Custom image (A1 mode)

When you pass --image to bindu deploy, the boxd runtime skips source packaging entirely. boxd creates the VM from your Docker image and the image's CMD is the entrypoint. Use this when:

• Your agent has gnarly native deps (Rust toolchain, system libs).
• You want reproducible deploys (pinned image hashes, audited bases).
• You ship your agent through CI/CD that already builds container images.

Dockerfile template

FROM python:3.12-slim

# Install bindu + your deps
WORKDIR /app
COPY pyproject.toml requirements*.txt ./
RUN pip install bindu
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt    # or: pip install -e .

# Copy your agent code
COPY . /app

# Entrypoint: invoke the agent script via the bindu CLI
CMD ["bindu", "serve", "--script", "/app/my_agent.py"]

Push to a registry that boxd can pull from (any public registry, or a private one with credentials configured on your boxd account).

Wiring it up

bindu deploy my_agent.py \
    --runtime=boxd \
    --image=ghcr.io/me/my-agent:v1.2.0

When --image is set:

• No source upload.
• No pip install step.
• The image's CMD starts the agent.
• Health check, log streaming, on-exit lifecycle: identical to A2.

Trade-offs vs A2 (default)

	A2 (source mount)	A1 (custom image)
Setup	None — just run	Build + push image
Iteration speed	Fast (1–3s warm)	Slow (build + push + redeploy)
Reproducibility	Depends on pip install resolving the same deps	Pinned by image hash
Native deps	Limited to what pip install can build in the VM	Anything that builds at image time
Image registry needed	No	Yes