Development environments in the cloud

Updated 2026-10-30

A development environment on Wolkra is a cloud server in Frankfurt that you code on, test on or share as a staging copy, billed by the hour so it costs little when it lives only as long as you need it.

You get a full Linux machine with root access, fast downloads thanks to unmetered traffic, and snapshots to clone a working setup in minutes.

Why develop on a remote server

• Same environment for everyone. Build the setup once, snapshot it, and give each developer an identical copy.
• More power than a laptop. Pick a CPU-optimised or memory-optimised plan for big builds and test suites.
• Linux close to production. Develop on the same distribution and versions you deploy.
• Work from any device. Your environment keeps running when you close the laptop.
• Real public endpoints. Test webhooks, OAuth callbacks and HTTPS against a real domain.

Typical setups

Personal remote dev box

One server with your tools, connected through your editor's remote SSH feature. Code, containers and databases run on the server, and your laptop only shows the editor.

Shared staging server

A copy of production where the team tests changes before release. Use the Docker app for Compose-based stacks or the WordPress app for site work.

Preview environment per branch

Your CI pipeline creates a server for each branch or merge request through the API, deploys the branch, posts the address, and deletes the server after merge. With hourly billing, a preview that lives for a day costs a day.

Throwaway test machines

Need to try a new distribution, test an install script or reproduce a bug on Debian, AlmaLinux, Rocky Linux, Fedora or CentOS Stream? Create a server, test, delete. See operating systems.

Picking a plan

• Light editing and small services: a small Standard plan.
• Compiling, large test suites, containers: a CPU-optimised (c) plan.
• Many services at once or big datasets: a memory-optimised (m) plan.

Plans are billed per started hour from a prepaid balance and capped at the monthly price. You can resize up when a project needs more.

Saving money with snapshots

Powering a server off is not the same as deleting it. The surest way to pause an environment and stop paying for the server is:

1. Take a snapshot of the configured server. Snapshots are billed per GB.
2. Delete the server.
3. Create a new server from the snapshot when you need it again.

This works well for environments you use a few days a month, and for golden images that every developer starts from.

Setting it up

1. Create a server from a Linux image and add your SSH key.
2. Pass cloud-init user data to install your tools on first boot, so new environments build themselves.
3. Attach a free firewall that allows SSH, plus web ports only if you need them.
4. Put source code and data you care about on a block storage volume that you can attach to a fresh server.
5. Snapshot the result.

The first steps on a new VPS guide covers the basics.

Teams

• Organizations and projects separate client work and keep costs apart.
• Roles (owner, admin, billing, member) and per-project roles control who can create or delete servers.
• Activity log shows who changed what.
• Two-factor authentication and sign-in with Google for every member.

See teams and security.

Private test networks

Recreate production topology with a private network, a load balancer and private-only database servers. The Composer lets you draw that stack, see what it costs per month, and apply it in order, then tear it down when testing ends.

Keep dev servers secure

Dev servers often hold source code and test credentials, so treat them like production: SSH keys only, a firewall that hides dev ports from the internet, and no real customer data on throwaway machines.

Why Wolkra for dev environments

• Hourly billing with no contracts or setup fees. See hourly billing.
• Unmetered traffic for package downloads, image pulls and dataset transfers, with fair use.
• Servers in Germany, with low latency across Europe from the centre of Europe.

Get started

Create an account, add balance, and spin up your first development server in Frankfurt.