Sandboxing

OpenClaw can run tool execution inside a sandbox backend to reduce blast radius. Sandboxing is off by default and controlled by agents.defaults.sandbox (global) or agents.list[].sandbox (per-agent). The Gateway process always stays on the host; only tool execution moves into the sandbox when enabled.

What gets sandboxed

• Tool execution: exec, read, write, edit, apply_patch, process, etc.
• The optional sandboxed browser (agents.defaults.sandbox.browser).

Not sandboxed:

• The Gateway process itself.
• Any tool explicitly allowed to run outside the sandbox via tools.elevated. Elevated exec bypasses sandboxing and runs on the configured escape path (gateway by default, or node when the exec target is node). If sandboxing is off, tools.elevated changes nothing since exec already runs on the host. See Elevated Mode.

Modes, scope, and backend

Three independent settings control sandbox behavior:

Mode controls when sandboxing applies:

• off: no sandboxing.
• non-main: sandbox every session except the agent's main session. The main session key is always agent:<agentId>:main (or global when session.scope is "global"); it is not configurable. Group/channel sessions use their own keys, so they always count as non-main and get sandboxed.
• all: every session runs in a sandbox.

Scope controls how many containers/environments are created:

• agent: one container per agent.
• session: one container per session.
• shared: one container shared by all sandboxed sessions (per-agent docker/ssh/browser overrides are ignored under this scope).

Backend controls which runtime executes sandboxed tools. SSH-specific config lives under agents.defaults.sandbox.ssh; OpenShell-specific config lives under plugins.entries.openshell.config.

Docker backend

Docker is the default backend once sandboxing is enabled. It runs tools and sandbox browsers locally through the Docker daemon socket (/var/run/docker.sock); isolation comes from Docker namespaces.

Defaults: network: "none" (no egress), readOnlyRoot: true, capDrop: ["ALL"], image openclaw-sandbox:bookworm-slim.

To expose host GPUs, set agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.gpus (or the per-agent override) to a value like "all" or "device=GPU-uuid". This is passed to Docker's --gpus flag and requires a compatible host runtime such as NVIDIA Container Toolkit.

If you deploy the OpenClaw Gateway itself as a Docker container, it orchestrates sibling sandbox containers using the host's Docker socket (DooD). This introduces a path mapping constraint:

• Config requires host paths: openclaw.json workspace must contain the host's absolute path (e.g. /home/user/.openclaw/workspaces), not the internal Gateway container path. The Docker daemon evaluates paths relative to the host OS namespace, not the Gateway's own namespace.
• Matching volume map required: The Gateway process also writes heartbeat and bridge files to that workspace path. Give the Gateway container an identical volume map (-v /home/user/.openclaw:/home/user/.openclaw) so the same host path resolves correctly from inside the Gateway container too. Mismatched mappings surface as EACCES when the Gateway tries to write its heartbeat.
• Codex code mode: when an OpenClaw sandbox is active, OpenClaw disables Codex app-server native Code Mode, user MCP servers, and app-backed plugin execution for that turn (those run from the Gateway-host app-server process, not the OpenClaw sandbox backend), unless the sandbox tool policy exposes the required tools and you opt into the experimental sandbox exec-server path. Shell access then routes through OpenClaw sandbox-backed tools such as sandbox_exec and sandbox_process. Do not mount the host Docker socket into agent sandbox containers or custom Codex sandboxes. See Codex Harness for the full behavior.

On Ubuntu/AppArmor hosts with Docker sandbox mode enabled, Codex app-server workspace-write shell execution needs unprivileged user namespaces inside the sandbox container, and this can fail before shell startup when the service user cannot create them. This needs an unprivileged network namespace too when Docker sandbox egress is disabled (network: "none", the default). Common symptoms: bwrap: setting up uid map: Permission denied and bwrap: loopback: Failed RTM_NEWADDR: Operation not permitted. Run openclaw doctor; if it reports a Codex bwrap namespace probe failure, prefer an AppArmor profile that grants the required namespaces to the OpenClaw service process. kernel.apparmor_restrict_unprivileged_userns=0 is a host-wide fallback with security tradeoffs; use it only when that host posture is acceptable. </Warning>

