Quickstart

You need a private repository on a GitHub organization or a personal account, with at least one workflow in .github/workflows. The steps take a few minutes, and the free trial needs no card.

1. Sign in with GitHub

Open skipbox.dev and sign in with GitHub. Signing in charges nothing.

2. Install the Skipbox app

Skipbox shows two install buttons. Pick the one for the account whose jobs you want to run:

• An organization: install the Skipbox CI app. An owner of the organization installs it. If you aren't an owner, GitHub sends them your request, and the owner who installs it signs in to Skipbox once.
• Your personal account: install the Skipbox (personal) app.

GitHub then asks whether the app may use all repositories or only some. Skipbox runs jobs from private repositories only. See Organizations and personal accounts and GitHub App permissions.

3. Change one job's runs-on

Open a workflow file and set one job's runs-on to skipbox:

jobs:
  test:
    runs-on: skipbox
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - run: make test

Your dashboard lists your repositories with an Edit on GitHub link for each workflow, so you can make the change in GitHub's editor.

4. Commit and push

Commit the change. The next run of that job goes to Skipbox, runs in a new VM, and shows on your dashboard. Your free trial starts with this first job: 7 days or 3,000 job-minutes, whichever comes first. See Free trial.

Switch back to GitHub's runners

Set runs-on back to what it was, such as ubuntu-latest, and commit. Skipbox changed nothing else in your repository.

What to read next

• Larger VMs: Labels and sizes.
• What the VM has installed: Runner image.
• A job that doesn't start: A job stays queued.