Sandboxing -- Linux User Account Setup -- Can we run Devpod, Podman and Claude Code programs as non-Sudo unprivileged Users?

[nick-walt]

In the context of running Devpod CLI, Podman CLI and Claude Code CLI in an Ubuntu Server virtual machine is it possible to install in the following way to optimise rootless container sandboxing?

1. on Ubuntu Server (the Server) in the virtual machine create a unique user account for each program, for example:
   • devpod_user for DevPod
   • podman_user for Podman
   • claude_user for Claude Code
2. on the Server temporarily assign Sudo privileges to each program account for the purpose of installing via a Package Manager, or into System directories (for example /usr/local/bin) so that all program files are assigned correct ownership and can be read, written and executed by each unique user account after Sudo privileges have been removed
3. on the Server create an unprivileged standard user account for each developer who will be creating and working inside containers
4. on the Server assign each standard developer user account a range of UIDs for Rootless operation in their containers by adding mappings to the files /etc/subuid and /etc/subgid.
5. on the Host desktop create a ed25519 SSH key pair for each standard developer user account
6. on the Server add each public key's string to the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file under each standard developer user's Home directory so that each key is uniquely assigned
7. use each assigned key to access the virtual machine and containers from a Host desktop that runs a completely different user account known only to the Host

Can we also run DevPod CLI, Podman CLI and Claude Code CLI under user accounts created without a Home directory, much like a Service Account? Cheers.

[abdulari]

if the goal is sandboxing, i think Firecracker microVM running in host server is simpler.
devpod, podman/docker and claude can safely run within that microVM with sudo privileges,

the catch is.. it's a VM, and IIRC there's no GPU support for it.