Chapter 6: Configuration, API, and Deployment Models

Welcome to Chapter 6: Configuration, API, and Deployment Models. In this part of Daytona Tutorial: Secure Sandbox Infrastructure for AI-Generated Code, you will build an intuitive mental model first, then move into concrete implementation details and practical production tradeoffs.

This chapter explains how to standardize Daytona configuration and deployment choices.

Learning Goals

• apply config precedence across code, env vars, and .env
• align SDK and API usage to one environment contract
• understand OSS docker-compose deployment boundaries
• avoid mixing development and production assumptions

Deployment Decision Rule

Keep hosted Daytona for production reliability unless you explicitly need OSS self-host experimentation. The current OSS guide is positioned for local/dev workflows and is not marked production-safe.

Source References

• Environment Configuration
• API Reference Docs
• Open Source Deployment

Summary

You now have a clearer contract for environment setup and deployment mode selection.

Next: Chapter 7: Limits, Network Controls, and Security

How These Components Connect

flowchart TD
    A{Deployment model} -->|Cloud SaaS| B[Daytona Cloud]
    A -->|Self-hosted| C[OSS Daytona server]
    B --> D[REST API]
    C --> D
    D --> E[SDK / CLI]
    E --> F[Sandbox workloads]
    G[Environment variables] --> E
    H[API key auth] --> D