Machines & Fleet
Compute resources and fleets for running workflows.
On this page6
Overview
On this page you will learn what machines and fleets are in Trickest, the two fleet types and who has access to each, and how a run uses a fleet to execute a workflow.
What are Machines and Fleets
Machines are the compute resources that execute your workflows. Every run needs at least one machine; each machine executes one workflow node's job at a time.
A fleet is a pool of machines that runs are executed on. When you run a workflow, you choose which fleet to use; the execution engine then assigns machines from that fleet to the run's jobs.
Fleet Types
| Managed | Self-Hosted | |
|---|---|---|
| Machines provided by | Trickest | You |
| Setup required | None | Install the Trickest Agent on your machines |
| Scaling | Automatic, handled by Trickest | Fixed — the machines you attach |
| Availability | Enterprise plans | All plans |
Managed fleets are pools of virtual machines that Trickest provisions, scales, and maintains for you. You run workflows on them without any infrastructure setup. Managed fleets are available on Enterprise plans. See Managed Machines.
Self-hosted fleets contain your own machines — servers, VMs, cloud instances, or macOS devices — that you attach to the platform by installing the Trickest Agent. Workflows run on your infrastructure, which is useful for data locality, network access (e.g. scanning internal targets), compliance, or custom hardware. Self-hosted fleets are available on all plans; on the Community plan, the self-hosted fleet is created at signup and is the execution target for all runs. See Self-Hosted Machines.
How a Run Uses a Fleet
When you execute a workflow, you select the target fleet. The execution engine breaks the workflow into jobs — one job per executing node — and assigns each job to an available machine in the fleet. A machine runs a single job at a time; parallel branches and distributed nodes let a run spread across multiple machines at once, up to the fleet's machine cap.
If more jobs are pending than the fleet has machines, jobs queue and start as machines free up. Multiple runs can target the same fleet at the same time and share its pool.
How It Relates
- Workflows: Workflows are executed on machines. When you run a workflow, you select a fleet; the engine runs the workflow's nodes on machines from that fleet. See Workflows.
- Runs: Each run is executed on one or more machines. Run status and node status reflect whether jobs are queued, running, or finished.
- Solutions: Solution workflows run on the same machine and fleet model; you choose the fleet when running the Solution. See Solutions & Database.