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AWS Bedrock AgentCore adds EC2-backed runtime instances for agents needing more than eight hours
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AWS introduced runtime instances in Bedrock AgentCore, a second compute option that runs AI agents on managed EC2 in a customer's account with sessions lasting up to fourteen days, complementing the existing microVM-based runtime that caps at eight hours.
Teams running long-lived, multi-agent, or GPU-heavy workloads previously hit the eight-hour microVM ceiling and had to maintain separate EC2 fleets. Runtime instances give those workloads persistent compute with shared file systems and co-located agent collaboration while keeping the same AgentCore APIs, identity, and observability model.
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Runtime instances run on managed EC2 in the customer's account with sessions up to fourteen days, shared file systems, GPU instance types, and Python or container image packaging.
Multiple agents can co-locate on a single runtime and collaborate through a shared session directory instead of calling each other's APIs for every handoff.
Runtime instances are billed at standard EC2 rates plus a management fee, whereas microVMs charge per vCPU hour and per GB hour with no separate fee, making microVMs cheaper for short bursty workloads.
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