vsnap

Build Vercel Sandbox snapshots from declarative .snap files.

.snap files are declarative build recipes -- like a Dockerfile, but for Vercel Sandbox environments. Each directive is a single line that says what to do: install packages, run commands, copy files, write configs. No programming language, no boilerplate. Just a clean, sequential recipe.

Installation

uv add vsnap
# or: pip install vsnap

Requires Python 3.10+ and a Vercel project with sandbox access.

Quick Start

Create a .snap file:

# my-app.snap
runtime node22 {
    env NODE_ENV development
    expose 3000
}

workdir /vercel/sandbox/my-app

install git jq

run "npm install"
run "npm run build"

Build a snapshot:

vsnap build my-app.snap

The CLI auto-loads .env.local for Vercel OIDC credentials. Run vercel env pull .env.local once to set up.

CLI

vsnap build <file.snap>                    # Build and snapshot (streams output by default)
vsnap build <file.snap> -q                 # Quiet mode (suppress streaming output)
vsnap build <file.snap> --dry-run          # Parse and validate only, print the build plan
vsnap build <file.snap> --dry-run --output json  # Machine-readable build plan
vsnap build <file.snap> --output json      # JSON build result (agent-friendly)
vsnap build <file.snap> --env KEY=VALUE    # Extra env vars (repeatable)
vsnap build <file.snap> --token <token>    # Vercel API token (overrides .env.local)

DSL Reference

Source Directives

Every .snap file starts with a source directive that defines where the sandbox comes from. Exactly one is required.

runtime -- From a runtime image

runtime node22

runtime node22 {
    vcpus 2
    timeout 600000
    env NODE_ENV production
    env CI true
    expose 3000 9229
    network allow-all
}

Valid runtimes: node22, node24, python3.13

snapshot -- From an existing snapshot

snapshot snap_abc123

snapshot snap_abc123 {
    runtime node22
    vcpus 2
}

git -- From a git repository

git https://github.com/user/repo.git {
    runtime node22
    depth 1
    revision main
}

tarball -- From an archive

tarball https://example.com/archive.tar.gz {
    runtime node22
}

Source block sub-directives

Step Directives

Steps execute in order, top to bottom. They appear after the source directive.

run -- Execute a shell command

run "npm install"

run "systemctl start nginx" {
    sudo
}

run "npm run build" {
    env NODE_ENV production
    cwd /opt/build
}

# Multi-command block (each line = separate step)
run {
    npm install
    npm run build
    npm prune --production
}

script -- Execute a multi-line script

# From a local file
script ./scripts/setup.sh

# Inline (escape sequences in double quotes)
script "echo hello\necho world"

# Heredoc
script <<EOF
set -e
curl -fsSL https://example.com/install.sh | bash
ln -sf /usr/local/lib/tool /usr/local/bin/tool
EOF

# With options
script ./scripts/deploy.sh {
    sudo
    shell python3
    cwd /opt/build
    env CI true
}

install / remove / update -- System packages

install git curl jq make
remove nano
update curl

Uses dnf on Amazon Linux 2023 (the sandbox OS). Runs with sudo automatically.

copy -- Upload local files into the sandbox

copy ./assets/config.json /vercel/share/config.json
copy ./scripts/start.sh /usr/local/bin/start.sh {
    mode 0755
}
copy ./assets/config/ /vercel/share/.config/

Paths are relative to the .snap file's directory.

file -- Write inline content to a file

file /etc/config.json '{"port": 3000}'

file /vercel/sandbox/config/app.json <<EOF
{
    "port": 3000,
    "debug": false
}
EOF

file /opt/script.sh "#!/bin/bash\nexec node server.js" {
    mode 0755
}

Default mode is 0644.

download -- Download a remote file

download https://example.com/tool.tar.gz {
    dest /usr/local/bin
    extract
    checksum sha256:abc123...
}

download https://example.com/config.json {
    dest /etc/app/config.json
}

workdir -- Set the working directory

workdir /vercel/sandbox/my-app
run "npm install"               # runs in /vercel/sandbox/my-app

Creates the directory implicitly.

mkdir -- Create a directory

mkdir /vercel/sandbox/my-app/src

env -- Persist an environment variable

env CUSTOM_VAR value
env NODE_ENV production

Writes to /etc/environment so the variable survives snapshot restore. This is different from env inside a source block, which sets creation-time env vars.

Syntax

.snap files use a Caddyfile-inspired syntax:

• One directive per line. Each line starts with a directive name followed by arguments.
• Bare words. No quotes needed for simple values. Use double or single quotes for values with spaces.
• Blocks. Use { } for sub-directives (options) or multi-line content.
• Heredocs. Use <<MARKER ... MARKER for multi-line file content and scripts.
• Comments. # to end of line.
• Booleans by presence. sudo means true. Absence means false.

Quoting

run "echo hello world"          # double quotes for spaces
run 'echo hello world'          # single quotes also work
run "echo \"quoted\""           # escape quotes in double-quoted strings
script "line1\nline2"           # \n = newline, \t = tab, \\ = backslash
install git jq                  # bare words when no spaces needed

Escape sequences (double quotes only)