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The first create of an image at a shape builds a template once (seconds for small images, minutes for huge ones); the SDK waits by default (wait_for_template=False raises TemplateBuildingError to poll yourself). After that it is fast for everyone (public images) or your org (private ones).

Sharp edges

Templates are per (image, cpus, memory_mb, runtime). In the vm runtime don’t start a second dockerd on dind images — the image’s own daemon already holds the socket. Omitting the image gives the default sandbox (Python 3.12, Node 22, common data-science stack, 2 vCPU/1 GiB, ~50–100 ms from a warm pool); it sets PIP_NO_CACHE_DIR=1, so repeated installs in one sandbox want PIP_NO_CACHE_DIR=0 pip install ….