Ghost provides a configuration and a way to spin up tiny machines from your CLI, but designed in a way where GitHub Actions doesn’t have to be the backend. It’s the same effect as running gh create-repo, setting a workflow, and gh run workflow (gh is the official GH CLI). You can do the same with tmate and gh from the CLI now, this just has better devX and uses real SSH so you can agent forward to clone your repos like you would locally.
It is not “abusing” GH Actions nor “promote” that, nor “volunteering the money of others” (?), it is helping you use the Actions minutes on your account better.
For me it makes GH Actions, which I’ve always loved, way more useful, by saving time in the setup of these common workflows I use all the time: debugging a failure in CI. Getting an agent to iterate directly in the CI machine. Manual build and smoke on different OS, etc.
I had this idea for a while and was waiting for GH or someone to release an easier CLI for this, for a year or two, but they didn’t so I built it myself.
Honestly, I was tyring to pick a name, and I picked the one that made me laugh the most. Sparks joy. Because that's what it really is: a charity of ghost machines. GH provides these amazing free compute minutes, and this is a way to use them to focus on dev tasks.
You're not running a charity. You're probably violating their TOS and abusing the good will they're putting out towards open source projects.
I can't believe it but your little project has for the first time in my life put me in the position of defending Microsoft. I hope they shut it down ASAP.
Maybe you wanted something to attack or defend? Because this is mistaken.
Although, releasing free software like this is kinda like running a charity, right?
Charity can also mean goodwill and kindness - so that's the idea. But the name I picked because it made me laugh, it was so surprising and joyful - a charity of ephemeral ghost machines for your software work. Which is basically what GH actions is, this just makes it even more useful and faster to work with.
What abuse and TOS violation were you thinking this was?
> You will not reproduce, duplicate, copy, sell, resell or exploit any portion of the Service, use of the Service, or access to the Service without our express written permission.
Supposing they didn't have this clause, it would still be the wrong thing to do. You are clearly lacking a moral center or have killed your inner voice that normally speaks to people and tells them right from wrong.
These are not your computers to resell or reoffer as you please, even for free. They belong to Microsoft who pays for them and owns them, and therefore only Microsoft can decide how they are used and for what lawful purposes and under what conditions. You need their permission to do what you are doing, and I'm fairly certain you do not have that.
By abusing their services in this manner you are also directly attacking open source projects who make use of these services in a way that is compatible with their AUP.
No. You can critique the project, but you don't get to falsely accuse me, nor define me, lol.
"the wrong thing to do", "You are clearly lacking a moral center or have killed your inner voice that normally speaks to people and tells them right from wrong.", "abusing their services", "you are also directly attacking open source project"
You really have a need to falsely accuse. It seems like projective guilt. What have you done that you feel so guilty about that you need to try to abuse random strangers?
So, no, my inner voice is not dead, I never killed it, nor would ever kill it, my inner voice is thriving - I nurture it, unlike you, and I have a clear and strong moral center, again unlike you. It seems more and more you are merely talking about yourself here but projecting onto someone else. I reject your your attempt to get me to participate in your need to project. I reject your framing completely. it is you who is clearly lacking a "moral center" and it is you have killed your own voice that ought tell you right from wrong. You killed it here again - when you could have spent a minute to understand, instead launched into self-righteous abuse which has nothing to do with me, and everything about you. I reject your weak attempt to drag me into your personal drama.
You did all this - based on a lie, without understanding me or the project. In that ambiguity - you felt it was okay to talk to me like that, and about my work. You have no idea about me, and you don't get to talk to me like that.
In fact, ghost doesn't advertise itself falsely - you merely misunderstood, or joined the crowd and think that excuses your actions. It does not. You're responsible for your words here.
You can probably do better: you can argue the ToS point without turning it into a character attack, or not?
