Snapshot & Volume Management

Relevant source files

The following files were used as context for generating this wiki page:

• libs/sdk-typescript/src/Snapshot.ts
• libs/sdk-go/pkg/daytona/snapshot_service.go (Referenced via libs/sdk-go/README.md)
• apps/dashboard/src/pages/Snapshots.tsx
• apps/dashboard/src/pages/Volumes.tsx
• examples/go/snapshots_withlogstreaming/main.go
• examples/typescript/declarative-image/index.ts
• libs/sdk-go/README.md

Snapshot and Volume Management within Daytona provides the infrastructure for persistent storage and environment templating. Snapshots represent pre-configured, reusable sandbox templates containing specific images, tools, and configurations, allowing developers to instantiate identical environments rapidly. Volumes provide shared file access and persistent storage across sandboxes, ensuring data longevity beyond the lifecycle of an individual execution environment.

These systems are exposed through the Daytona API and consumed by the Dashboard UI and multi-language SDKs (Go, TypeScript, Python, Ruby), enabling both manual management and automated infrastructure-as-code workflows.

Sources: libs/sdk-typescript/src/Snapshot.ts:15-30, apps/dashboard/src/pages/Volumes.tsx:20-30, libs/sdk-go/README.md:160-175

Snapshot Management

Snapshots are the primary mechanism for distributing pre-built development environments. A Snapshot encapsulates the base image (e.g., Ubuntu, Debian), resource allocations (CPU, Memory, Disk), and specific build instructions or context files.

Snapshot Lifecycle and States

Snapshots transition through various states during creation and maintenance. The management service tracks these states to provide real-time feedback to users via log streaming.

The state machine ensures that only ACTIVE snapshots can be used to provision new sandboxes.
Sources: libs/sdk-typescript/src/Snapshot.ts:125-140, apps/dashboard/src/pages/Snapshots.tsx:115-130

Creating Snapshots

Snapshots can be created from simple image strings or via complex declarative definitions using the Image class. When using declarative images, the SDK processes local context files, uploads them to object storage, and submits the build info to the Daytona API.

Parameter	Type	Description
name	string	Unique identifier for the snapshot
image	string | Image	Base image name or declarative Image object
resources	Resources	Optional CPU, GPU, Memory, and Disk overrides
entrypoint	string[]	Optional custom entrypoint for the container
regionId	string	Target region for snapshot availability

Sources: libs/sdk-typescript/src/Snapshot.ts:47-60, examples/typescript/declarative-image/index.ts:16-30

Snapshot Log Streaming

During the creation process, Daytona provides real-time build logs. This is implemented via a streaming response from the API that the SDKs expose as either a callback or a channel.

Volume Management

Volumes provide persistent, shared storage that can be mounted into sandboxes. Unlike the ephemeral storage of a standard sandbox, volumes persist until explicitly deleted.

Key Volume Operations

The Volume Service allows for lifecycle management and attachment. Through the Dashboard, users can perform bulk actions and monitor volume usage.

• Creation: Instantly provisions shared storage for volume mounts.
• Listing: Retrieves all volumes within the selected organization.
• Deletion: Permanently removes the volume and its associated data.
• Last Used Tracking: The system tracks when volumes were last accessed to assist in cleanup.

Sources: apps/dashboard/src/pages/Volumes.tsx:80-120, libs/sdk-go/README.md:175-185

Dashboard Interaction Flow

The Dashboard UI manages volumes through an asynchronous notification system to ensure the UI stays in sync with background operations.

Data Structures

Snapshot Definition

The Snapshot type represents the core data model for a pre-configured environment.

export type Snapshot = {
  id: string;
  organizationId: string;
  name: string;
  imageName: string;
  state: SnapshotState;
  size: number;
  cpu: number;
  mem: number;
  disk: number;
  createdAt: Date;
  lastUsedAt: Date;
}

Sources: libs/sdk-typescript/src/Snapshot.ts:17-40

Volume DTO

The Volume Data Transfer Object (DTO) used by the API and Dashboard.

Field	Type	Description
id	string	Unique internal ID
name	string	User-assigned name
state	VolumeState	Current state (CREATED, PENDING_DELETE, etc.)
lastUsedAt	string	ISO timestamp of last sandbox attachment

Sources: apps/dashboard/src/pages/Volumes.tsx:60-75

Conclusion

Snapshot & Volume Management forms the backbone of Daytona's "environment as code" philosophy. By allowing developers to define complex images via Snapshots and persist data through Volumes, Daytona provides a balance between the speed of ephemeral containers and the reliability of persistent development machines. These services are integrated across all client layers, from CLI and SDKs to the web-based Dashboard.

Sources: libs/sdk-typescript/src/Snapshot.ts, apps/dashboard/src/pages/Snapshots.tsx