What's different from self-hosting
Most of these docs describe your instance as it is. This page is the short list of what does not apply, and what replaces it.
Which pages apply to you
| Section | On Hezo Cloud |
|---|---|
| Concepts | Yes, unchanged |
| Chat & messaging apps | Yes, unchanged |
| Security | Yes, unchanged |
| AI models & connections | Yes, unchanged - you bring your own accounts |
| MCP API reference | Yes, unchanged |
| Containers | Read it for how sandboxing works. The backend is fixed for you, so the parts about choosing or switching one do not apply |
| Budgets & cost control | Yes, and your plan sets the container-hour allowance |
| Your data & the database | Read it for the data model. The storage choices in it are made for you |
| Installation | No - there is nothing to install. See Getting started on Hezo Cloud |
| Deployment, every page | No - we run the machine |
| CLI reference | No - you have no shell on the machine |
No shell, so no command line
Everything the hezo command does is done for you or from the web app,
backups included.
Your data is looked after for you. The database is backed up daily with point-in-time recovery, your files are versioned, and a lost machine is rebuilt from a snapshot with no data loss.
Taking a backup into your own hands is a self-hosted thing, since it is the
hezo command that does it. If you want an archive you hold yourself, or to
roll your own instance back to Tuesday, run Hezo yourself. See
Ways to run Hezo.
Where agent containers run
On a self-hosted instance you choose between your own container runtime and a managed sandbox service, and you can switch whenever you like. On Hezo Cloud that choice is made: agents run on a managed sandbox service, which is also why agent code never runs on your instance's own machine.
The consequences for how agents are isolated are in Container isolation and Data & security on Hezo Cloud.
Updates
A new Hezo release shows up in your instance and you take it when you want it, exactly as a self-hosted operator does. We do not update your instance behind you.
New instances are built from a snapshot that tracks the current release, so anyone signing up starts current.
Signing in, and unlocking
Signing in is by emailed link. There is no password to set, change or reset. Your dashboard signs you in to your instance without ever being able to unlock it.
Unlocking is your twelve-word recovery phrase, entered at your instance. Your instance comes back unlocked after an ordinary update. It comes back locked after a restart it did not plan, and asks you for the phrase.
Your address and where it runs
- Your address is
you.app.hezo.ai, chosen once when you sign up and kept for the life of the account. - Your instance runs on its own machine, in Europe.
- What happens to your data when you leave is covered in Data & security on Hezo Cloud.