Offloading e2e tests to cloud VMs: 9 minutes for ~2 cents vs 1-hour hangs on Mac
kevinkern · x · 2026-10-11
A developer shares day-one results of moving his e2e tests to cloud VMs on boat: even with beefy workstations, background e2e tests starved his Mac, and 24/7 agents kept fighting over CPU and RAM.
Real numbers: a browser test hung for over an hour on his Mac but finished in 9 minutes on boat for 2 cents. His agents spin up VMs on demand — e.g., after implementing a feature — run tests, and proceed on green or fix on red, all before pushing.
Caveats: the 16GB "large" tier is the ceiling and Pro-only (default 8GB); anything macOS-specific like packaging and native app tests still runs locally.
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