Read a lab page

Every field on the lab page, and why container status and container health can disagree.

The lab page is one screen with two clocks on it. This page reads every field,
and explains the one thing the screen does not say out loud: status and health
are separate, and either can be right while the other is stale.

Who this is for. Anybody who has opened a lab and wants to know what the
page is telling them.

Before you start. Nothing. Reading the page needs no VPN and no deploy.

Steps

Open Labs, then press a lab. The route is /frontend/labs/<lab-id>.
Read the header. It describes the lab, not the bench.

Screenshot placeholder — docs/images/user/lab-detail/01-before-deploy.png — The BenchPress lab page for Frappe CRM demo before any deploy, at 1280 by 800 pixels. The header shows the lab logo, the title Frappe CRM demo, a green Ready chip, the lab id crm-demo in code, the description, and chips reading version-15, 1 GB, 1 vCPU, code-server and SSH. A black Deploy button sits at the top right. The left card reads This lab has never been deployed. Deploying builds a container, a site, an SSH user and an IDE. The Connection card warns VPN off and offers Register this device. The Sites card reads No site yet.

The Ready chip is the lab status. It means the image is built. It says
nothing about whether a bench is running.

Lab status Meaning

Draft Saved, never built. Deploy refuses

Building The image job is running

Ready The image exists and matches the recipe

Error The last build failed

In the frame the header chips read version-15, 1 GB, 1 vCPU,
code-server and SSH. Those five come from the recipe, not from the
container.

Lab status	Meaning
`Draft`	Saved, never built. Deploy refuses
`Building`	The image job is running
`Ready`	The image exists and matches the recipe
`Error`	The last build failed

Read the Container card. This is the bench, and it carries both axes.

Screenshot placeholder — docs/images/user/lab-detail/02-deploying.png — The same lab page during a deploy, at 1280 by 800 pixels. The Container card header reads Deploying in blue. Health reads Unknown with the note never checked. The CPU and MEMORY tiles both read a dash and container not running. The Sites card shows the site name with a blue Creating chip beside a gray Not running chip, and the line This site's container is stopped. Deploy the lab to bring it back.

Screenshot placeholder — docs/images/user/lab-detail/03-running.png — The same lab page after the deploy finished, at 1280 by 800 pixels. The Container card header reads Running in green. Health reads Healthy with the note checked 2m ago. CPU reads 0 percent with quota 1 vCPU, MEMORY reads 0 percent of 1 GB limit, and the card ends with Started 2 minutes ago. The Sites card shows the site with a green Active chip and an Open button. The header now offers Open VS Code and Open site.

The two axes are independent. Status is what BenchPress last decided.
Health is what the last probe found. They are written by different things at
different times, so a fresh status can sit next to a stale health.

Status	Health	What it means
`Deploying`	`Unknown`, never checked	The container is being made. No probe has run
`Running`	`Healthy`	The container is up and the site answers
`Running`	empty	The container just started. The first probe has not run
`Running`	`Unhealthy`	The container is up and the site does not answer
`Stopped`	`Healthy`	Stopped just now. The health line still shows the last probe
`Error`	any	The deploy failed. Read the deploy log

Read the timestamp next to Health before you trust it. It says
checked 2m ago or never checked, and it is the age of the answer.

Read the CPU and memory tiles. They report use against the lab's own limit,
not against the host.

Tile Reads Under it

CPU A percentage, or — quota 1 vCPU

MEMORY A percentage, or — of 1 GB limit

Both read — and container not running whenever the container is down.

Tile	Reads	Under it
CPU	A percentage, or `—`	`quota 1 vCPU`
MEMORY	A percentage, or `—`	`of 1 GB limit`

Read Connection details. Six rows, each with a copy button.

Row	Example	Reachable from
Public URL	`https://<hash>.benchpress.cloud`	Anywhere
Private URL (VPN)	`http://172.27.0.18:8000`	The VPN only
WireGuard IP	`172.27.0.18`	The VPN only
Runtime	`sysbox`	—
code-server	`http://172.27.0.18:8080/`	The VPN only
SSH	The user and host	The VPN only

Passwords stay hidden behind Reveal secrets. They are regenerated on
every redeploy, so a copy you saved last week may be wrong.

Read the Sites card. One row per site, with the apps it carries.

Site chip	Container chip	Meaning
`Active`	Open	The site is live
`Creating`	`Not running`	The deploy has not finished making it
`Inactive`	`Not running`	The container is stopped. The database is kept

Verify

You are reading the page correctly when all four are true.

You can say which chip is the lab status and which is the container status.
You can name the age of the health answer, not only its value.
The CPU percentage is read against the quota under it, not against the host.
You know which connection rows need the VPN.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
Health says `Healthy` on a stopped bench	The last probe ran before the stop	Read the timestamp. Status is the newer fact
Health is empty on a running bench	No probe has run since the container started	Wait for the next probe, then reload
Health says `Unhealthy` and the site works for you	Probes come from the host, not from your laptop	Open the deploy log. A failing probe is the bench, not the network
CPU and memory read `—`	The container is not running	Start the bench
The header has no Build log tab	Build logs are admin-only	Ask an admin for the build output
A stopped bench shows a countdown	Stopped benches are deleted after a set number of days	Start it, or accept that it goes
Open site does nothing	Bench sites resolve only over the VPN	Connect the VPN and press it again

Reference

The four tabs

Tab	Holds	Who sees it
Dashboard	Container, connection details, sites	Everybody
Sites	Every site on the bench	Everybody
Deploy log	The eleven steps and the raw log	Everybody
Build log	The image build output	Admins

Both status fields, in full

Field	Values
`status`	`Draft`, `Deploying`, `Running`, `Stopped`, `Error`
`container_health`	empty, `Healthy`, `Unhealthy`, `Unknown`

What writes each one

Field	Written by	When
`status`	The deploy, start, stop and delete actions	The moment the action runs
`container_health`	The container probe	Every 30 seconds, after a 10 minute grace period

The probe waits 600 seconds after a container starts before a failure counts.
A seven-app site takes over three minutes to build on first boot, and nothing
serves the site until it exists.

The stopped-bench countdown

A stopped bench keeps its container and its database. The page counts down the
window in which it can still be started, as in Can be restored for 6d 23h.
The window is reap_after_days in Credit Settings, which is 7 days here.
0 turns the deletion off.

Deploy from a template — how the bench got here.
Start, stop and redeploy — the actions behind the chips.
Create a lab — where the header chips come from.

BenchPress Documentation