Microsandbox spins up lightweight VMs in milliseconds from our SDKs. Runs locally on your machine. No server to set up. No lingering daemon. It is all embedded and rootless!
Hardware Isolation: Hardware-level isolation with microVM technology.
Instant Startup: Average boot times under 100 milliseconds.
Embeddable: Spawn VMs right within your code. No setup server. No long-running daemon.
Secrets That Can't Leak: Unexploitable secret keys that never enter the VM.
OCI Compatible: Runs standard container images from Docker Hub, GHCR, or any OCI registry.
Long-Running: Sandboxes can run in detached mode. Great for long-lived sessions.
Agent-Ready: Your agents can create their own sandboxes with our Agent Skills and MCP server.
cargo add microsandbox # 🦀 Rustuv add microsandbox # 🐍 Pythonnpm i microsandbox # 🟦 TypeScript
Boot a microVM in one command.
npx microsandbox run debianOr install the
msbcommand globally:curl -fsSL https://install.microsandbox.dev | shmsb run debian
Requirements: Linux with KVM enabled, or macOS with Apple Silicon.
Warning: Microsandbox is still beta software. Expect breaking changes, missing features, and rough edges.
The SDK lets you create and control sandboxes directly from your application. Sandbox::builder("...").create() boots a microVM as a child process. No infrastructure required.
use microsandbox::Sandbox; #[tokio::main] async fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> { let sandbox = Sandbox::builder("my-sandbox") .image("python") .cpus(1) .memory(512) .create() .await?; let output = sandbox .exec("python", ["-c", "print('Hello from a microVM!')"]) .await?; println!("{}", output.stdout()?); sandbox.stop_and_wait().await?; Ok(()) }Python Example →
import asyncio from microsandbox import Sandbox async def main(): sandbox = await Sandbox.create( "my-sandbox", image="python", cpus=1, memory=512, ) output = await sandbox.exec("python", ["-c", "print('Hello from a microVM!')"]) print(output.stdout_text) await sandbox.stop_and_wait() asyncio.run(main())TypeScript Example →
import { Sandbox } from "microsandbox"; const sandbox = await Sandbox.create({ name: "my-sandbox", image: "python", cpus: 1, memoryMib: 512, }); const output = await sandbox.exec("python", ["-c", "print('Hello from a microVM!')"]); console.log(output.stdout()); await sandbox.stopAndWait();
The first call to
create()pulls the image if it isn't cached locally, so it may take longer depending on your connection. Subsequent runs reuse the cache.
The msb CLI provides a complete interface for managing sandboxes, images, and volumes.
msb run python -- python3 -c "print('Hello from a microVM!')"
# Create and start a named sandbox msb create --name my-app python# Execute commands msb exec my-app -- python -c "import this" msb exec my-app -- curl https://example.com# Lifecycle msb stop my-app msb start my-app msb rm my-app
msb pull python # Pull an image msb image ls # List cached images msb image rm python # Remove an image
msb install ubuntu # Install ubuntu sandbox as 'ubuntu' command ubuntu # Opens Ubuntu in a microVM
msb install --name nodebox node # Custom command name msb install --tmp alpine # Ephemeral: fresh sandbox every run msb install --list # List installed commands msb uninstall nodebox # Remove an installed command
msb ls # List all sandboxes msb ps my-app # Show sandbox status msb inspect my-app # Detailed sandbox info msb metrics my-app # Live CPU/memory/network stats
Tip
Run msb --tree to see all available commands and their options.
Give your AI agents the ability to create and manage their own sandboxes.
Teach any AI coding agent how to use microsandbox by installing the Agent Skills. Works with Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot, and more.
npx skills add superradcompany/skills
Connect any MCP-compatible agent to microsandbox with the MCP server. Provides structured tool calls for sandbox lifecycle, command execution, filesystem access, volumes, and monitoring.
# Claude Code claude mcp add --transport stdio microsandbox -- npx -y microsandbox-mcp
For guides, API references, and examples, visit the microsandbox documentation.
Interested in contributing to microsandbox? Check out our CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines and DEVELOPMENT.md for build, test, and release instructions.
This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.
Special thanks to all our contributors, testers, and community members who help make microsandbox better every day! We'd like to thank the following projects and communities that made microsandbox possible: libkrun and smoltcp