# Vertex AI Notebook Runtime Template

> Vertex AI notebook runtime templates are free configuration objects, yet they fix the machine shape, accelerators, and idle-shutdown policy of every Colab Enterprise runtime created from them. ZopNight inventories templates via Cloud Asset Inventory and checks that each one enforces a sensible idle-shutdown setting, preventing runtime waste downstream.

Source: https://zop.dev/integrations/gcp/vertex-notebook-runtime-template
Updated: 2026-08-19

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A runtime template defines the machine shape, accelerators, and idle-shutdown policy for notebook runtimes. Templates are free but determine the cost profile of every runtime created from them.

## A free object that sets every runtime's cost

The template itself carries no charge, because it is configuration rather than compute. Its leverage is entirely downstream: every Colab Enterprise runtime created from it inherits the machine type, any GPU, and, critically, the idle-shutdown policy. A template combining a generous accelerator with no idle timeout mints expensive runtimes that never clean themselves up; a well-set template makes the cheap path the default path for everyone who clicks create.

## Template hygiene checks in ZopNight

ZopNight inventories runtime templates via Cloud Asset Inventory and checks that templates enforce sensible idle-shutdown settings, treating the template as the control point that prevents runtime waste downstream. One template review replaces chasing each runtime after the fact. Templates are not schedulable and have nothing to stop; they earn a place in the inventory because governance objects deserve visibility precisely when they silently shape spend.

## Idle-shutdown defaults that pay for themselves

What goes wrong in practice: templates cloned from a GPU-heavy original, so every casual user gets an accelerator they never use; idle shutdown disabled temporarily during a debugging session and never re-enabled, converting every future session into a potential runaway; and template sprawl, where a dozen near-duplicates leave users unsure which is blessed, so they pick the biggest. Fixing the template fixes every runtime it will ever create, the rare cost control that really is one change in one place.

## Runtime templates in the console

Google Cloud console → Vertex AI → Colab Enterprise → Runtime templates lists each template with its machine configuration and idle-shutdown setting. Audit the idle-shutdown column first; that single field decides whether the runtimes built from each template linger after their sessions end.