Launch Container-Backed Challenges in Biterra
Launchable challenges are live on Biterra. If a challenge needs a running target, you can now host and launch it through Biterra instead of managing the hosting yourself and sending players out to a separate address.
Why We Built This
Some of the best CTF problems work best when players can interact with a real environment. Web exploitation, service-based reversing, containerised puzzle boxes, and guided training challenges all benefit from that. We wanted organisers to be able to keep those challenges inside the Biterra flow instead of handling the hosting and routing separately.
What You Can Do With It
- Mark a challenge as launchable
- Attach a Docker image to it
- Let players spin up a live instance from the challenge modal
- Choose whether each instance is world-unique or team-unique in world settings
That means you can run container-backed web apps, services, or labs inside the same event flow as your standard flag challenges, while still deciding whether everyone shares one environment or each team gets its own.
We also use startup timing data to give players a clearer idea of how long provisioning is likely to take, so there are fewer surprises while an environment is coming online.
Why It Matters For Organisers
Before this, you could absolutely run hosted challenge infrastructure yourself. The difference now is that Biterra can handle that hosting structure for you and present it inside the world itself. You still control the challenge, but the player experience is much cleaner: open the challenge, launch the instance, start hacking.
It also makes Challenge Bank imports more useful for teams who want more interactive content. Launchable challenges are available globally; running instances use your organisation's included monthly launch runtime minutes first, with prepaid top-ups available when an event needs more.
What’s Next
We’ll keep tightening the provisioning flow and the organiser controls around launchable content, but the core feature is already here. If you want to start using container-backed challenges in your next event, take a look at pricing or get in touch and we’ll help you figure out the right runtime allowance.