# shellter.me

> shellter.me | Compute; 1 record: free tier, limits, identity cost and evidence.

HTML https://fshy.ajam.dev/p/shellter/ | JSON https://fshy.ajam.dev/api/v1/entity/shellter.json | how to read a record: https://fshy.ajam.dev/llms-full.txt

## shellter.me

- `compute/shellter-me` | qualifies | evidence documented | binding volume-quota | category cloud VM | tier free pubnix account
- needs card no, phone no, ID no, institution no | verified 2026-11-04T02:23:57.262Z (live) | stale on 2026-11-21
- url https://shellter.me/rules
- free tier: 'A free bash account on a shared FreeBSD host. 150 MB of ZFS home, three dedicated IPv6 addresses with reverse DNS you control, a 50-port TCP slot on the host IPv4 for inbound services.' And: 'There is no paid tier, no SLA, no uptime guarantee.' | unit: MB | metered on: stored-bytes | read on: 2026-10-24 | source: [1] | note: the vendor writes 150 MB; kept as stated. The LowEndTalk announcement thread of 2026-05-21 states 60 MB, so the figure was raised between the announcement and the rules page, whose footer reads 'Last updated: 2026-05-24'
- per-object cap: not applicable: the unit is a ZFS home dataset, not an object
- retention: 'We'll mail you a warning at 75 days of no SSH or dashboard login. At 90 days, the account is archived (home dataset snapshotted to /var/archive/users, account locked). ... we keep archives at least a year before pruning.' | days: 90 | source: [1] | note: archival, not deletion, at 90 days, with the dataset snapshotted and kept at least a year; the data is recoverable by asking, which is unusually generous for a free shell
- egress: not stated as a volume: the rules page sets 'no SMTP egress, no scanning, no abuse' and a default-deny pf egress with HTTP/HTTPS pass-through, and the fair-use section says 'Free, not infinite'. No traffic figure is published. | metered: no | free allowance: unstated | source: [1]
- identity: email | detail: No card and no hold: the site states 'No card, no autoaccept bot.' Signup asks for a username, an optional SSH public key, and email confirmation, or a GitHub sign-in. Then a human admin on IRCnet types '!accept'. No phone and no document.
- interface: ssh
- limits:
  - volume-quota (binding): 150 MB ZFS dataset with lz4 compression and refquota enforced [1]
  - retention-clamped: warning at 75 days without an SSH or dashboard login; archive and lock at 90 days [1]
  - per-ip-shaping: inbound IPv4 is a 50-port slot, 30000-30049, shared on the host address; IPv6 is 'any port' on three dedicated addresses [2]
  - write-gated: an admin reads the request on IRC and types '!accept'; there is no autoaccept bot [3]
- limits note: An automated anti-abuse flag suspends the account and kills live sessions with no warning and no published threshold, and the appeal route is a conversation on IRCnet, so an unattended background process is the fastest way to lose the account.
- binding note: 150 MB is the first thing that fails: it holds dotfiles, configs and small logs, and the operator says so plainly, so no workload that stores data fits here at all
- interface detail: inferred from the tooling the provider documents; not probed
- tooling: not stated
- composes with: A shell with three IPv6 addresses and self-service reverse DNS composes with a free IPv6-to-IPv4 proxy, and it holds a long-running session in tmux across disconnects, which is what a shell buys over a job.
- reliability: a disclosed incident on 2026-05-21: shelluser email addresses were exposed in the world-readable FreeBSD GECOS field, fixed the same day and disclosed in the vendor's own LowEndTalk thread; the operator also records that no SLA and no uptime guarantee exist
- notes: The announcement thread and the live site disagree on storage: 60 MB in the 2026-05-21 LET post, 150 MB on the rules page last updated 2026-05-24. The live page is the one a new applicant is provisioned from, so the record uses 150 MB and writes the disagreement down. What could not be established: the traffic allowance, and whether the IRC admin gate is answered promptly (the thread shows signups accepted the day after the announcement, so the gate does clear). The 90-day clock resets on a dashboard login as well as SSH, which makes it cheaper to hold than serv00's SSH-only clock.
- evidence note: quota, port slot, IPv6 allocation, retention clock and the signup gate are all quoted from first-party pages read
- extras:
  - facets.class: enforcement
  - facets.free_tier_kind: perpetual-hobby
  - facets.shape.disk_mib: 150
  - billing_model: free
  - term: perpetual
  - m10h_usd: 0.0
  - m24h_usd: 0.0
  - price_arithmetic: no price: no paid tier exists and no payment method is collected
  - free_tier_kind: perpetual
  - network_out.allow_outbound: yes
  - network_out.allow_inbound_listen: yes
  - network_out.ports: 30000-30049 TCP+UDP on 193.200.238.186, plus any port on three dedicated IPv6 addresses
  - network_out.static_ip: yes
  - network_out.ipv6: yes
  - session_cap.restart_required: no
  - session_cap.note: none; tmux, screen and mosh are provided and 'sessions outlive the wifi'
  - storage_discrepancy: 60 MB in the 2026-05-21 announcement, 150 MB on the live rules page updated 2026-05-24
  - disclosed_incident: 2026-05-21: registration emails were readable in the FreeBSD GECOS field; wiped the same day, pipeline fixed, disclosure published by the operator in its own thread
  - inbound_slot_note: the operator answered a question about using the account as an SSH jumpbox: 'Yes, ssh jumphost is a legit use — for now we only allow it over IPv6. I will consider later on if it will be available also for ipv4, for now is blocked by pf rule.' That is about outbound jump-hosting; the 50-port inbound slot on 193.200.238.186 is a separate, stated feature.
