Lightweight, disposable Linux sandboxes for AI coding agents on Apple Silicon.
Running an AI coding agent like Claude Code, Codex, Gemini, or opencode directly on your workstation is risky: agents can delete files, install packages, or make sweeping changes you did not intend. sand gives the agent a cloned workspace inside a local Linux container, while your real working directory stays on the host.
- Creates an APFS copy-on-write clone of your project and mounts it at
/app. - Starts a local Linux container using Apple Containerization.
- Wires up agent CLIs with
--agent claude|codex|gemini|opencode. - Shows sandbox status and git drift with
sand ls,sand git status, andsand git diff. - Keeps sandbox lifecycle separate from agent lifecycle: create, shell in, stop, restart, remove.
- Apple Silicon Mac
- macOS 26 or later
- Apple
containerCLI version0.12.0
Install with Homebrew:
brew install banksean/tap/sandStart a sandboxed agent session from a project directory:
sand new -a claudeOr start a plain shell with no agent:
sand new my-sandboxList your sandboxes from another host shell:
sand lsInspect work done in a sandbox:
sand git status my-sandbox
sand git diff my-sandboxOpen another shell into a sandbox:
sand shell my-sandboxStop or remove a sandbox:
sand stop my-sandbox
sand rm my-sandboxEach sandbox is a separate git working tree. To bring committed sandbox work back to your original checkout, pull from the host side:
git pull sand/my-sandbox <branchname>See Git remotes between host and sandbox for the full workflow.