Sandboxed browser

• The sandbox browser auto-starts (ensures CDP is reachable) when the browser tool needs it. Configure via agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.autoStart (default true) and autoStartTimeoutMs (default 12s).
• Sandbox browser containers use a dedicated Docker network (openclaw-sandbox-browser) instead of the global bridge network. Configure with agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.network.
• agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.cdpSourceRange restricts container-edge CDP ingress with a CIDR allowlist (for example 172.21.0.1/32).
• noVNC observer access is password-protected by default; OpenClaw emits a short-lived token URL that serves a local bootstrap page and opens noVNC with the password in the URL fragment (not query string or header logs).
• agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.allowHostControl (default false) lets sandboxed sessions target the host browser explicitly.
• Optional allowlists gate target: "custom": allowedControlUrls, allowedControlHosts, allowedControlPorts.

SSH backend

Use backend: "ssh" to sandbox exec, file tools, and media reads on an arbitrary SSH-accessible machine.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      sandbox: {
        mode: "all",
        backend: "ssh",
        scope: "session",
        workspaceAccess: "rw",
        ssh: {
          target: "user@gateway-host:22",
          workspaceRoot: "/tmp/openclaw-sandboxes",
          strictHostKeyChecking: true,
          updateHostKeys: true,
          identityFile: "~/.ssh/id_ed25519",
          certificateFile: "~/.ssh/id_ed25519-cert.pub",
          knownHostsFile: "~/.ssh/known_hosts",
          // Or use SecretRefs / inline contents instead of local files:
          // identityData: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "SSH_IDENTITY" },
          // certificateData: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "SSH_CERTIFICATE" },
          // knownHostsData: { source: "env", provider: "default", id: "SSH_KNOWN_HOSTS" },
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

Defaults: command: "ssh", workspaceRoot: "/tmp/openclaw-sandboxes", strictHostKeyChecking: true, updateHostKeys: true.

• Lifecycle: OpenClaw creates a per-scope remote root under sandbox.ssh.workspaceRoot. On first use after create or recreate, it seeds that remote workspace from the local workspace once. After that, exec, read, write, edit, apply_patch, prompt media reads, and inbound media staging run directly against the remote workspace over SSH. OpenClaw does not sync remote changes back to the local workspace automatically.
• Authentication material: identityFile/certificateFile/knownHostsFile reference existing local files. identityData/certificateData/knownHostsData accept inline strings or SecretRefs, resolved through the normal secrets runtime snapshot, written to temp files with mode 0600, and deleted when the SSH session ends. If both a *File and *Data variant are set for the same item, *Data wins for that session.
• Remote-canonical consequences: the remote SSH workspace becomes the real sandbox state after the initial seed. Host-local edits made outside OpenClaw after the seed step are not visible remotely until you recreate the sandbox. openclaw sandbox recreate deletes the per-scope remote root and seeds again from local on next use. Browser sandboxing is not supported on this backend, and sandbox.docker.* settings do not apply to it.

OpenShell backend

Use backend: "openshell" to sandbox tools in an OpenShell-managed remote environment. OpenShell reuses the same SSH transport and remote filesystem bridge as the generic SSH backend, and adds OpenShell lifecycle (sandbox create/get/delete/ssh-config) plus an optional mirror workspace sync mode.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      sandbox: {
        mode: "all",
        backend: "openshell",
        scope: "session",
        workspaceAccess: "rw",
      },
    },
  },
  plugins: {
    entries: {
      openshell: {
        enabled: true,
        config: {
          from: "openclaw",
          mode: "remote", // mirror | remote
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

mode: "mirror" (default) keeps the local workspace canonical: OpenClaw syncs local into the sandbox before exec and syncs back after. mode: "remote" seeds the remote workspace once from local, then runs exec/read/write/edit/apply_patch directly against the remote workspace without syncing back; local edits after the seed are invisible until you openclaw sandbox recreate. Under scope: "agent" or scope: "shared", that remote workspace is shared at the same scope. Current limitations: sandbox browser isn't supported yet, and sandbox.docker.binds doesn't apply to this backend.

openclaw sandbox list/recreate/prune all treat OpenShell runtimes the same as Docker runtimes; prune logic is backend-aware.

For the full prerequisites, configuration reference, workspace-mode comparison, and lifecycle details, see OpenShell.

