# Usage ## Working with sandboxes The basic workflow is [`run`](/reference/cli/sbx/run/) to start, [`ls`](/reference/cli/sbx/ls/) to check status, [`stop`](/reference/cli/sbx/stop/) to pause, and [`rm`](/reference/cli/sbx/rm/) to clean up: ```console $ sbx run claude # start an agent $ sbx ls # see what's running $ sbx stop my-sandbox # pause it $ sbx rm my-sandbox # delete it entirely ``` To get a shell inside a running sandbox — useful for inspecting the environment, checking Docker containers, or manually installing something: ```console $ sbx exec -it bash ``` If you need a clean slate, remove the sandbox and re-run: ```console $ sbx rm my-sandbox $ sbx run claude ``` ## Non-interactive login For CI environments and scripts where a browser is not available, use a Docker Personal Access Token (PAT) with `--username` and `--password-stdin`: ```console $ echo "$DOCKER_PAT" | sbx login --username --password-stdin ``` `--password-stdin` reads the token from standard input to keep it out of your shell history. Generate a PAT from your [Docker account settings](https://app.docker.com/settings/personal-access-tokens) with at least **Read** scope. ## Interactive mode Running `sbx` with no subcommands opens an interactive terminal dashboard: ```console $ sbx ``` The dashboard shows all your sandboxes as cards with live status, CPU, and memory usage. From here you can: - **Create** a sandbox (`c`). - **Start or stop** a sandbox (`s`). - **Attach** to an agent session (`Enter`), same as `sbx run`. - **Open a shell** inside the sandbox (`x`), same as `sbx exec`. - **Remove** a sandbox (`r`). The dashboard also includes a network governance panel where you can monitor outbound connections made by your sandboxes and manage network rules. Use `tab` to switch between the sandboxes panel and the network panel. From the network panel you can browse connection logs, allow or block specific hosts, and add custom network rules. Press `?` to see all keyboard shortcuts. ## Git workflow When your workspace is a Git repository, you can choose one of two ways to share it with a sandbox. You make the choice when you create the sandbox: - **Direct mode (default)** — the agent has read-write access to your working tree. Changes the agent makes appear on your host immediately. - **[Clone mode](#clone-mode) (`--clone`)** — the agent works on a private Git clone inside the sandbox, with your host repository mounted read-only. The sandbox exposes its clone as a Git remote on your host, so you fetch the agent's commits the same way you'd fetch from any other remote. For a comparison of approaches and step-by-step recipes, see [Workflow patterns](/ai/sandboxes/usage/workflows/#git-workflows). For the security model behind each mode, see [Workspace isolation](/ai/sandboxes/usage/security/isolation/#workspace-isolation). ### Direct mode (default) The agent edits your working tree directly. Stage, commit, and push as you normally would. If you run multiple agents on the same repository at the same time, they may step on each other's changes — use [clone mode](#clone-mode) to give each agent its own isolated workspace. ### Clone mode In clone mode, the sandbox becomes a Git remote on your host. The agent commits inside the sandbox; you pull its work back out by fetching from that remote. > [!NOTE] > Clone mode was introduced in `sbx` v0.31.0 and replaces the `--branch` > flag used in earlier versions. If your CLI doesn't recognize `--clone`, > update to the latest version. ```console $ sbx run --clone claude ``` You can also create the sandbox in the background and attach later: ```console $ sbx create --clone --name my-sandbox claude . $ sbx run my-sandbox ``` The clone follows whichever ref your host repository has checked out at create time. No new branch is created automatically. > [!NOTE] > Clone mode is fixed at create time. To switch an existing sandbox to > clone mode, remove it and recreate it with `sbx create --clone`. The CLI copies the Git remotes from your host repository (`origin`, `upstream`, and so on) into the in-sandbox clone. The agent can push to your fork directly using the same remote names. Local-path remotes (`file://` URLs, filesystem paths) aren't copied, since they aren't reachable from inside the sandbox. #### Sandbox lifecycle and the