#1818th of 19 in Sandboxes
boxlite
Embeddable micro-VM sandboxes that run OCI images for AI agents
- Stars
- 2.6k
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Last commit
- Nov 2026
- Last release
- Oct 2026
- Language
- TypeScript
Missed the latest GitHub check; these facts may be older.
Overview
BoxLite runs each sandbox ("Box") as a hardware-isolated micro-VM with its own kernel, booting any OCI image such as python:slim. It embeds as a library with no daemon or root, with SDKs for Python, Node.js, Go, Rust and C, plus a CLI and an optional REST server (`boxlite serve`). Boxes persist across stop/restart, and egress can be restricted with an allow-list.
Who it is for: Developers who need isolated code execution for AI agents
Strengths
- Own kernel per box via KVM or Hypervisor.framework, plus seccomp/sandbox-exec layer
- Daemonless library embed; also CLI, REST server and cloud deployment guides for AWS and GCP
- Runs unmodified OCI images; boxes persist, can be cloned or exported as .boxlite archives
- Egress allow-list and secret injection at host proxy keep real secrets out of the VM
Weaknesses
- Needs KVM on Linux; macOS limited to Apple Silicon, macOS 12+
- Windows support only through WSL2 with KVM access
- Go SDK requires CGO and Go 1.24+
- Self-hosted cloud setup needs your own AWS account or GCP project
What it needs
- no GPU
- Needs KVM (Linux), Hypervisor.framework (macOS), WSL2 (Windows)
- port 8100
Also in Sandboxes
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|---|---|---|
| 1 | LightpandaHeadless browser written in Zig for agents and scraping, with CDP and MCP | 94 out of 100 |
| 2 | OpenShellPolicy-enforced sandbox runtime for autonomous AI agents | 90 out of 100 |
| 3 | ObscuraRust headless browser with V8 and CDP for scraping and agents | 87 out of 100 |
| #4 | opensandboxSandbox API for running AI agent code, commands and browsers in isolation | 87 out of 100 |
| #5 | NemoClawReference stack for running OpenClaw, Hermes and Deep Agents in OpenShell sandboxes | 86 out of 100 |