Workspace access

agents.defaults.sandbox.workspaceAccess controls what the sandbox can see:

With the OpenShell backend, mirror mode still uses the local workspace as the canonical source between exec turns, remote mode uses the remote OpenShell workspace as canonical after the initial seed, and workspaceAccess: "ro"/"none" still restrict write behavior the same way.

Inbound media is copied into the active sandbox workspace (media/inbound/*).

Custom bind mounts

agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.binds mounts additional host directories into the container. Format: host:container:mode (e.g., "/home/user/source:/source:rw").

Global and per-agent binds are merged (not replaced). Under scope: "shared", per-agent binds are ignored.

agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.binds mounts additional host directories into the sandbox browser container only. When set (including []), it replaces docker.binds for the browser container; when omitted, the browser container falls back to docker.binds.

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      sandbox: {
        docker: {
          binds: ["/home/user/source:/source:ro", "/var/data/myapp:/data:ro"],
        },
      },
    },
    list: [
      {
        id: "build",
        sandbox: {
          docker: {
            binds: ["/mnt/cache:/cache:rw"],
          },
        },
      },
    ],
  },
}

• Binds bypass the sandbox filesystem: they expose host paths with whatever mode you set (:ro or :rw).
• OpenClaw blocks dangerous bind sources by default: system paths (/etc, /proc, /sys, /dev, /root, /boot), Docker socket directories (/run, /var/run, and their docker.sock variants), and common home-directory credential roots (~/.aws, ~/.cargo, ~/.config, ~/.docker, ~/.gnupg, ~/.netrc, ~/.npm, ~/.ssh).
• Validation normalizes the source path, then resolves it again through the deepest existing ancestor before re-checking blocked paths and allowed roots, so symlink-parent escapes fail closed even when the final leaf doesn't exist yet (e.g. /workspace/run-link/new-file still resolves as /var/run/... if run-link points there).
• Bind targets that shadow the reserved container mount points (/workspace, /agent) are also blocked by default; override with agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.dangerouslyAllowReservedContainerTargets: true.
• Bind sources outside the workspace/agent-workspace allowlisted roots are blocked by default; override with agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.dangerouslyAllowExternalBindSources: true. Allowed roots are canonicalized the same way, so a path that only looks inside the allowlist before symlink resolution is still rejected as outside allowed roots.
• Sensitive mounts (secrets, SSH keys, service credentials) should be :ro unless absolutely required.
• Combine with workspaceAccess: "ro" if you only need read access to the workspace; bind modes stay independent.
• See Sandbox vs Tool Policy vs Elevated for how binds interact with tool policy and elevated exec.

Images and setup

Default Docker image: openclaw-sandbox:bookworm-slim

The scripts/sandbox-setup.sh, scripts/sandbox-common-setup.sh, and scripts/sandbox-browser-setup.sh helper scripts are only available when running from a source checkout. They are not included in the npm package.

If you installed OpenClaw via npm install -g openclaw, use the inline docker build commands shown below instead. </Note>

```bash
scripts/sandbox-setup.sh
```

From an npm install (no source checkout needed):

```bash
docker build -t openclaw-sandbox:bookworm-slim - <<'DOCKERFILE'
FROM debian:bookworm-slim
ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends \
  bash ca-certificates curl git jq python3 ripgrep \
  && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
RUN useradd --create-home --shell /bin/bash sandbox
USER sandbox
WORKDIR /home/sandbox
CMD ["sleep", "infinity"]
DOCKERFILE
```

The default image does **not** include Node. If a skill needs Node (or other runtimes), either bake a custom image or install via `sandbox.docker.setupCommand` (requires network egress + writable root + root user).

OpenClaw does not silently substitute plain `debian:bookworm-slim` when `openclaw-sandbox:bookworm-slim` is missing. Sandbox runs that target the default image fail fast with a build instruction until you build it, because the bundled image carries `python3` for the sandbox write/edit helpers.

From a source checkout:

```bash
scripts/sandbox-common-setup.sh
```

From an npm install, build the default image first (see above), then build the common image on top using [`scripts/docker/sandbox/Dockerfile.common`](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/blob/main/scripts/docker/sandbox/Dockerfile.common) from the repository.