Git remote The Git daemon that exposes the in-sandbox clone runs as part of the sandbox itself. It's only reachable while the sandbox is running: - `sbx stop` shuts down the daemon. `git fetch sandbox-` fails until the sandbox starts again. - Restarting the sandbox assigns a new ephemeral port to the daemon. The CLI updates the `sandbox-` remote URL in your host repository's Git config automatically, so fetching continues to work without manual reconfiguration. - `sbx rm` removes the sandbox, the daemon, the published port, and the `sandbox-` remote entry from your host repository. > [!WARNING] > Removing a clone-mode sandbox drops the in-sandbox clone along with it. > Any commits you haven't fetched (`git fetch sandbox-`) or pushed > to an upstream remote are lost. `sbx rm` prints a warning before > deleting a clone-mode sandbox — review it before confirming. #### Restrictions Clone mode requires a Git repository as the primary workspace, and is rejected at create time in two cases: - `--clone` on a non-Git workspace. Omit `--clone` for non-Git workspaces. - `--clone` from inside a Git worktree (other than the main one). The read-only bind mount can't resolve the worktree's `.git` pointer file. Run `sbx create --clone` from the main repository checkout instead. You can also create a Git worktree yourself and run an agent inside it without `--clone`, but the sandbox won't have access to the `.git` directory in the parent repository, so the agent can't use Git at all. See [Host worktree](/ai/sandboxes/usage/workflows/#host-worktree) in Workflow patterns. ## Reconnecting and naming Sandboxes persist after the agent exits. Running the same workspace path again reconnects to the existing sandbox rather than creating a new one: ```console $ sbx run claude ~/my-project # creates sandbox $ sbx run claude ~/my-project # reconnects to same sandbox ``` Use `--name` to make this explicit and avoid ambiguity: ```console $ sbx run claude --name my-project ``` ## Creating without attaching [`sbx run`](/reference/cli/sbx/run/) creates the sandbox and attaches you to the agent. To create a sandbox in the background without attaching: ```console $ sbx create claude . ``` Unlike `run`, `create` requires an explicit workspace path. It uses direct mode by default, or pass `--clone` for [clone mode](#clone-mode). Attach later with `sbx run`: ```console $ sbx run claude-my-project ``` ## Multiple workspaces You can mount extra directories into a sandbox alongside the main workspace. The first path is the primary workspace — the agent starts here, and the sandbox's in-container Git clone is populated from this directory if you use `--clone`. Extra workspaces are always mounted directly. All workspaces appear inside the sandbox at their absolute host paths. Append `:ro` to mount an extra workspace read-only — useful for reference material or shared libraries the agent shouldn't modify: ```console $ sbx run claude ~/project-a ~/shared-libs:ro ~/docs:ro ``` Each sandbox is completely isolated, so you can also run separate projects side-by-side. Remove unused sandboxes when you're done to reclaim disk space: ```console $ sbx run claude ~/project-a $ sbx run claude ~/project-b $ sbx rm # when finished ``` ## Copying files between host and sandbox Use [`sbx cp`](/reference/cli/sbx/cp/) to copy files or directories between your host and a sandbox. This is useful for one-off files that aren't part of a mounted workspace, such as generated output, logs, or setup files. ```console $ sbx cp ./config.json my-sandbox:/home/user/ $ sbx cp my-sandbox:/home/user/output.log ./ $ sbx cp ./src/ my-sandbox:/home/user/src ``` One side of the copy must use `SANDBOX:PATH`. Copying directly between two sandboxes isn't supported. ## Installing dependencies and using Docker Ask the agent to install what's needed — it has sudo access, and installed packages persist for the sandbox's lifetime. For teams or repeated setups, see [Customize](/ai/sandboxes/usage/customize) for reusable templates and declarative kits. Agents can also build Docker images, run containers, and use [Compose](/compose/). Everything runs inside the sandbox's private Docker daemon, so containers started by the agent never appear in your host's `docker ps`. When you remove the sandbox, all images, containers, and