Skip to main content

VSCode / Cursor

Editor extension

CLI

Command line

Console

Web interface
Snapshots capture the full disk state of a running instance, letting you restore your environment later without reinstalling dependencies or re-downloading models. You can also use snapshots to change instance specifications by restoring to a new instance with different GPU or CPU settings.

​
Create a Snapshot

  1. Open the Thunder Compute sidebar panel
  2. Find your running instance
  3. Click the snapshot icon (camera) next to the instance
  4. Enter a name for your snapshot
Snapshotting happens in the background—you can continue using your instance immediately. The snapshot captures the exact state at the moment you initiated it.

​
View Snapshots

Your snapshots appear in the Thunder Compute panel below your instances.

​
Restore from a Snapshot

When creating a new instance, select your snapshot from the template dropdown instead of a template.
Restoring from a snapshot can take up to 8 minutes per 100GB of data.

​
Delete a Snapshot

Right-click on a snapshot in the panel and select Delete.

​
Best Practices

  1. Name snapshots descriptively: Include the project, date, or purpose (e.g., llama-finetuned-jan2026)
  2. Snapshot before major changes: Create a snapshot before installing new packages or modifying your environment
  3. Clean up unused snapshots: Snapshots count toward your storage. Delete old ones you no longer need
  4. Keep snapshots small: Remove large temporary files before creating a snapshot to speed up creation and restoration

​
Snapshots vs External Backups

Snapshots are great for quickly restoring your environment, but they’re tied to Thunder Compute. For long-term data preservation, also use:
  • GitHub for code and configuration
  • Local downloads for important outputs
  • Cloud storage (R2, Google Drive) for large files