GhostBox
Dev tools
remote dev environments
SHOW HN2026
How HN took it
3 positive, 12 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 35 critical, out of 52 comments about the project. Thread score -0.60.
Idea: 2 for, 12 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 10 againstPricing: 1 for, 2 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Commenters found the idea of using own Actions minutes useful
From 1 comment
No, it runs on your own gh account, so - not "odd" as you think - instead, clever and useful.
keepamovin on HN
Objections
Concern it violates GitHub terms of service by abusing free compute
From 2 comments
The multiple levels of abuse here are astounding. That grown adults can think projects like this are acceptable, let alone promote them, is hard to believe. I am 90% sure this is…
ctrlmeta on HNThere are several claims here - ToS violation, denial of service, abuse - but 100% zero actual argument for them. Ghostbox/ghost helps a person start and connect to workflows in…
keepamovin on HN
Concern the project is closed source and could be malware
From 2 comments
You trust the agentic coding binaries no doubt? So, your threat model is that I’m really building my business and reputation by creating illegal, criminal malware? Ponder that,…
keepamovin on HNI don't believe in releasing source anymore after years of doing it. It's closed source, Rust binary, proprietary but free software offered as a utility. It's the same patterns…
keepamovin on HN
Accusations of abusive or misleading framing of the project
From 1 comment
That is moral panic, not an argument. Ghostbox helps a user run dev workflows in their own GitHub account, using their own Actions minutes. You can criticize the project, you…
keepamovin on HN
Requests
Release the source code
From 2 comments
I get you might feel that way about it, but that’s not how it is. The strange thing is your reaction, don’t you think: If you see a proprietary source product and you think…
keepamovin on HNYou think I owe you source code, is entitled. You project strange onto change, is low empathy. There's no metaphysics, you unwarranted criticism is a reflection of your…
keepamovin on HN
Clarify the website wording about hosted services
From 1 comment
Fair point on calirty: if the site made Ghost/ghostbox sound like hosted computed services/reselling rather than the local CLI using your GH account and action's minutes that it…
keepamovin on HN
Questions
Why keep the binary closed source
From 2 comments
I don't believe in releasing source anymore after years of doing it. It's closed source, Rust binary, proprietary but free software offered as a utility. It's the same patterns…
keepamovin on HN"Why do you want to protect your IP/time/effort rather than giving away your source code? I don't run binaries as a general rule, nothing to do with ghost, which looks cool,…
keepamovin on HN
Alternatives named
Fly.io
From 1 comment
No. Weird is people lying about it then flagging the repo until GH auto-disables. Almost as if somebody didn't want folks to discover you can do your ephemeral-machine…
keepamovin on HN
Tilde.run
From 1 comment
No. Weird is people lying about it then flagging the repo until GH auto-disables. Almost as if somebody didn't want folks to discover you can do your ephemeral-machine…
keepamovin on HN
exe.dev
From 1 comment
The clean devX and minimalism of exe.dev definitely inspire by design for the ghost CLI. Essentially seeing exe.dev (which is a wholly different model, it's their own system -…
keepamovin on HN
tmate with gh CLI
From 1 comment
Ghost provides a configuration and a way to spin up tiny machines from your CLI, but designed in a way where GitHub Actions doesn’t have to be the backend. It’s the same effect…
keepamovin on HN