Question 1

What is a sandbox / devbox?

Accepted Answer

A sandbox (or devbox) is an isolated, fully managed compute environment where developers and AI coding agents can write, run, and test code without affecting production systems. Think of it as a disposable or persistent virtual machine spun up on demand.

Question 2

What's the difference between a sandbox for coding agents vs. a devbox for engineers?

Accepted Answer

Sandboxes (like Tenki's) are optimized for AI coding agents: short-lived, fast-booting VMs built to write, run, and test code without affecting production systems. Devboxes are persistent environments designed for human developers, with IDE integrations, SSH access, and state that survives across sessions.

Question 3

Can I run Docker inside a sandbox?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Full VM-based sandboxes support Docker, system packages, and background services. This makes them ideal for integration tests and workflows that mirror a CI/CD environment exactly.

Question 4

How fast do sandboxes start?

Accepted Answer

Tenki sandboxes go from API call to a live environment in under 100 milliseconds, with no cold-start image pulls between sessions. That latency budget is what makes sandboxes usable inside an agent loop: you can spin up a fresh environment between tool calls without making the user wait.

Question 5

Can I customize the environment with my own dependencies?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can define your environment using standard Dockerfiles, check them into source control, and share reproducible environments across your team. Sandboxes also support pre-captured environment snapshots to speed up boot times.

Question 6

What architectures and platforms are supported?

Accepted Answer

Sandboxes run Linux microVMs on x86 hardware, and the SDKs and the Sandbox ADE desktop app are available for macOS and Linux (including Apple Silicon). Multi-region availability keeps access low-latency.

Question 7

How does pricing work?

Accepted Answer

Pricing is per-second, rolled up by tier. You only pay when your environment is actively running; paused or idle environments don't incur compute charges. Plans scale by resource tier (nano, small, medium, large, etc.).

Question 8

How do I connect to my devbox?

Accepted Answer

Sandboxes support multiple connection methods including SSH, streamed shell output, and exposed preview URLs. Connections are tunneled securely, with no public IPs or open ports required.

Question 9

Is this a good fit for AI coding agents?

Accepted Answer

Full VM sandboxes are a great fit for agents that need to run tests, compile code, or interact with Docker. Every agent task gets its own isolated workspace, so agents can work with root access without ever touching your host machine.

Question 10

How do I get started?

Accepted Answer

Spin up your first environment in seconds with the TypeScript, Go, or Python SDK (or the CLI), or download the Sandbox ADE desktop app, launch a session, and point your agent at it.

Give your agent rootwithout giving it yours.

Give your agent root
without giving it yours.