Re: monolithic tools. I think having template overrides for the user could solve this issue -- although it is a bit tougher to implement. I wanted a monolithic tool because it optimizes for faster startup times and just works but it does sacrifice configurability for the user.

Re: Docker template. I understand the Docker critique. So, the primary use case is an agent uploading its working directory and spinning it up as a dev environment. The agent needs the project files, the dev server, and the browser all in one place. If these are separate containers, the agent has to reason about volume mounts, Docker networking, etc — potentially more confusion, higher likelihood that agents get something wrong. A single environment where cloudrouter start ./my-project just works is what I envisioned.

Re: SSH host keys. SSH never connects to a real host. It's tunneled through TLS WebSocket via ProxyCommand. Also the hostname is fake, we have per-session auth token on the WebSocket layer, and VMs are ephemeral with fresh keys every boot. So, SSH isn't wide-open. We don't expose the SSH port (port 10000); everything goes through our authenticated proxy.