---
# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2025-2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
title: "NVIDIA OpenShell Developer Guide"
description: "OpenShell is the safe, private runtime for autonomous AI agents. Run agents in sandboxed environments that protect your data, credentials, and infrastructure."
keywords: "Generative AI, Cybersecurity, AI Agents, Sandboxing, Security, Privacy, Inference Routing"
position: 1
---

import { BadgeLinks } from "./_components/BadgeLinks";

<BadgeLinks
  badges={[
    {
      href: "https://github.com/NVIDIA/OpenShell",
      src: "https://img.shields.io/badge/github-repo-green?logo=github",
      alt: "GitHub",
    },
    {
      href: "https://github.com/NVIDIA/OpenShell/blob/main/LICENSE",
      src: "https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Apache_2.0-blue",
      alt: "License",
    },
    {
      href: "https://pypi.org/project/openshell/",
      src: "https://img.shields.io/badge/PyPI-openshell-orange?logo=pypi",
      alt: "PyPI",
    },
  ]}
/>

NVIDIA OpenShell is the safe, private runtime for autonomous AI agents. It provides sandboxed execution environments
that protect your data, credentials, and infrastructure. Agents run with exactly the permissions they need and
nothing more, governed by declarative policies that prevent unauthorized file access, data exfiltration, and
uncontrolled network activity.

## Get Started

Install OpenShell and create your first sandbox in two commands.

{/*Terminal demo styles live in fern/main.css. Inline <style> with { } breaks MDX/acorn*/}
<llms-ignore>

<div className="nc-term">
  <div className="nc-term-bar">
    <span className="nc-term-dot nc-term-dot-r" />
    <span className="nc-term-dot nc-term-dot-y" />
    <span className="nc-term-dot nc-term-dot-g" />
  </div>
  <div className="nc-term-body">
    <div>
      <span className="nc-ps">$ </span>
      <span>
        {
          "curl -LsSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NVIDIA/OpenShell/main/install.sh | sh"
        }
      </span>
    </div>
    <div>
      <span className="nc-ps">$ </span>
      <span>{"openshell sandbox create "}</span>
      <span className="nc-swap">
        <span>
          {"-- "}
          <span className="nc-hl">claude</span>
          <span className="nc-cursor" />
        </span>
        <span>
          {"-- "}
          <span className="nc-hl">opencode</span>
          <span className="nc-cursor" />
        </span>
        <span>
          {"-- "}
          <span className="nc-hl">
            codex
            <span className="nc-cursor" />
          </span>
        </span>
      </span>
    </div>
  </div>
</div>

</llms-ignore>

<llms-only>

```shell
curl -LsSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NVIDIA/OpenShell/main/install.sh | sh
openshell sandbox create -- claude
```

</llms-only>

Refer to the [Quickstart](/get-started/quickstart) for more details.

---

## Explore

<div className="explore-cards">
<Cards>

<Card title="About OpenShell" href="/about/overview">

Learn about OpenShell and its capabilities.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>Concept</Badge>
</Card>

<Card title="Quickstart" href="/get-started/quickstart">

Install OpenShell and create your first sandbox in two commands.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>Tutorial</Badge>
</Card>

<Card title="Tutorials" href="/get-started/tutorials">

Hands-on walkthroughs from first sandbox to custom policies.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>Concept</Badge>
</Card>

<Card title="Gateways and Sandboxes" href="/sandboxes/manage-gateways">

Deploy gateways, create sandboxes, configure policies, providers, and community images for your AI agents.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>Concept</Badge>
</Card>

<Card title="Inference Routing" href="/sandboxes/inference-routing">

Keep inference traffic private by routing API calls to local or self-hosted backends.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>Concept</Badge>
</Card>

<Card title="Observability" href="/observability">

Understand sandbox logs, access them with the CLI and TUI, and export OCSF JSON records.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>How-To</Badge>
</Card>

<Card title="Reference" href="/reference/default-policy">

Policy schema, environment variables, and default policy details.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>Reference</Badge>
</Card>

<Card title="Security Best Practices" href="/security/best-practices">

Every configurable security control, its default, and the risk of changing it.

<Badge intent="tip" minimal outlined>Concept</Badge>
</Card>

</Cards>
</div>

---

<Warning title="Notice and Disclaimer">
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  materials. Those retrieved materials are not distributed with this software
  and are governed solely by separate terms, conditions and licenses. You are
  solely responsible for finding, reviewing and complying with all applicable
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  materials. Use this software and the retrieved materials at your own risk.
</Warning>