Machine Sizing

Here are a few ways to set the size (CPU and memory) of your Machine VMs.

General Rules

We have some preset sizes for you to choose from. Each CPU selection defaults to a specific amount of memory.

You can, however, scale your machine’s CPU and memory separately. Memory limits are 2gb * shared CPU size or 8gb * performance CPU size. Minimum memory is 256m * shared CPU size or 2048m * performance CPU size.

Examples:

• If you have 4 shared CPUs, the max memory you can add is 2048 * 4 = 8192.
• If you have 4 performance CPU’s, the max memory you can add is 8192 * 4 = 32768.

Using Size Presets

Any size listed for Machines on the pricing page can be used when creating a Machine.

Here’s what that looks like to launch a performance-2x machine (2 CPU, 4gb memory):

curl -i -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${FLY_API_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "http://${FLY_API_HOSTNAME}/v1/apps/my-app-name/machines" \
  -d '{
  "name": "savvy-machine",
  "config": {
    "image": "some-savvy-image",
    "size": "performance-2x"
  }
}'

If you’re using flyctl, the equivalent command looks like this:

fly machine run \
    -a my-app-name \
    --name savvy-machine \
    --vm-size performance-2x \
    some-savvy-image

Custom Sizes

When creating a machine, you can define the CPU and memory sizes yourself. Memory must be a multiple of 256 for shared sizes, and 2048 for performance sizes.

Here we create a machine with a 2 CPUs but double the RAM you’d get if using size shared-cpu-2x.

curl -i -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${FLY_API_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "http://${FLY_API_HOSTNAME}/v1/apps/my-app-name/machines" \
  -d '{
  "name": "savvy-machine",
  "config": {
    "image": "some-savvy-image",
    "guest": {
      "cpu_kind": "shared",
      "cpus": 2,
      "memory_mb": 1024
    }
  }
}'

The cpu_kind parameter can be one of shared or performance.

If you’re using flyctl, the equivalent command looks like this:

fly machine run \
    -a my-app-name \
    --name savvy-machine \
    --vm-cpus 2 \
    --vm-memory 1024 \
    some-savvy-image

There is not yet a CLI flag for shared vs performance. It defaults to shared CPU types.

Adjusting Machine Size

You can adjust CPU and memory by updating a Machine. Updating a machine replaces the VM with a new one, but machine ID stays the same.

If we create a machine with the same command as above (using 1024m memory), but later want to reduce that to 512m (the minimum allowed), we can make the following API call:

# Updating a machine requires the *entire* config
# so treat this as an example
curl -i -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${FLY_API_TOKEN}" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "http://${FLY_API_HOSTNAME}/v1/apps/my-app-name/machines/73d8d46dbee589" \
  -d '{
  "config": {
    "image": "some-savvy-image",
    "guest": {
      "cpu_kind": "shared",
      "cpus": 2,
      "memory_mb": 512
    }
  }
}'

If you’re using flyctl, the equivalent command looks like this:

fly machine update \
    -a my-app-name \
    -i some-savvy-image \
    --vm-cpus 2 \
    --vm-memory 512 \
    73d8d46dbee589