Template tags & versioning

Template versioning allows you to maintain multiple versions of the same template using tags. This enables workflows like semantic versioning, environment-based deployments, and gradual rollouts.

Tag format

Tags follow the name:tag format, where name is your template’s identifier and tag is the version label.

my-template:v1.0.0              // Within your project
my-template:production          // Within your project
acme/my-template:v1.0.0         // Full namespaced reference

The default tag

When you build or reference a template without specifying a tag, E2B uses the default tag automatically. This means:

my-template is equivalent to my-template:default
Existing templates without tags continue to work seamlessly

// These are equivalent
const sandbox1 = await Sandbox.create('my-template')
const sandbox2 = await Sandbox.create('my-template:default')

Instead of using a named tag, you can start a sandbox from a specific build by passing its build_id directly. This is useful when you need to pin a sandbox to an exact build artifact — for example, during debugging or when reproducing an issue from a known build.

The format follows the same colon syntax as tags: <template>:<build_id> or <namespace>/<template>:<build_id>.

You can find the build_id from the return value of Template.build() or by listing tags with Template.getTags() / Template.get_tags().

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

// Start a sandbox from a specific build ID
const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('my-template:f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479')

// With namespace
const sandbox2 = await Sandbox.create('acme/my-template:f47ac10b-58cc-4372-a567-0e02b2c3d479')

Building with tags

You can build templates with one or more tags to create versioned builds.

Single tag

import { Template } from 'e2b'

// Build with a specific version tag
await Template.build(template, 'my-template:v1.0.0')

Multiple tags

Build with multiple tags to assign several version labels to the same build artifact.

import { Template } from 'e2b'

// Build with multiple tags pointing to the same artifact
await Template.build(template, 'my-template', { tags: ['v1.2.0', 'latest'] })

Managing tags

You can manage tags on existing template builds without rebuilding.

Assign tags

Assign new tag(s) to an existing build. This is useful for promoting a tested version to production or marking a version as stable.

import { Template } from 'e2b'

// Assign a single tag
await Template.assignTags('my-template:v1.2.0', 'production')

// Assign multiple tags at once
await Template.assignTags('my-template:v1.2.0', ['production', 'stable'])

Remove tags

Remove a tag from a template. The underlying build artifact remains accessible via other tags.

import { Template } from 'e2b'

// Remove a tag
await Template.removeTags('my-template', 'staging')

Removing a tag does not delete the build artifact. Other tags pointing to the same build will continue to work.

Retrieve all tags for a template. Each tag includes the tag name, the associated build ID, and when the tag was assigned.

import { Template } from 'e2b'

const tags = await Template.getTags('my-template')
for (const tag of tags) {
  console.log(`Tag: ${tag.tag}, Build: ${tag.buildId}, Created: ${tag.createdAt}`)
}

Use cases

Semantic versioning

Use semantic version tags to track releases and enable rollbacks.

// Release versions
await Template.build(template, 'api-server:v1.0.0')
await Template.build(template, 'api-server:v1.1.0')
await Template.build(template, 'api-server:v2.0.0')

// Create sandbox from specific version
const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('api-server:v1.1.0')

Environment tags

Use environment tags for deployment pipelines.

// Build new version
await Template.build(template, 'my-app:v1.5.0')

// Promote through environments
await Template.assignTags('my-app:v1.5.0', 'staging')

// After testing, promote to production
await Template.assignTags('my-app:v1.5.0', 'production')

// Use in your application
const env = process.env.NODE_ENV
const sandbox = await Sandbox.create(`my-app:${env}`)

Latest and stable tags

Maintain rolling tags that always point to specific versions.

// Build with version and latest tag
await Template.build(template, 'my-tool', { tags: ['v3.0.0', 'latest'] })

// Mark a tested version as stable
await Template.assignTags('my-tool:v2.9.0', 'stable')

// You can choose your risk tolerance
const latestSandbox = await Sandbox.create('my-tool:latest')  // Newest
const stableSandbox = await Sandbox.create('my-tool:stable')  // Tested