volumes inside it are deleted with it. ## Accessing services in the sandbox Sandboxes are [network-isolated](/ai/sandboxes/usage/security/isolation/) — your browser or local tools can't reach a server running inside one by default. Use [`sbx ports`](/reference/cli/sbx/ports/) to forward traffic from your host into a running sandbox. The common case: an agent has started a dev server or API, and you want to open it in your browser or run tests against it. ```console $ sbx ports my-sandbox --publish 8080:3000 # host 8080 → sandbox port 3000 $ open http://localhost:8080 ``` To let the OS pick a free host port instead of choosing one yourself: ```console $ sbx ports my-sandbox --publish 3000 # ephemeral host port $ sbx ports my-sandbox # check which port was assigned ``` `sbx ls` shows active port mappings alongside each sandbox, and `sbx ports` lists them in detail: ```console $ sbx ls SANDBOX AGENT STATUS PORTS WORKSPACE my-sandbox claude running 127.0.0.1:8080->3000/tcp /home/user/proj ``` To stop forwarding a port: ```console $ sbx ports my-sandbox --unpublish 8080:3000 ``` A few things to keep in mind: - **Services must listen on all interfaces** — a service listening only on `127.0.0.1` inside the sandbox won't be reachable through a published port. Bind to `0.0.0.0` for IPv4, or `[::]` to accept both IPv4 and IPv6. Most dev servers default to `127.0.0.1`, so you'll usually need to pass a flag like `--host 0.0.0.0` or `--host '[::]'` when starting them. - **`localhost` on the host can resolve to IPv6** — by default, `--publish` listens on both `127.0.0.1` and `::1`. Your browser or client may pick IPv6 when resolving `localhost`. If the sandboxed service only listens on IPv4, the IPv6 connection fails with "connection reset by peer" — even though `http://127.0.0.1:/` works. To fix it, bind the sandboxed service to `[::]` so it accepts both families, or restrict the published port to one family with `--publish 8080:3000/tcp4` (IPv4) or `/tcp6` (IPv6). - **Not persistent** — published ports are lost when the sandbox stops or the daemon restarts. Re-publish after restarting. - **No create-time flag** — unlike `docker run -p`, there's no `--publish` option on `sbx run` or `sbx create`. Ports can only be published after the sandbox is running. - **Unpublish requires the host port** — `--unpublish 3000` is rejected; you must use `--unpublish 8080:3000`. Run `sbx ports my-sandbox` first if you used an ephemeral port and need to find the assigned host port. ## Accessing host services from a sandbox Services running on your host are reachable from inside a sandbox using the hostname `host.docker.internal`. Use this instead of `127.0.0.1` or your machine's local network IP address, which are not reachable from inside the sandbox. The sandbox proxy translates `host.docker.internal` to `localhost` before forwarding the request, so you must add the `localhost` address with the specific port to your network policy allowlist: ```console $ sbx policy allow network localhost:11434 ``` Then use `host.docker.internal` in any configuration or request that points at the host service. For example, to verify connectivity from a sandbox shell: ```console $ curl http://host.docker.internal:11434 ``` ## Rolling out to a team When rolling sandboxes out across a team, two features handle different needs: - [Custom templates and kits](/ai/sandboxes/usage/customize) let you package reusable agent configurations, MCP servers, base images, and per-project policies. Every developer pulls them down with their workspace. - [Organization governance](/ai/sandboxes/usage/governance/org/) lets admins define network and filesystem rules in the Docker Admin Console. The rules apply across every developer's sandboxes and take precedence over local policy. Available on a separate paid subscription. Customization gives developers shared starting points. Governance gives admins centralized enforcement. ## What persists While a sandbox exists, installed packages, Docker images, configuration changes, and command history all persist across stops and restarts. When you remove a sandbox, everything inside is deleted — only your workspace files remain on your host. To preserve a configured environment, create a [custom template](/ai/sandboxes/usage/customize/templates/).