Then set `agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.image` to `openclaw-sandbox-common:bookworm-slim`.

```bash
scripts/sandbox-browser-setup.sh
```

From an npm install, build using [`scripts/docker/sandbox/Dockerfile.browser`](https://github.com/openclaw/openclaw/blob/main/scripts/docker/sandbox/Dockerfile.browser) from the repository.

By default, Docker sandbox containers run with no network. Override with agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.network.

- `--remote-debugging-address=127.0.0.1`
- `--remote-debugging-port=<derived from OPENCLAW_BROWSER_CDP_PORT>`
- `--user-data-dir=${HOME}/.chrome`
- `--no-first-run`
- `--no-default-browser-check`
- `--disable-dev-shm-usage`
- `--disable-background-networking`
- `--disable-breakpad`
- `--disable-crash-reporter`
- `--no-zygote`
- `--metrics-recording-only`
- `--password-store=basic`
- `--use-mock-keychain`
- `--headless=new` when `browser.headless` is enabled.
- `--no-sandbox --disable-setuid-sandbox` when `browser.noSandbox` is enabled.
- `--disable-3d-apis`, `--disable-gpu`, `--disable-software-rasterizer` by default; these graphics-hardening flags help containers without GPU support. Set `OPENCLAW_BROWSER_DISABLE_GRAPHICS_FLAGS=0` if your workload needs WebGL or other 3D features.
- `--disable-extensions` by default; set `OPENCLAW_BROWSER_DISABLE_EXTENSIONS=0` for extension-reliant flows.
- `--renderer-process-limit=2` by default; controlled by `OPENCLAW_BROWSER_RENDERER_PROCESS_LIMIT=<N>`, where `0` keeps Chromium's default.

If you need a different runtime profile, use a custom browser image and provide your own entrypoint. For local (non-container) Chromium profiles, use `browser.extraArgs` to append additional startup flags.

Docker installs and the containerized gateway live here: Docker

For Docker gateway deployments, scripts/docker/setup.sh can bootstrap sandbox config. Set OPENCLAW_SANDBOX=1 (or true/yes/on) to enable that path. Override the socket location with OPENCLAW_DOCKER_SOCKET. Full setup and env reference: Docker.

setupCommand (one-time container setup)

setupCommand runs once after the sandbox container is created (not on every run). It executes inside the container via sh -lc.

Paths:

• Global: agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.setupCommand
• Per-agent: agents.list[].sandbox.docker.setupCommand

Tool policy and escape hatches

Tool allow/deny policies still apply before sandbox rules. If a tool is denied globally or per-agent, sandboxing doesn't bring it back.

tools.elevated is an explicit escape hatch that runs exec outside the sandbox (gateway by default, or node when the exec target is node). /exec directives only apply for authorized senders and persist per session; to hard-disable exec, use tool policy deny (see Sandbox vs Tool Policy vs Elevated).

Debugging:

• openclaw sandbox list shows sandbox containers, status, image match, age, idle time, and associated session/agent.
• openclaw sandbox explain [--session <key>] [--agent <id>] inspects effective sandbox mode, host workspace, runtime workdir, Docker mounts, tool policy, and fix-it config keys. Its workspaceRoot field remains the configured sandbox root; effectiveHostWorkspaceRoot shows where the active workspace actually lives.
• openclaw sandbox recreate [--all | --session <key> | --agent <id>] [--browser] [--force] removes containers/environments so they get recreated with current config on next use.
• See Sandbox vs Tool Policy vs Elevated for the "why is this blocked?" mental model.

Multi-agent overrides

Each agent can override sandbox + tools: agents.list[].sandbox and agents.list[].tools (plus agents.list[].tools.sandbox.tools for sandbox tool policy). See Multi-Agent Sandbox & Tools for precedence.

Minimal enable example

{
  agents: {
    defaults: {
      sandbox: {
        mode: "non-main",
        scope: "session",
        workspaceAccess: "none",
      },
    },
  },
}

Related

• Multi-Agent Sandbox & Tools -- per-agent overrides and precedence
• OpenShell -- managed sandbox backend setup, workspace modes, and config reference
• Sandbox configuration
• Sandbox vs Tool Policy vs Elevated -- debugging "why is this blocked?"
• Security