Frequently Asked Questions

Two reasons. One, it lets you use your existing subscription (Claude Pro/Max or ChatGPT Plus/Pro - both starting at $20/mo) with no extra cost from us. Two, it keeps usage and billing in your hands - we never see what your AI is doing or get caught between you and Anthropic or OpenAI. Your account, your control.

For Claude Code: subscribe to Claude Pro or Max at claude.ai (then SSH in and run 'claude', type '/login' at the prompt — paste-back OAuth flow, no browser needed), or create an Anthropic API key at console.anthropic.com. For Codex: subscribe to ChatGPT Plus or Pro at chatgpt.com (then SSH in and run 'codex login --device-auth' — the --device-auth flag is required in headless containers; plain 'codex login' will fail), or create an OpenAI API key at platform.openai.com. Full step-by-step guides at /docs/connect-claude and /docs/connect-codex.

Both Claude Code and OpenAI Codex use the SAME pricing model: a $20/mo subscription (Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus) covers light-to-moderate use, and a $200/mo tier (Claude Max or ChatGPT Pro) covers heavy daily use. Pay-as-you-go API keys (Anthropic or OpenAI) are an alternative if your usage is bursty - we never see or mark up your usage. Many builders just use their existing $20/mo subscription on top of their Vibesies plan.

Anytime. Paste new credentials in your dashboard. You can also use multiple - keep an Anthropic OAuth token for Claude Code and an OpenAI OAuth token for Codex side by side.

Both are excellent and both are pre-installed in every container. They are effectively symmetric on pricing: $20/mo (Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus) at the entry tier, $100-200/mo (Claude Max or ChatGPT Pro) at the power-user tier. Claude Code tends to be more thorough on complex multi-file changes; Codex is often faster and tighter on focused edits. Try one, switch any time, or run both side by side - same dashboard, same container.

Yes. Both CLIs are pre-installed in every container. Connect both subscriptions or API keys in your dashboard - the credentials are injected as environment variables on container start. Run claude for one task, codex for another, whatever fits.

If it runs in a Linux terminal, you can install it. We pre-install Claude Code and OpenAI Codex because those are the two leading agentic CLIs with subscription-backed billing. Aider, gptme, Cline, Continue, and others are all just pip install or npm install -g away. You have full sudo - install whatever you want.

No. We are a premium product, not a freemium one - paying customers get our full attention and we do not bear the cost or abuse risk of unpaid accounts. The 7-day refund window means you can try it risk-free.

Full refund within 7 days of your first payment, no questions asked. After that we do not refund partial periods, but you can cancel anytime and service continues to the end of your paid period.

Stripe — all major credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay. Annual customers can pay by ACH or wire on request.

Anytime. Upgrades are prorated and effective immediately. Downgrades take effect at the end of your current period.

Debian Linux, Python 3, Node 22, Git, Nginx, Supervisord, the Claude Code CLI, OpenAI Codex CLI, and common build tools — all preinstalled. You have full sudo to install anything else with apt.

Yes — anything you can apt install or build from source. Postgres, Redis, MariaDB, ImageMagick, FFmpeg, custom Python packages, anything. The container is yours.

Yes. Upload your public key in the dashboard and connect with the SSH command shown there (ssh -p vibe@). You can also connect your Claude Desktop or Codex Desktop app to your container over SSH using the one-click setup script in the dashboard — that's the recommended workflow for a full GUI experience.

It restarts automatically. Your /workspace volume persists across restarts, so all your data is intact. Backups are taken on the schedule for your tier.

Yes — install Postgres, Redis, MariaDB, or anything else inside your container. SQLite is preinstalled. For very large databases, the Pro tier (50 GB disk) and up are recommended.

Yes — on every tier, including the $49 Starter. Point your domains A record at us, we issue the free SSL cert automatically (auto-renewed), and your container starts answering on it. Custom domains are table-stakes in 2026 — we agree. Pro and Studio tiers support multiple domains in one account.

Your container sends mail to localhost on port 25 like any normal Linux setup. Behind the scenes, our SES relay picks it up, signs it with your DKIM key, and sends it. Per-tier daily caps apply (100/day on Starter up to 20,000/day on Studio).

Yes — we forward inbound email at your custom domain to any address you choose. Inbound IMAP mailbox hosting is on the roadmap.

Yes — this is the recommended workflow. Run the one-click setup script from your dashboard (Mac/Linux or Windows PowerShell), which adds your container to your local SSH config. Then restart Claude Desktop or Codex Desktop, go to Settings, and pick your Vibesies container as the remote SSH host. You get the full GUI — diff view, file editor, integrated terminal — all running against your container's files. Full step-by-step guides are at /docs/connect-claude and /docs/connect-codex.

Yes. The dashboard has a drag-and-drop file uploader that sends files directly into your container's /workspace directory — up to 200 MB per request. You can choose any subdirectory under /workspace. For larger or recurring transfers, use SCP or rsync over SSH.

Yes. The dashboard has a package request form — submit the package name and what you need it for. We review it, bake it into the base image, and push the update to all containers. Anything you install yourself with apt also works, but base-image packages survive image updates, which tenant-level installs do not.

Yes. Annual billing is 10x the monthly price, which works out to two months free — roughly 17% savings. Every paid tier (Starter through Studio) offers annual billing. You can switch between monthly and annual at the checkout or via your subscription management page.

No. Claude Code does the coding — you describe what you want in plain English, and the AI agent inside your container does the rest. That said, Vibesies is built for people who want to understand and control how their site actually works. If you want a true point-and-click site builder, Squarespace is fine.

A real Linux container with 2 GB RAM, 1 vCPU (burst to 2), 10 GB SSD storage, your AI engineer of choice (Claude Code or OpenAI Codex — both pre-installed, you bring your own account), full sudo access, weekly backups, and a yourname.vibesies.com subdomain. Custom domains with automatic SSL are included on every tier, including Starter — point your domain's A record at us and we handle the rest.

Under five minutes. Sign up, pay, connect your AI credentials (Anthropic or OpenAI), and your container is live.

Email hello@vibesies.com and we will set up a 15-minute live demo. Or pay for the first month — full refund within 7 days, no questions asked.

You upgrade. We resize your container in place — same files, same data, same Claude session, more power. Going from Starter to Builder, Builder to Pro, anything to Studio: all seconds-of-downtime, no data movement.

You graduate to a Dedicated tier — your own AWS instance with your data already mounted. The container image is identical, your /workspace volume is just attached to a bigger machine. Zero data export or rebuild.

Anytime. Your /workspace is just a Linux filesystem - rsync it out, tar it up, push it to your own backup. We are not a walled garden.

Yes. Your code, data, and configs are all in your container - export them and run them anywhere with Docker or a regular Linux server. No lock-in.

Yes. Each container is isolated from every other tenant - separate filesystem, network namespace, resource limits. Data is encrypted at rest. Backups are encrypted with KMS. We do not access your container without your permission, except in narrow legal/abuse scenarios documented in our Privacy Policy.

They cannot see, touch, or affect your container. Container boundaries are enforced by the kernel via cgroups, namespaces, and a default-deny network firewall. We also block tenant-to-tenant traffic at the host level.

Their bad behavior does not affect you. Resource limits prevent any one tenant from starving others. Email/network abuse triggers automatic suspension before it can poison shared reputation.

Yes. We run on AWS in a dedicated account that hosts only Vibesies workloads. Pro tier has hourly backups, Studio has 99.9% SLA, Dedicated has full negotiated SLAs. Email hello@vibesies.com to talk through your specific compliance or uptime needs.