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About Daytona

Daytona is a cloud development environment platform for creating and managing isolated sandboxes. The Serval integration connects to Daytona Cloud or any self-hosted Daytona server using an API key, and gives your workflows full access to the Daytona API - sandbox lifecycle, in-sandbox file, git, and command operations, snapshots, volumes, and organization administration. Serval stores your API key securely and attaches it to every Daytona request your workflows make. Authentication: API key (sent as a Bearer token on every request). Data sync: On-demand only. Serval does not sync, ingest, or store any Daytona data in the background, and there are no triggers or inbound webhooks. All data access happens at workflow run time through requests Serval makes on your behalf.

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What the Daytona integration enables

Anything defined in the Daytona API can be accessed through Serval.

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Get your credentials

You need a Daytona API key. Create one in the Daytona Dashboard with the permissions your workflows will use - see the Daytona documentation for background.
1

Open the Keys page

Log in to the Daytona Dashboard and open the Keys page.
2

Create a key

Click Create Key and enter a descriptive name, such as “Serval Integration”.
3

Set an expiration

Choose an expiration date that fits your security policy.
4

Select permissions

Select the permissions your workflows will need - for example write access to sandboxes and snapshots, and read access to volumes. Health checks below also read sandboxes, organizations, and key details.
5

Create and copy the key

Click Create and copy the generated API key immediately.
Daytona shows the API key only once, at creation. Store it in a password or secret manager before leaving the dashboard - you cannot retrieve it later, and Serval never displays the saved key again either.

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Connect in Serval

1

Open the Daytona connect form

In Serval, open the Daytona integration and start a new connection.
2

Instance Name (optional)

Optionally enter a name to distinguish between different Daytona instances (for example, “Development” or “Production”). If you leave it blank, the connection is simply named “Daytona”.
3

Server URL

Enter your Daytona server URL including the /api path - for example https://app.daytona.io/api for Daytona Cloud, or your self-hosted instance URL ending in /api. The field is required - leaving it blank shows “This field is required”. There is no format check beyond that, so double-check it for typos before saving.
4

API Key

Paste the API key you created in the Daytona Dashboard. This is a password field and is marked required, but the form does not actually stop you from saving with it blank - a missing or mistyped key only surfaces later as failing health checks, so double-check the paste before you save. After saving, Serval never displays the key again; the edit form shows only a masked placeholder.
5

Save and verify

Save the connection, then run the health checks below to confirm everything works.
When editing an existing Daytona connection, the API Key field shows a masked placeholder - and leaving it untouched does not keep your existing key. Before saving any edit (even one that only changes the Instance Name or Server URL), use the replace control on the API Key field to paste the complete key, and confirm the Server URL and Instance Name are filled in exactly as desired. Saving with any field blank, or with the API Key left masked, breaks the connection.

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Verifying the connection

The Daytona integration ships four health checks:
If “Validate Daytona API Connection” passes but “List Sandboxes” or “List Organizations” fails, your key is valid but missing a scope. Create a new key in the Daytona Dashboard with the needed read permissions and update the connection, replacing the API Key with the new value and confirming every other field is filled in.

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Gotchas and troubleshooting

Updating any field on an existing Daytona connection re-saves the whole form. The stored API key appears as a masked placeholder, and leaving it untouched does not carry the old key over - the connection ends up saved without a working key. Before saving any edit, use the replace control on the API Key field and paste the complete key, and make sure Server URL and Instance Name are filled in exactly as desired. If a connection stops working right after an edit, re-open it, re-enter all three fields, and save again.
Serval uses the Server URL exactly as you enter it - it never adds /api for you. Use https://app.daytona.io/api for Daytona Cloud, or your self-hosted server address ending in /api. A URL without /api is accepted by the form and only fails later at health-check time.
The Server URL field only checks that something was entered - typos and malformed URLs pass the form and surface later as the health-check failure “Unable to connect to Daytona API. Please verify your API key is valid and your server URL is correct.” If that check fails, verify the URL first.
To support self-hosted servers, Serval does not restrict which host the Server URL can point to. Your API key is sent as a credential to that exact address, so verify the URL carefully before saving - especially when copy-pasting it from chat messages or tickets.
Serval derives the connection’s internal identity from the Instance Name (or uses a default identity named “Daytona” when blank). Renaming the instance later changes that identity, so workflows or references tied to the old name may need updating. Two Daytona connections on the same team with the same Instance Name (or both left blank) share the same internal identifier, so give each connection a distinct name.
Daytona displays a new key a single time at creation. If you lose it, you cannot retrieve it from Daytona or from Serval (which never displays the saved key, only a masked placeholder) - create a new key and update the connection, re-entering all fields.
Need help? Contact support@serval.com for assistance with your Daytona integration.