> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://fal.ai/docs/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Create Compute Instance > Creates a new compute instance with the specified configuration and SSH key. **Requirements:** - Requires compute permissions (extra_permissions.compute = true) - Authentication required via admin API key - Valid SSH public key required for instance access **Key Features:** - Create high-performance GPU instances - Specify sector for InfiniBand configuration (8x H100 only) - SSH key-based authentication - Automatic instance provisioning and region assignment - Idempotent creation with Idempotency-Key header (optional but recommended) **Common Use Cases:** - Spin up compute resources for ML training - Create GPU instances for inference workloads - Set up development environments with H100 GPUs - Deploy distributed training with InfiniBand networking **Instance Types:** - `gpu_8x_h100_sxm5`: 8x NVIDIA H100 GPUs (high-performance, supports sector configuration for InfiniBand) - `gpu_1x_h100_sxm5`: 1x NVIDIA H100 GPU (standard) **Idempotency:** - Optional Idempotency-Key header prevents duplicate instance creation on retries - Responses cached for 10 minutes per unique key See [fal.ai docs](https://docs.fal.ai/compute) for more details. ## OpenAPI ````yaml /api-reference/platform-apis/openapi/v1.json post /compute/instances openapi: 3.1.0 info: title: Platform APIs version: v1 description: fal REST API for programmatic access to platform resources. servers: - url: https://api.fal.ai/v1 description: Production server security: [] paths: /compute/instances: post: tags: - Compute summary: Create Compute Instance description: >- Creates a new compute instance with the specified configuration and SSH key. **Requirements:** - Requires compute permissions (extra_permissions.compute = true) - Authentication required via admin API key - Valid SSH public key required for instance access **Key Features:** - Create high-performance GPU instances - Specify sector for InfiniBand configuration (8x H100 only) - SSH key-based authentication - Automatic instance provisioning and region assignment - Idempotent creation with Idempotency-Key header (optional but recommended) **Common Use Cases:** - Spin up compute resources for ML training - Create GPU instances for inference workloads - Set up development environments with H100 GPUs - Deploy distributed training with InfiniBand networking **Instance Types:** - `gpu_8x_h100_sxm5`: 8x NVIDIA H100 GPUs (high-performance, supports sector configuration for InfiniBand) - `gpu_1x_h100_sxm5`: 1x NVIDIA H100 GPU (standard) **Idempotency:** - Optional Idempotency-Key header prevents duplicate instance creation on retries - Responses cached for 10 minutes per unique key See [fal.ai docs](https://docs.fal.ai/compute) for more details. operationId: createComputeInstance parameters: - schema: type: string description: Optional idempotency key for safe request retries example: 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000 required: false description: Optional idempotency key for safe request retries name: Idempotency-Key in: header requestBody: required: true content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: instance_type: type: string enum: - gpu_8x_h100_sxm5 - gpu_1x_h100_sxm5 description: Type of compute instance to create example: gpu_1x_h100_sxm5 ssh_key: type: string minLength: 1 description: >- SSH public key for accessing the instance (e.g., 'ssh-rsa AAAAB3...') example: ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABgQC... user@host sector: type: string enum: - sector_1 - sector_2 - sector_3 description: >- Sector for InfiniBand configuration (only valid with gpu_8x_h100_sxm5) example: sector_1 required: - instance_type - ssh_key description: Request body for creating a new compute instance with SSH access example: instance_type: gpu_8x_h100_sxm5 ssh_key: ssh-rsa AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAADAQABAAABgQC7Kl4... user@host sector: sector_1 responses: '201': description: Compute instance created successfully content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: id: type: string description: Unique identifier for the compute instance example: inst_abc123xyz instance_type: type: string enum: - gpu_8x_h100_sxm5 - gpu_1x_h100_sxm5 description: Type of compute instance (GPU configuration) example: gpu_1x_h100_sxm5 region: type: string enum: - us-west - us-central - us-east - eu-north - eu-west - other description: Geographical region where the instance is located example: us-west sector: type: string enum: - sector_1 - sector_2 - sector_3 description: >- Sector identifier for instance placement within the region (if applicable) example: sector_1 ip: type: string description: >- IP address of the instance (available when instance is ready) example: 203.0.113.42 status: type: string enum: - ready - init - pending - provisioning - stopped - unknown description: Current operational status of the instance example: ready creator_user_nickname: type: string description: Nickname of the user who created this instance example: developer required: - id - instance_type - region - status description: >- Compute instance details including configuration, location, and status example: id: inst_abc123xyz instance_type: gpu_8x_h100_sxm5 region: us-west sector: sector_1 status: provisioning creator_user_nickname: developer '400': description: Invalid request parameters content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: error: type: object properties: type: type: string enum: - authorization_error - validation_error - not_found - rate_limited - server_error - not_implemented description: The category of error that occurred message: type: string description: Human-readable error message docs_url: type: string format: uri description: Link to relevant documentation request_id: type: string description: Unique request identifier for debugging required: - type - message description: Error details required: - error description: Standard error response format example: error: type: validation_error message: Invalid request parameters '401': description: Authentication required content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: error: type: object properties: type: type: string enum: - authorization_error - validation_error - not_found - rate_limited - server_error - not_implemented description: The category of error that occurred message: type: string description: Human-readable error message docs_url: type: string format: uri description: Link to relevant documentation request_id: type: string description: Unique request identifier for debugging required: - type - message description: Error details required: - error description: Standard error response format example: error: type: authorization_error message: Authentication required '403': description: Access denied content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: error: type: object properties: type: type: string enum: - authorization_error - validation_error - not_found - rate_limited - server_error - not_implemented description: The category of error that occurred message: type: string description: Human-readable error message docs_url: type: string format: uri description: Link to relevant documentation request_id: type: string description: Unique request identifier for debugging required: - type - message description: Error details required: - error description: Standard error response format example: error: type: authorization_error message: Access denied '429': description: Rate limit exceeded content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: error: type: object properties: type: type: string enum: - authorization_error - validation_error - not_found - rate_limited - server_error - not_implemented description: The category of error that occurred message: type: string description: Human-readable error message docs_url: type: string format: uri description: Link to relevant documentation request_id: type: string description: Unique request identifier for debugging required: - type - message description: Error details required: - error description: Standard error response format example: error: type: rate_limited message: Rate limit exceeded '500': description: Internal server error content: application/json: schema: type: object properties: error: type: object properties: type: type: string enum: - authorization_error - validation_error - not_found - rate_limited - server_error - not_implemented description: The category of error that occurred message: type: string description: Human-readable error message docs_url: type: string format: uri description: Link to relevant documentation request_id: type: string description: Unique request identifier for debugging required: - type - message description: Error details required: - error description: Standard error response format example: error: type: server_error message: An unexpected error occurred security: - adminApiKey: [] components: securitySchemes: adminApiKey: type: apiKey in: header name: Authorization description: >- Admin API key must be prefixed with "Key ", e.g. Authorization: Key YOUR_ADMIN_API_KEY ````