Scripts and CI

Every bitsrun command works without a person at the keyboard. Three things make that reliable: --json output, exit codes you can check, and a token you pass in an environment variable instead of signing in through a browser.

JSON output

Add --json to any command to get the API's JSON instead of text:

bitsrun ls --json

{
  "endpoints": [
    {
      "id": "01k8y4000d3m00000000000011",
      "name": "Support chat",
      "state": "sleeping",
      "gpu": "l4",
      "url": "https://01k8y4000d3m00000000000011.endpoint.bitsrun.com/v1"
    }
  ]
}

The example is shortened; real output includes every field the API returns. Pipe it into a tool such as jq:

# The URL of one endpoint
bitsrun status "Support chat" --json | jq -r '.endpoint.url'

# Total spend this month, in dollars (the API counts in millionths of a dollar)
bitsrun usage --json | jq '.totalMicros / 1000000'

bitsrun writes its normal output to stdout and its questions and progress lines (like Copying 2.1 GB of 9.4 GB, 22%) to stderr, so --json output stays clean when you pipe it.

Exit codes

Errors go to stderr as one friendly sentence, plus a Request id for support when the API returned one. Include that id if you write to support@bitsrun.com.

Commands that would ask a question

In a script, nobody can type an answer, so commands that delete something refuse instead of waiting:

Deleting cannot be undone. Add --yes to delete Code helper without a prompt.

Add --yes (or -y) to rm, keys revoke and uploads rm when you mean it.

Sign in for CI with BITSRUN_TOKEN

When BITSRUN_TOKEN is set, bitsrun uses it as its CLI session token instead of the one saved on the computer. A CLI session token is what bitsrun login saves; it lasts 90 days.

Give CI its own session, separate from your laptop, so you can sign it out on its own:

1. On a computer you trust, sign in into a separate config folder, named so you recognize it later:

   bashCopy

   BITSRUN_CONFIG_DIR="$HOME/.bitsrun-ci" bitsrun login --no-browser

2. Read the token it saved:

   bashCopy

   jq -r '.[].token' "$HOME/.bitsrun-ci/credentials.json"

3. Store that value as a secret in your CI system (for example a masked variable named BITSRUN_TOKEN), then delete the folder: rm -rf "$HOME/.bitsrun-ci".

The session appears in Signed-in CLIs with its expiry date. Repeat these steps before it expires.

Example: deploy from a pipeline

This job makes sure an endpoint exists and prints its URL for the next step. It works in any CI system that runs a shell.

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

# Install bitsrun into the job's home folder
curl -fsSL https://get.bitsrun.com | sh
export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

# BITSRUN_TOKEN comes from the CI secret store
NAME="Support chat"
if ! bitsrun status "$NAME" --json > endpoint.json 2>/dev/null; then
  bitsrun deploy qwen3:8b --name "$NAME" --idle 5m --json > deployed.json
  jq '{endpoint: .endpoint}' deployed.json > endpoint.json
fi

echo "ENDPOINT_URL=$(jq -r '.endpoint.url' endpoint.json)"

A deploy of a gated or private Hugging Face repo waits while the model is copied into your storage, so give that step a generous timeout the first time.

Run the coding agent in CI

The coding agent has its own headless mode for scripts, with text or JSON output: bitsrun -p "<task>". It needs a model set up first. See Headless runs.