- evidence:
  - [1] 2026-05-24: quoted: 'We can suspend or terminate any account at any time, with or without notice, with or without prior warning'; instant suspension with no warning for 'deliberate attacks on the host or other users, signup-evasion after a previous suspension'
  - [4] 2026-05-24: a user's account suspended with sessions terminated and logins blocked, then attributed by the operator to 'our automatic anti abuse system'
  - [1] 2026-05-24: quoted inactivity terms: warning at 75 days without login, archive and lock at 90 days, archives kept at least a year
  - [5] 2026-10-22: quoted: 'Two people, no company ... There is no paid tier, no upsell, no affiliate link, no investor.'
  - [2] 2026-10-22: 'A bash account, 150 MB of ZFS, and three dedicated IPv6 addresses - each with reverse DNS you set yourself' and 'ssh on port 2222', quoted; probe 200, 55393 bytes, sha256 bef1adbbd013121bcc5713aae206a1b5af410e7b24ed4e06362744eb8f74aa5e
  - [1] 2026-10-22: '150 MB of ZFS home, three dedicated IPv6 addresses with reverse DNS you control, a 50-port TCP slot on the host IPv4 for inbound services... There is no paid tier, no SLA, no uptime guarantee', quoted; page last updated 2026-05-24
  - [1] 2026-10-22: the reaper is published: 'We'll mail you a warning at 75 days of no SSH or dashboard login. At 90 days, the account is archived (home dataset snapshotted to /var/archive/users, account locked)... we keep archives at least a year before pruning', quoted
  - [3] 2026-10-22: 'Pick a username + drop an SSH key (optional). Confirm your email or sign in with GitHub. An admin reviews on IRC - once accepted, we mail you the shell password', quoted
  - [5] 2026-10-22: 'shellter.me is a free, non-commercial pubnix shell host run by two people in their spare time... There is no paid tier, no upsell, no affiliate link, no investor', quoted
  - [2] 2026-10-22: 'Free by design. A bash account, 150 MB of ZFS, and three dedicated IPv6 addresses'; 'FreeBSD ssh on port 2222'; 'No card, no autoaccept bot'; signup is 'Pick a username and confirm your email - or sign in with GitHub. Your request lands on IRC, an admin reads it and runs !accept', quoted
  - [1] 2026-10-22: 'a free bash account on a shared FreeBSD host. 150 MB of ZFS home, three dedicated IPv6 addresses with reverse DNS you control, a 50-port TCP slot on the host IPv4 for inbound services'; 'There is no paid tier, no SLA, no uptime guarantee'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: '150 MB of ZFS home, three dedicated IPv6 addresses with reverse DNS you control, a 50-port TCP slot on the host IPv4 for inbound services'
  - [1] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'We'll mail you a warning at 75 days of no SSH or dashboard login. At 90 days, the account is archived (home dataset snapshotted to /var/archive/users, account locked).'
  - [2] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Your inbound TCP+UDP/v4 slot: 193.200.238.186 ports 30000-30049', 'Your IPv6 addresses (any port — bind to one of these): 2a03:94e0:257e:1::1 / ::2 / ::3', 'Quota: 150M', 'ssh on port 2222'
  - [3] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'Pick a username + drop an SSH key (optional). Confirm your email or sign in with GitHub. An admin reviews on IRC — once accepted, we mail you the shell password.'
  - [5] 2026-10-24: quoted: 'shellter.me is a free, non-commercial pubnix shell host run by two people in their spare time' and that the operators are two named individuals; 'One small FreeBSD VPS leased from Gigahost in Norway'
  - [6] 2026-10-24: the vendor's own announcement, 2026-05-21: '60 MB ZFS dataset (lz4 compressed, refquota enforced)' and 'Inbound TCP/v4 slot (50 ports per user)'; the thread also carries the operator's disclosure that registration emails had been written into the world-readable GECOS field, 'Fixed as of today'
  - [7] 2026-10-24: the operator answering on 2026-05-22: 'Yes, ssh jumphost is a legit use — for now we only allow it over IPv6. I will consider later on if it will be available also for ipv4, for now is blocked by pf rule.'
  - [7] 2026-10-24: a user reporting after signup, 2026-05: 'I played with the shell just a little and everything is very fast and cool' — evidence the IRC admin gate does clear and the shell is usable, from a third party
  - [7] 2026-10-24: the operator on enforcement: 'We have suspended first and purged 6 accounts today. Those were poking around host infrastructure, penetration tryouts, proxy endpoint for big proxy relays, hiveproxy ... and website pretending to be EB Games waiting page' — the host does purge accounts it judges abusive
  - [2] 2026-11-03: access is SSH on port 2222 | capture: sha256:415d4b480305bc3b905f8c144e34dd4b6b36b52b70e084b08ab3d9ddc18c526b | quote: ssh on port 2222 · operator on wheel · sessions outlive the wifi
- sources:
  - [1] https://shellter.me/rules
  - [2] https://shellter.me/
  - [3] https://shellter.me/signup
  - [4] https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/217500/free-shellter-me-freebsd-pubnix-bash-60mb-zfs-3-ipv6-self-service-revdns/p3
  - [5] https://shellter.me/about
  - [6] https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/217500/free-shellter-me-freebsd-pubnix-bash-60mb-zfs-3-ipv6-self-service-revdns
  - [7] https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/217500/free-shellter-me-freebsd-pubnix-bash-60mb-zfs-3-ipv6-self-service-revdns/p2