Production-ready patterns for the Fly.io Machines REST API at https://api.machines.dev. Fly.io exposes both GraphQL (organization queries) and REST (machine lifecycle) APIs. The Machines REST API is the primary integration surface for creating, starting, stopping, and destroying VMs across 30+ global regions. A structured client ensures consistent auth, typed machine states, and reliable wait-for-state polling.
const FLY_API = 'https://api.machines.dev';
let _client: FlyClient | null = null;
export function getClient(appName: string): FlyClient {
if (!_client) {
const token = process.env.FLY_API_TOKEN;
if (!token) throw new Error('FLY_API_TOKEN must be set');
_client = new FlyClient(appName, token);
}
return _client;
}
class FlyClient {
private h: Record<string, string>;
constructor(private app: string, token: string) {
this.h = { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${token}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' };
}
async listMachines(): Promise<FlyMachine[]> {
const r = await fetch(`${FLY_API}/v1/apps/${this.app}/machines`, { headers: this.h });
if (!r.ok) throw new FlyError(r.status, await r.text()); return r.json();
}
async createMachine(config: MachineConfig, region: string): Promise<FlyMachine> {
const r = await fetch(`${FLY_API}/v1/apps/${this.app}/machines`, {
method: 'POST', headers: this.h, body: JSON.stringify({ region, config }) });
if (!r.ok) throw new FlyError(r.status, await r.text()); return r.json();
}
async waitForState(id: string, state: string, timeout = 30): Promise<void> {
const r = await fetch(`${FLY_API}/v1/apps/${this.app}/machines/${id}/wait?state=${state}&timeout=${timeout}`,
{ headers: this.h });
if (!r.ok) throw new FlyError(r.status, `Wait for ${state} timed out`);
}
}
export class FlyError extends Error {
constructor(public status: number, message: string) { super(message); this.name = 'FlyError'; }
}
export async function safeCall<T>(operation: string, fn: () => Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
try { return await fn(); }
catch (err: any) {
if (err instanceof FlyError && err.status === 429) { await new Promise(r => setTimeout(r, 2000)); return fn(); }
if (err instanceof FlyError && err.status === 401) throw new FlyError(401, 'Invalid FLY_API_TOKEN');
throw new FlyError(err.status ?? 0, `${operation} failed: ${err.message}`);
}
}
class DeployBuilder {
private regions: string[] = []; private config: Partial<MachineConfig> = {};
toRegions(...r: string[]) { this.regions = r; return this; }
withImage(img: string) { this.config.image = img; return this; }
withGuest(cpus: number, mem: number) { this.config.guest = { cpu_kind: 'shared', cpus, memory_mb: mem }; return this; }
async execute(client: FlyClient): Promise<FlyMachine[]> {
return Promise.all(this.regions.map(async r => {
const m = await client.createMachine(this.config as MachineConfig, r);
await client.waitForState(m.id, 'started'); return m;
}));
}
}
// Usage: await new DeployBuilder().toRegions('iad','lhr','nrt').withImage('app:latest').withGuest(1,256).execute(client);
type MachineState = 'created' | 'starting' | 'started' | 'stopping' | 'stopped' | 'destroying' | 'destroyed';
interface FlyMachine {
id: string; name: string; state: MachineState; region: string;
config: MachineConfig; created_at: string; updated_at: string;
}
interface MachineConfig {
image: string; guest: { cpu_kind: string; cpus: number; memory_mb: number };
services: Array<{ ports: Array<{ port: number; handlers: string[] }>; internal_port: number }>;
env: Record<string, string>;
}
interface FlyVolume { id: string; name: string; region: string; size_gb: number; attached_machine_id: string | null; }
export function mockMachine(overrides: Partial<FlyMachine> = {}): FlyMachine {
return { id: 'mach-001', name: 'test-machine', state: 'started', region: 'iad',
config: { image: 'app:latest', guest: { cpu_kind: 'shared', cpus: 1, memory_mb: 256 }, services: [], env: {} },
created_at: '2025-01-01T00:00:00Z', updated_at: '2025-01-01T00:00:00Z', ...overrides };
}
| Pattern | When to Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
safeCall wrapper |
All Machines API calls | Catches network + API errors uniformly |
| Retry on 429 | Bulk machine creation | 2s delay before retry |
waitForState timeout |
After create/start/stop | Prevents hanging deploys |
| Region fallback | Multi-region deploy failure | Skip failed region, continue others |
Apply patterns in flyio-core-workflow-a.