"I think this violates GitHub’s AUP" is a kind of point. "You lack a moral center” sounds like your own compensatory projection of your guilt onto others to feel better, and is not a point - too many years on the inside? That is just a personal accusation, and I do not accept it. I bundle it up, and pass it back to you, reflected. You don't know me, and you're totally wrong in everything you tried to say about me. Which of course you wouldn't know anything at all about. All your information is bad, dude, and always has been. You don't check it? Sounds like you don't.
Ghostbox is not reselling or reoffering GitHub’s service. It is a CLI that helps a person create and connect to workflows in their own GitHub account, using their own Actions minutes, for software development work. The underlying pieces are already possible with `gh`, workflow files, tmate, SSH, and normal Actions usage.
It is founded on the idea of the Global Free Tier - that GitHub led the way in providing. Odd for you to criticize it given your work on UBI. But I suppose you prefer compliant dependents rather than empowered independent creators, right?
If GitHub says a specific part violates the terms, I’ll take that seriously. But your dislike of the workflow is 0% proof of any ToS violation, and it is 0% permission to try attack my character.
> You are clearly lacking a moral center or have killed your inner voice that normally speaks to people and tells them right from wrong.
That is a crazy thing to say, do you know that? I want you to go stand in front of a mirror and say that to yourself. Then imagine the kind of perosn you are, saying that to someone else. You are clearly just talking about yourself in that crazed statement. I do not accept that, in any way, that is all yours. But wow, you really do talk like an abusive person - but you don't loook like one. I guess you can't always tell.
I’m asking people to evaluate what the project actually does, not the moral story you are projecting onto it that you need to be true for your weird little twisted perosnal reasons that have 0% to do with me. I'm not actually sure you can do better - I'd like to think you could, any MD-based ex-NSA TAO spook could see that a regular perosn could. Obviously, you are 0% qualified to judge anything about moral character at all, yet you were so desperate to try that in your little comment above. Sorry, this is not your opprotunity to have moral feelgood moment compensation for all your years of bad by trying to abuse someone else. Rejected. Go figure out your issues yourself.
You really picked the wrong person to try to say that to, bud.
> Ghostbox is not reselling or reoffering GitHub’s service. It is a CLI that helps a person create and connect to workflows in their own GitHub account, using their own Actions minutes, for software development work.
You are not advertising it that way. I'm not the only person to call you out in these comments. Dozens of people have told you the same thing, and you've summarily dismissed all of their comments.
Clearly either you are doing something wrong (violating the ToS), or you are advertising a service that appears to be violating the ToS. If it's the latter, maybe you might want to change your website to be a little clearer, like stating that it requires a Github account and it will use that account and any ToS violations are on the user.
I'm amazed at your ability to tell others that they need to self-reflect while appearing to lack any capacity for self-reflection yourself. You solicited feedback and dozens of intelligent people are telling you the exact same thing, and you dismissed them and/or called them crazy.
> Odd for you to criticize it given your work on UBI.
It's not odd at all if you understood my work or understood that your service advertises itself as abusing another company's resources. FYI, I work in VBI, not UBI (and the distinction is precisely about abusing other people's resources without permission), but this isn't a conversation about my work, it's about your work.
> I'd like to think you could, any MD-based ex-NSA TAO spook could see that a regular perosn could.
No idea what you're saying here. Are you now making up false accusations about me? Speaking of abusive behavior.
> Happy to know what you think and talk about it.
Seems you aren't actually happy to hear what others think. Maybe don't solicit feedback on a high-traffic website if you don't want to hear it?
No. Weird is people lying about it then flagging the repo until GH auto-disables.
Almost as if somebody didn't want folks to discover you can do your ephemeral-machine agentic/human dev workflows on your own GH Action free minutes rather than paying like Tilde.run, Fly.io etc. How weird indeed
It's obviously designed for builds. But you should always take free handouts, so good on you for doing so. Just don't be surprised if you get banned or even prosecuted.
Very telling that after the real ghost mechanics are clarified - own account, own workflows, own minutes, no resale, no bypass - you're left holding "free handouts" and "banned and prosecuted" inventions. There's 0 policy argument there, it's just smear, shame and intimidation language, which has nothing at all to do with me. All about you.