vast-cli.nix

A Nix flake for installing the Vast.ai CLI tool and automatically generating SSH configurations for your Vast.ai instances.

Features

• Vast.ai CLI tool (vastai)
• SSH config generator for easy connection to instances
• Home Manager module for declarative configuration

Installation

In a NixOS/nix-darwin configuration

Add this flake to your inputs:

{
  inputs = {
    vast-cli.url = "github:dialohq/vast-cli.nix";
    vast-cli.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
  };

  outputs = inputs@{ self, nixpkgs, vast-cli, ... }: {
    # In your system configuration:
    environment.systemPackages = [
      vast-cli.packages.${pkgs.system}.default
    ];
  };
}

In a development shell

Create a flake.nix in your project:

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    vast-cli.url = "github:dialohq/vast-cli.nix";
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, vast-cli }: {
    devShells.x86_64-linux.default = nixpkgs.legacyPackages.x86_64-linux.mkShell {
      packages = [ vast-cli.packages.x86_64-linux.default ];
    };
  };
}

Then run nix develop to enter the shell with vastai available.

Using Home Manager

Add the module to your home-manager configuration:

{
  inputs = {
    vast-cli.url = "github:dialohq/vast-cli.nix";
  };

  # In your home.nix or home-manager configuration:
  imports = [ vast-cli.homeManagerModules.default ];

  programs.vastai = {
    enable = true;
    
    sshConfig = {
      enable = true;
      # Optional: specify API key file path
      # apiKeyFile = /path/to/api/key;
      # Defaults to ~/.config/vastai/vast_api_key
    };
  };
}

Direct usage

You can also run the CLI directly without installation:

nix run github:dialohq/vast-cli.nix -- help

Or to run specific commands:

nix run github:dialohq/vast-cli.nix -- search offers

SSH Config Generator

The flake includes a tool to generate SSH configurations for your Vast.ai instances:

# Generate SSH config (outputs to stdout)
nix run github:dialohq/vast-cli.nix#generate-ssh-config

# Or if installed via Home Manager:
generate-vast-ssh-config > ~/.ssh/vast-instances

The generated config will create entries like:

# Connection: direct
Host RTX-4090-20241220_143022-12345
    HostName 192.168.1.100
    Port 22001
    User root
    StrictHostKeyChecking no
    UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null

Authentication

The SSH config generator reads your API key from:

1. VAST_API_KEY environment variable (if set)
2. ~/.config/vastai/vast_api_key file (default location)

Usage

Once installed, see the official Vast.ai documentation to learn how to use the CLI tool.