Rent a spot GPU per job — pay USDC, get SSH

Pay $1.00 USDC and get SSH access to a spot GPU (RTX 4090, 3090, 3080, or A6000) for up to 2 hours. No account, no signup. Async provisioning: book now, poll for SSH credentials in 1-5 minutes. We book the cheapest verified Vast.ai spot offer and pass the savings to you.

$1.00 USDC / call free trial: 1/day per IP contabo

Endpoint

POST https://contabo-vps.taild7e69a.ts.net/gpubroker/api/gpu

Data source: Vast.ai spot GPU marketplace (verified hosts only)

Parameters

Param	Type	Description
`gpu_type`	string (body JSON)	One of: RTX_4090, RTX_3090, RTX_3080, RTX_A6000
`duration_hours`	number (body JSON)	1-2, default 1. Instance auto-destroys at expiry
`ssh_key`	string (body JSON)	Your SSH public key — injected into the instance
`image`	string (body JSON, optional)	Docker image override

Example request

curl -X POST "https://contabo-vps.taild7e69a.ts.net/gpubroker/api/gpu" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "gpu_type": "RTX_4090", "duration_hours": 1, "ssh_key": "ssh-ed25519 AAAA..." }'

Example response

{
  "job_id": "job_8f3a2b",
  "status": "queued",
  "expires_at": "2026-10-19T09:50:00Z",
  "message": "Poll GET /api/gpu/job_8f3a2b for SSH credentials."
}

How payment works (x402)

Call the endpoint without any payment header → you get 402 Payment Required with the exact price, the USDC contract, the network (eip155:8453 = Base), and the pay-to address.
Pay 1.00 USDC on Base to the pay-to address — with any wallet, the Coinbase CDP x402 SDK, or any x402 client library.
Retry the same request with the X-PAYMENT header set to the base64-encoded signed payment payload → 200 with JSON.

# 1. Get the 402 payment requirements
curl -s -X POST "https://contabo-vps.taild7e69a.ts.net/gpubroker/api/gpu" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{ "gpu_type": "RTX_4090", "duration_hours": 1, "ssh_key": "ssh-ed25519 AAAA..." }'

# 2. Pay 1.00 USDC on Base, then retry with the payment proof
curl -X POST "https://contabo-vps.taild7e69a.ts.net/gpubroker/api/gpu" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-PAYMENT: <base64-signed-payment-payload>" \
  -d '{ "gpu_type": "RTX_4090", "duration_hours": 1, "ssh_key": "ssh-ed25519 AAAA..." }'

Facilitators: Coinbase CDP and PayAI (no API key needed for either). Scheme: x402 v2 exact. Asset: USDC 0x833589fCD6eDb6E08f4c7C32D4f71b54bdA02913 on Base.

Free trial

Every IP gets 1/day free calls to this endpoint — no payment needed. Free calls run automatically when you call without an X-PAYMENT header. The X-Free-Remaining response header shows how many free calls you have left today. When the quota is exhausted, the request falls through to the normal 402 payment flow.

FAQ

How do I get SSH access?
Pass your SSH public key in the booking request. When the job status becomes 'running', poll GET /api/gpu/{job_id} for ssh_host, ssh_port (user: root), then ssh -p PORT root@HOST.

How long does provisioning take?
1-5 minutes. The worker books the cheapest verified spot offer matching your GPU type.

What happens when time runs out?
The instance is automatically destroyed at expires_at. You can also DELETE /api/gpu/{job_id} anytime to stop early.

Which GPUs are available?
Pilot: RTX 4090 (~$0.40/hr spot), RTX 3090 (~$0.17/hr), RTX 3080 (~$0.16/hr), RTX A6000 (~$0.40/hr). $1.00/job covers up to 2h on any of them.

Is my SSH key stored?
Your public key is injected into the instance via onstart script and kept in the job record until the job is destroyed. Never share private keys.

Do I need an API key?
No. This API uses x402: call the endpoint, receive a 402 Payment Required with the price, pay in USDC on Base, and retry with the X-PAYMENT header. No signup, no API key, no account.

Which facilitators are supported?
Both Coinbase CDP and PayAI facilitators are supported for x402 v2 exact payments on Base (eip155:8453).

What if my payment is too low?
The facilitator verifies the on-chain amount against the price. If underpaid, you get 402 again; pay the full amount and retry.

All 37 x402 API docs · Postman collection (download) · About this API