What is Selfmade Ninja Labs
Selfmade Ninja Labs gives you labs — private Linux machines that run in the cloud. Each one is yours: root access, a terminal, VS Code in the browser, SSH, persistent storage, and a private tunnel from your own laptop or phone.
Use a lab to develop, host a site, run a database, practice security, or teach.
What you can do
| Run a lab | Pick from ready-made environments and deploy in about a minute. |
| Reach it privately | Add a device once; it reaches every lab you own over an encrypted tunnel. |
| Publish it | Attach a domain and serve over HTTPS. Certificates are handled for you. |
| Add a database | MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis or RabbitMQ, reachable from inside your labs. |
| Build your own environment | Define a lab once and deploy it repeatedly. |
| Work with an AI assistant | Connect an editor or AI client and let it read, write and run things in your lab. |
| Learn and compete | Guided lessons, quizzes, coding challenges and security labs. |
Two kinds of lab
Machine labs are working environments — Ubuntu, Docker, Node-RED, n8n, Kali, Jupyter and more. You get root, and your files persist.
Challenge labs are security exercises. Each has a story, a set of missions, a flag to capture, and a scoreboard.
What persists, and what does not
This is the most useful thing to learn early.
- Your home directory persists. Files there survive stopping, restarting and redeploying.
- Everything else resets when the lab is rebuilt. Install packages through a startup script so they come back every time.
- Storage is per account, not per lab. One storage area is mounted into every lab you run, so a file written in one is immediately in all of them — and your quota is shared across them.
New? Deploy your first lab takes about five minutes and needs nothing installed.
Where to go next
- Get startedSign in, deploy your first lab, connect a device.
- LabsRun, connect to, configure and share labs.
- Store & templatesReady-made labs, and building your own.
- NetworkingDevices, domains, HTTPS, ports, private networks.
- Databases & servicesMySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis, RabbitMQ.
- AI & MCPConnect Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor to your labs.
- Organizations & teamsShared accounts, departments, workgroups.
- LearnLearn AI, roadmaps, syllabus study, discussions.
- CompeteCode Arena, Spot Quiz, CTF labs, events, fair play.
- Security & accessRoles and permissions, sign-in, how MCP is secured.
- TroubleshootingFix connection, deploy, HTTPS and storage problems.
- Admin guideRun the platform: users, labs, access, integrity.
Press Ctrl + K (⌘ + K on a Mac), or use the search box at the top, to search every page, including the admin guide.
Stories and step-by-step guides
The Selfmade Ninja blog has walkthroughs, event write-ups and student posts that go with these docs. Good places to start:
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