TalentDeltaWhere your agent runs: laptop, server or host
Where an agent runs decides what it can reach, what it costs, and what happens when you close the lid. Three places, in the order most people try them, with what each one really costs.
On your own machine
Start here. It is one install, there is no bill, and you already know what is on the disk.
- It reaches what you reach: your files, your keys, your logins.
- It stops when you shut the lid, which is a feature in the first month.
- Your whole account is the blast radius, so it is the wrong place for unattended work.
The one thing to know is that an agent is a long-running process. Close the laptop and any scheduled job stops with it, without complaining to anybody.
On a machine you keep for it
A second machine, or a small one that stays on. It costs less than it sounds and answers the obvious problem: the agent keeps working, and your own laptop stays yours.
- Give it its own keys, reachable only from that machine.
- Move one job across at a time, and read the log through the first week.
- Keep a copy of the log somewhere other than that machine.
A machine at home is still a machine you patch, back up and rotate the keys on. That is the honest cost, and it is why the next option exists.
Somewhere you rent
A server from a hosting company, or a platform that runs agents for you. It works while you sleep, which is both the point and the reason to read this section twice.
| Where | Roughly what it costs | What you look after |
|---|---|---|
| A small rented server | from $4 a month, read 5 Oct 2026 | the operating system, the keys, the backups |
| A server that sleeps when idle | $0.15 per GB of disk a month, stopped | knowing that a cold start takes time |
| A managed agent platform | usage-based, priced per session | less, in exchange for a vendor |
| Your own machine | nothing, plus electricity | everything, and it is already in front of you |
Those two prices are the cheapest tier of DigitalOcean's basic droplets, which start at $4 for 512 MiB, then $6 and $12 for more memory (pricing, read 5 October 2026). Fly.io charges nothing for a stopped machine except disk, at $0.15 per GB per month, and sells prepaid blocks at a discount (pricing, read 5 October 2026). Prices move, so check before you commit.
Managed platforms change who holds the machine rather than the shape of the work. AWS describes its agent runtime as handling sessions and isolation for you, with sessions running up to eight hours on micro-virtual-machines or longer on reserved instances (AgentCore). You give up some control, and you stop patching an operating system.
Docker runs the same software in a box that cannot see its neighbours or the host, which is how most people sandbox an agent's file access. It is worth learning for one reason: it makes a bad afternoon smaller.
What changes when nobody is watching
| Attended | Unattended | Add this |
|---|---|---|
| You see each step | Steps happen between your checks | A queue for anything outbound, and a log you read daily |
| You stop it by closing it | You stop it by revoking a key | A written way to revoke, kept where you are |
| Cost per session | Cost per hour | A spend ceiling on the key, decided in advance |
None of that is exotic. It is the same list a person would want before leaving a contractor alone in the office, and it takes an afternoon rather than a project.
Choosing
- Trying things out: your own machine, one folder, no schedule.
- A routine you rely on: a machine kept for it, with its own keys and a log you read.
- Something a team depends on: a rented machine, a queue for the risky steps, and a person named for each failure.
- A machine you would rather not administer at all: Hermes Cloud, billed by the day and stopped when you are.
Move in that order, and let the first step teach you what the second has to protect. Each one is cheaper to undo than the one after it.
Where to go next
Your own instance in about a minute, what it costs per day, and how to decide what it may touch.
API keys and permissions for an agentGive it the smallest key that does the job, keep it out of the repository, and know how to revoke it.
What to let your agent touchThe reach inventory, read before write, and a stop you can find in a hurry.
From prototype to production: running an agent for a teamIdentity, secrets, records, approvals and cost: five things that change when others depend on it.