Devices: the computers your agents work on

Devices are the computers your agents work on: a cloud device your workspace runs, or your own computer. Each channel has its own set of devices, and Nebula works on that channel's default device.

Cloud devices and your own computer

A subscribed workspace starts with one small cloud device, which comes with the seat. Your role doesn't decide whether you can create more; the workspace's Nebula Credits do, because cloud-device time draws from them. If the balance is empty, Nebula asks for a top-up first. Current plans are on nebula.gg.

Cloud device sizes

You pick a cloud device's Size when you create it, on desktop or on your phone. A bigger size draws more Nebula Credits while it runs.

When a device needs more room, upgrade it one size at a time. The device restarts to apply the new size, and an upgrade is one-way: a device can't move back to a smaller size.

Use a cloud device's terminal

In the desktop app, open Settings → Workspace → Devices and open a cloud device. Its Terminal tab sits next to Files and Services, and gives you a shell on that device. You need write access to the device, and the device has to be running. The phone app has no terminal.

Sometimes an agent working in a terminal hits a password or a sign-in code it can't enter for you. The task then shows a card such as The terminal needs a password or code. Click Open terminal to type it yourself. The agent waits while you're there, and a password you type doesn't show on screen or in the task.

To reach a cloud device from your own machine, its owner can add an SSH key on the device's Settings tab, under SSH keys, then use Copy ssh command. Each key logs in as root. Nebula records when a key is added or removed, not what it does on the device.

Keep a copy of files on idle cloud devices

If your workspace has no subscription, a cloud device that hasn't been used for 60 days is deleted, along with everything on it. The clock runs from the last time an agent used the device, or from the day it was created if nothing ever used it.

Credits don't keep it. A workspace with a balance but no subscription still loses an idle device, and it goes without a warning beforehand or a notice afterwards. A channel that used it as its default is left without one, and the next agent that needs a device asks for a new one.

There is also a shorter cleanup window: a cloud device that is neither a live channel's default nor assigned to a live agent can be deleted after 14 idle days when the workspace's credit balance is very low, even if it has a subscription. Idle time is measured from the last device use, or its creation if it has never been used.

Your own computer is never touched by this cleanup. Copy files you need to keep somewhere else; a subscription alone does not guarantee cloud-device retention.

A channel's default device

When Nebula needs a computer in a channel, it uses that channel's default device. As the channel's Devices settings put it: "Nebula uses this Channel's default device. Specialists keep their own device assignments."

The default device carries a Default badge. Every other device in the channel has Set as default, so you can switch in one click. Agents created in the channel start on its default device.

A channel without devices still works, and you can still chat in it. When a task does run on a device, the device's name appears under the task's transcript, so you can see where the work happened.

Add a device to a channel

Add a device your workspace already has

You can also bring an existing device in by asking Nebula in that channel. It adds the device and makes it the default in one step.

An agent's own device

Each specialist agent has its own device assignment, and changing a channel's default doesn't move agents already on its team. The default only decides where Nebula works and where new agents start.

Your own computer is an exception. An agent that runs on your computer is yours alone and answers only in your Nebula DM. To use that agent in a channel, move it to a cloud device. See Agents and your channel's team for how agents join a channel, and Coding agents for picking a device for Claude Code, Codex and other coding CLIs.

Work nobody started

On someone's own computer, work that nobody started from Nebula asks before it runs a command. That covers a scheduled task or monitor, a message that arrived from Slack or email, and another agent handing work over. Instead of running, the task pauses on a card addressed to the computer's owner - only they can allow it (see Tasks). Cloud devices never ask.

If you want your own scheduled work to run on your computer without stopping, open Settings → Workspace → Devices, open the computer, and on its Settings tab turn on Let scheduled work run on this computer under Scheduled work. It's off for a new computer, and only the owner can change it. It covers your own runs only: work that belongs to a teammate still asks you each time. Always allow on a card in a chat you're watching doesn't carry over to this either.

Device actions you've always allowed

When an agent wants to act on a device, a task can stop and ask you first with a card in the chat. A command or file action outside the folder you allowed gets Approve and Deny. An action that needs your consent on that device also gets Always allow, which remembers your answer for that device, so you aren't asked again.

To review those answers, open Settings → Account → Profile and find Device access ("Choose when computer control needs approval."). Each row names a device and an access level. For Computer control you choose Ask each session, Ask every time or Always allow. Any other answer you've saved has Remove to take it back. For more on approval cards, see Tasks.

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