OpenShell/docs/sandboxes/index.md

title, description, topics, tags, content

title	description	topics	tags	content
page nav About Sandboxes Sandboxes	Understand sandbox lifecycle, supported agents, built-in default policy, and network access rules in OpenShell.	Generative AI Cybersecurity	Sandboxing AI Agents Security Policy Isolation	type difficulty audience concept technical_beginner engineer data_scientist

About Sandboxes

An OpenShell sandbox is a safe, private execution environment for an AI agent. Each sandbox runs with multiple layers of protection that prevent unauthorized data access, credential exposure, and network exfiltration. Protection layers include filesystem restrictions (Landlock), system call filtering (seccomp), network namespace isolation, and a privacy-enforcing HTTP CONNECT proxy.

Sandbox Lifecycle

Every sandbox moves through a defined set of phases:

Phase	Description
Provisioning	The runtime is setting up the sandbox environment, injecting credentials, and applying your policy.
Ready	The sandbox is running. The agent process is active and all isolation layers are enforced. You can connect, sync files, and view logs.
Error	Something went wrong during provisioning or execution. Check logs with openshell logs for details.
Deleting	The sandbox is being torn down. The system releases resources and purges credentials.

Supported Agents

The following table summarizes the agents that run in OpenShell sandboxes. Built-in agents are pre-installed in the OpenShell base sandbox image and auto-configured when passed as the trailing command to openshell sandbox create. More community agent sandboxes are available in the {doc}community-sandboxes catalog.

Agent	Source	Default Policy	Notes
Claude Code	Built-in	Full coverage	Works out of the box. Requires ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.
OpenCode	Built-in	Partial coverage	Pre-installed. Add opencode.ai endpoint and OpenCode binary paths to the policy for full functionality.
Codex	Built-in	No coverage	Pre-installed. Requires a custom policy with OpenAI endpoints and Codex binary paths. Requires OPENAI_API_KEY.
OpenClaw	OpenShell Community	Bundled	Agent orchestration layer. Launch with openshell sandbox create --from openclaw.

Built-in Default Policy

OpenShell ships a built-in policy that covers common agent workflows out of the box. When you create a sandbox without --policy, the default policy is applied. It controls three things:

Layer	What It Controls	How It Works
Filesystem	What the agent can access on disk	Paths are split into read-only and read-write sets. Landlock LSM enforces these restrictions at the kernel level.
Network	What the agent can reach on the network	Each policy block pairs allowed destinations (host and port) with allowed binaries (executable paths). The proxy matches every outbound connection to the binary that opened it. Both must match or the connection is denied.
Process	What privileges the agent has	The agent runs as an unprivileged user with seccomp filters that block dangerous system calls. No sudo, no setuid, no path to elevated privileges.

For the full breakdown of each default policy block and agent compatibility details, refer to {doc}../reference/default-policy.

Policy Structure

A policy has static sections (filesystem_policy, landlock, process) that are locked at sandbox creation, and dynamic sections (network_policies, inference) that are hot-reloadable on a running sandbox.

version: 1

# Static: locked at sandbox creation. Paths the agent can read vs read/write.
filesystem_policy:
  read_only: [/usr, /lib, /etc]
  read_write: [/sandbox, /tmp]

# Static: Landlock LSM kernel enforcement. best_effort uses highest ABI the host supports.
landlock:
  compatibility: best_effort

# Static: Unprivileged user/group the agent process runs as.
process:
  run_as_user: sandbox
  run_as_group: sandbox

# Dynamic: hot-reloadable. Named blocks of endpoints + binaries allowed to reach them.
network_policies:
  my_api:
    name: my-api
    endpoints:
      - host: api.example.com
        port: 443
        protocol: rest
        tls: terminate
        enforcement: enforce
        access: full
    binaries:
      - path: /usr/bin/curl

# Dynamic: hot-reloadable. Routing hints this sandbox can use for inference (e.g. local, nvidia).
inference:
  allowed_routes: [local]

For the complete structure and every field, refer to the Policy Schema Reference.

Network Access Rules

Network access is controlled by policy blocks under network_policies. Each block has a name, a list of endpoints (host, port, protocol, and optional rules), and a list of binaries that are allowed to use those endpoints.

Every outbound connection from the sandbox goes through the proxy:

• The proxy queries the {doc}policy engine <../about/architecture> with the destination (host and port) and the calling binary. A connection is allowed only when both match an entry in the same policy block.
• For endpoints with protocol: rest and tls: terminate, each HTTP request is checked against that endpoint's rules (method and path).
• If no endpoint matches and inference routes are configured, the request may be rerouted for inference.
• Otherwise the connection is denied. Endpoints without protocol or tls allow the TCP stream through without inspecting payloads.

Next Steps

Continue with one of the following:

• To create your first sandbox, refer to {doc}create-and-manage.
• To supply API keys or tokens, refer to {doc}providers.
• To control what the agent can access, refer to {doc}policies.
• To use a pre-built environment, refer to the {doc}community-sandboxes catalog.