claude Code session keeps thinking on your computer as usual, but every time it reads, searches, edits, builds or tests code, that work happens in an Archil microVM against a copy of the project on an Archil disk.

After each change the result comes back to the session's folder on your computer — same files, same commits — so you review and land the work exactly as you would any other session.

Where to find it

1. Get an API key from console.archil.com (it starts with key-).
2. Open Settings → Accounts & Providers → Archil and paste the key.
3. Open MCP Servers and switch Archil on for the project, or for a single session.

New sessions in that project then run their tools on Archil. Sessions already running pick it up the next time they start.

How it behaves

• The session's own file tools are switched off; in their place it gets tools that run on Archil, plus one to follow a different folder (such as a new worktree of the same repository) and one to settle a conflict.
• Every Archil tool asks for permission exactly when the tool it replaces would.
• Archil stops any single command after five minutes; the workspace stops a command at four so its output and changes still come back. Split long builds into steps.
• The first session on a repository uploads it once; later sessions send only what changed. On a slow connection the first one can take a few minutes, and a very large repository makes each shell command slower because every call starts a fresh microVM.
• A session working on master or main never moves that branch; its commits come home as a separate archil/… branch instead.
• If you edit a file locally while the cloud changes the same file, nothing is overwritten — the agent is told. If it then asks to keep the cloud version, your local version is saved first so it can be recovered.
• Archil bills its own account: the free plan includes a monthly allowance of sandbox time, then a per-hour rate. Omniscio adds no charges.
• Other engines, helper sessions, the notes vault and cloud box sessions never use it.

For agents

• Tools: mcp__archil__bash, read, write, edit, glob, grep, workspace (local_path must be a worktree of the session's repository), sync (prefer: workspace | local; workspace saves the local state to refs/archil-backup/<time> first).
• Settings: archilApiKey (encrypted), archilMcpEnabled (global default, off), archilRegion (default aws-us-east-1); per project or session through the MCP selection controls.
• The workspace root inside the microVM is /mnt/archil/ws/<binding>; the working directory persists between calls, environment variables do not.

Related

• MCP servers
• Cloud session templates