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Running locally requires glibc-based Linux with KVM, macOS with Apple Silicon (M-series chip), or Windows 11 with Windows Hypervisor Platform enabled. All local backends use hardware virtualization. microsandbox cloud has no hardware requirements.
Boot a microVM in one command.
1

Install microsandbox

Install the SDK for the language you are using, and install the msb CLI for terminal workflows such as managing images, volumes, and sandboxes. Both run microsandbox locally by default; there is no separate server or daemon to set up. The same install also drives microsandbox cloud when an API key is set.
microsandbox uses hardware virtualization: Linux needs KVM, macOS needs Apple Silicon, and Windows needs Windows Hypervisor Platform. Check your local setup with:
For platform-specific setup notes, see Linux troubleshooting, macOS troubleshooting, or Windows troubleshooting.
2

Run code in a sandbox

Create a sandbox, execute code inside it, and get the result back.

What just happened?

Here’s what happened behind that Sandbox.builder(...).create() call:
  1. Pulled the image from Docker Hub, unless it was already cached.
  2. Assembled a copy-on-write filesystem so changes inside the sandbox do not modify the base image.
  3. Booted a microVM as a child process with the resource limits you configured.
  4. Started the guest agent so the SDK can run commands and move data in and out.
The exec call uses the host-guest command channel, not SSH and not the sandbox network.
Because exec doesn’t go through the network, it works even when a sandbox has networking disabled via .disable_network() and no network interfaces at all.
Want the same sandbox on hosted infrastructure? Export MSB_API_KEY and the code above runs on microsandbox cloud unchanged.

Next steps