> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tinfoil.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Overview

> Run your containers in Tinfoil's secure enclaves with our privacy guarantees

At Tinfoil, **everything that touches plaintext client data** runs inside secure enclaves. This includes all our hosted AI models and the rest of our critical security infrastructure. Tinfoil Containers makes that same infrastructure available for running your own applications, with the same privacy, transparency, and security guarantees.

Tinfoil Containers run any Docker image inside an AMD SEV or Intel TDX secure enclave. The container's memory is encrypted in hardware, isolated from the host, and invisible to Tinfoil. You and any client connecting to it can verify that fact themselves via [remote attestation](/containers/connecting).

<Tip>
  GPU workloads run inside NVIDIA confidential-computing enclaves with the same attestation. [Contact us](mailto:contact@tinfoil.sh) to enable GPU access for your org.
</Tip>

## What's public, what's private

A Tinfoil Container deployment splits into two artifacts with different visibility rules:

* The configuration (`tinfoil-config.yml`) **must live in a public repo.** Tinfoil reads it at deploy time to compute the enclave measurement, and your users' SDKs read it (via the [Sigstore transparency log](https://docs.sigstore.dev/logging/overview/)) at request time to verify the running enclave matches what you published.
* Your **source code and Docker image can stay private.** The config pins the image by SHA256 digest, and the attestation commits to that exact digest — Tinfoil doesn't need to read your code to verify it. See [Private images](/containers/private-images) for registry credentials.

Anything that's *part of the measurement* must be readable; anything that's *measured by* the config doesn't have to be.

## Limitations

Tinfoil Containers have some limitations to work around when building on top of them:

* **No persistent disk.** The enclave filesystem is a ramdisk. You can write to it, but everything is lost when the container restarts or redeploys. For durable storage, see the [persistent storage tutorial](/containers/persistent-storage).
* **No inbound private networking.** Your container is reachable over the public internet. You'll have to build in appropriate authentication yourself.
* **No built-in load balancing.** Each container is one enclave instance. A deployment can contain multiple independently managed instances, but Tinfoil does not balance traffic between them.
* **No SSH access by default.** Since your container runs in a secure enclave, you can't shell into it by default. To troubleshoot, enable [debug mode](/containers/debug-mode), which deploys a separate instance of your container with SSH access.

<Warning>
  **Debug containers do not pass attestation.** Tinfoil's `SecureClient` will refuse to connect to a debug instance because debug enclaves are not confidential. Never use debug mode for production traffic or sensitive data.
</Warning>

## Getting started

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/containers/quickstart">
    Deploy your first container.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Example repo" icon="github" href="https://github.com/tinfoilsh/tinfoil-containers-template">
    A ready-to-deploy template that ships a working hello-world container with an env var and a secret.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Configuration

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Configuration reference" icon="gear" href="/containers/configuration">
    The full `tinfoil-config.yml` schema for runtime, resources, and routing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Private images" icon="lock" href="/containers/private-images">
    Configure registry credentials so Tinfoil can pull private images.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Secrets & variables" icon="key" href="/containers/secrets-and-env-vars">
    Manage environment variables and encrypted secrets.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Custom domains" icon="globe" href="/containers/custom-domains">
    Use your own domain instead of the default .containers.tinfoil.dev URL.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Model weights" icon="brain" href="/containers/models">
    Prepare Hugging Face weights for GPU inference containers.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Operations

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Making requests" icon="paper-plane" href="/containers/connecting">
    SDK and CLI examples for making attested requests.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Deployment lifecycle" icon="cloud-arrow-up" href="/containers/deployments">
    Manage deployment settings and individual container instances.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Updating & lifecycle" icon="arrows-rotate" href="/containers/updates">
    Blue-green updates, rollback, cancel, and recovery.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Debug mode" icon="bug" href="/containers/debug-mode">
    SSH into a separate debug instance for troubleshooting.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Staging mode" icon="flask" href="/containers/staging-mode">
    Stage updates and promote them manually after testing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Using the CLI" icon="terminal" href="/containers/cli">
    Manage the full container lifecycle from the terminal.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

### Reference

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Resource limits" icon="gauge" href="/containers/limits">
    CPU, memory, naming constraints, and org quotas.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Production checklist" icon="clipboard-check" href="/containers/production-checklist">
    Security, reliability, and deployment best practices.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Troubleshooting" icon="wrench" href="/containers/troubleshooting">
    Common issues and how to fix them.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>