Help for renters

Opening your app

The Open button, getting files in and out, and what counts as using it.

KernelMachine is preparing an invite-only beta; no launch date is set. This describes how it works at launch. Join the waitlist

Click Open

When the rental's page says Running, click Open. Your app opens in a new tab, at an address ending in kernelmachine.run:

• Notebook: Jupyter.
• Image maker: ComfyUI.
• Chat model: Open WebUI.
• Fine-tuning: Jupyter. A model you serve with vLLM inside is at /proxy/8000/ on the same address.

There's no separate password. Only you can get in: the Open button gives your browser access to that one rental, for up to 12 hours. After that, or in another browser, click Open again on the rental's page.

Prefer your own computer? km open opens the same app at a localhost address. Using km

Closing the tab doesn't stop it

The rental keeps running, and costing, after you close the tab or your laptop. It stops when you click Stop, at the time limit you set, or by itself after 60 minutes unused.

What counts as using it

A rental is in use while either of these is true:

• data is flowing between you and the app, through an open app tab or km open; or
• its card is working (training, making images, a model answering), where the host program can tell.

After 30 minutes with neither, we email you once. After 60 minutes, we stop it, its files are deleted, and the unused time goes back to your balance. Using it again before then cancels the countdown. You pay for the unused minutes before it stops.

Two things to know:

• Downloads inside the rental count while data is moving. A big model downloading keeps the rental in use even with the app closed, but one that stalls doesn't. Keep the app open during long jobs.
• An open app tab can keep it in use. Apps often talk to the rental in the background. When you're done, click Stop rather than leaving the tab open.

Getting files in

• From your computer: use the app's own upload. Jupyter's file list has an Upload button. In ComfyUI, the Load Image node can upload a picture. Open WebUI lets you attach files to a chat. Menus vary a little between versions of each app.
• From a terminal: km push ./data copies a file or folder into the rental's /workspace, for any template. Using km
• From a link: paste a file's link under Load from link on the rental's page, or run km load and the link. The machine downloads it straight into the rental; for the Image maker, into ComfyUI's model folders. A Hugging Face file's page link works. Public files only for now: gated models, which need a Hugging Face sign-in, can't be loaded this way yet. The machine's owner can see the link.
• From the internet, your own way: in a Jupyter notebook, download a model from Hugging Face or code from GitHub. Chat models come from the chat screen's model menu. Either way, this uses the host's internet connection, so speed depends on the host.

Your files live in the /workspace folder on the rental. Rentals can reach the internet, but can't send email.

Getting files out

Download them before you stop: files are deleted when a rental stops. How to save your work

Keep secrets off it

The rental runs on someone else's PC. Don't upload passwords, keys or private data. If you must use a login token on a rental (to download a private model, say), use one that can do only that, and cancel it afterwards.

Updated October 8, 2026. Questions? Email support@kernelmachine.com.