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How to Manage Startup Scripts for Vultr Instances

Updated on 29 September, 2025

The process of setting up and configuring a new server or service to make it ready for use.

Startup Scripts for Vultr instances are files that run custom commands when your instances boot. The scripts automate repetitive tasks like installing software, configuring settings, querying third-party services, and more. These scripts are suitable when provisioning multiple Cloud Compute instances because they save time.

Follow this guide to manage Startup Scripts for Vultr Instances using the Vultr Customer Portal, API, CLI, or Terraform.

  • Vultr Customer Portal
  • Vultr API
  • Vultr CLI
  • Terraform
  1. Navigate to Orchestration and select Scripts.
  2. Click Add Startup Script.
  3. Enter a name, select the type, define some commands, and click Add Script.

  1. Send a POST request to the Create Startup Script endpoint and encode the Startup script to Base64 format.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/startup-scripts" \
    -X POST \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}" \
    -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
    --data '{
        "name" : "Sample-Script",
        "type" : "pxe",
        "script" : "QmFzZTY0IEV4YW1wbGUgRGF0YQ=="
    }'

    Visit the Create Startup Script endpoint to view additional attributes to add to your request.

  2. Send a GET request to the List Startup Scripts endpoint to view all scripts.

    console 
    $ curl "https://api.vultr.com/v2/startup-scripts" \
    -X GET \
    -H "Authorization: Bearer ${VULTR_API_KEY}"

  1. Create a new scripts.yaml file.

    console 
    $ nano scripts.yaml

  2. Enter your Startup scripts into the file.

    yaml 
    mkdir ~/my-apps
chmod 700 ~/my-apps

  3. Save the file.

  4. Convert the file contents to Base64 and note the output. For instance, bWtkaXIgfi9teS1hcHBzCmNobW9kIDcwMCB+L215LWFwcHM=.

    console 
    $ echo -n "$(<scripts.yaml)" | base64

  5. Create a new Startup script.

    console 
    $ vultr-cli script create \
--name Sample-Script \
--type boot \
--script bWtkaXIgfi9teS1hcHBzCmNobW9kIDcwMCB+L215LWFwcHM=

  6. List all scripts.

    console 
    $ vultr-cli script list

  7. Get the details of a specific script by specifying a script ID.

    console 
    $ vultr-cli script get script_id

    Run vultr-cli script create --help to view all options.

  1. Create a startup script and apply.

    terraform 
    resource "vultr_startup_script" "boot" {
    name   = "Sample-Script"
    type   = "boot"   # boot | pxe
    script = <<-EOT
      #!/bin/sh
      mkdir -p /opt/my-apps
      chmod 700 /opt/my-apps
    EOT
}

  2. Attach the script to an instance via user_data or by setting script_id.

    terraform 
    resource "vultr_instance" "server" {
    region = "ewr"
    plan   = "vc2-2c-4gb"
    label  = "scripted"

    # Option A: user_data cloud-init
    user_data = <<-EOT
      #cloud-config
      runcmd:
        - echo "Hello from cloud-init" > /root/hello.txt
    EOT

    # Option B: associate the startup script
    script_id = vultr_startup_script.boot.id
}

  3. Apply the configuration and observe the following output:

    Apply complete! Resources: 2 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

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