Job Mode

Job Mode lets you run a Playground as a headless, one-shot task runner instead of an interactive environment.

Instead of a long-lived development workspace, a Job Mode Playground:

1. Starts containers
2. Runs a designated "watched" service to completion
3. Captures the result
4. Self-destructs

This is perfect for: running test suites, data migrations, build pipelines, or any automated task that doesn't need a human in the loop.

Enabling Job Mode

Set job_mode: true when creating a Playground via the API:

POST /api/playgrounds
{
  "playground": {
    "playspec_id": 42,
    "playroom_id": 1,
    "job_mode": true,
    "watched_services": ["tests"]
  }
}

Watched Services

The watched_services array lists the container services that Job Mode tracks. When all watched services exit, the Playground is:

1. Marked as complete
2. Job result (exit code + tail logs) is captured and stored
3. Playground is automatically destroyed — no idle costs

If no watched_services are specified, all dynamic services are watched.

Short TTL

Job Mode Playgrounds automatically use a much shorter Time-To-Live (TTL) compared to interactive Playgrounds — typically 1 hour vs. the standard 8 hours. This protects against runaway tasks.

Accessing Results

Once complete, the job result is accessible via the API:

GET /api/playgrounds/:id/job_result

Response:

{
  "exit_code": 0,
  "completed_at": "2024-01-15T10:35:00Z",
  "tail_logs": "...\nAll 42 tests passed."
}

Use Cases

Use Case	Example
Test runner	Run rspec on a feature branch
Database migration	Run rails db:migrate in production parity
Build pipeline	Build and push a Docker image
Documentation generation	Run bundle exec yard and upload docs
Code quality	Run linters, security scans, coverage reports