agentOS vs Sandbox

• agentOS is a lightweight VM that runs inside your process. Near-zero cold start, low memory, direct backend integration via host tools.
• Sandboxes are full Linux environments with root access, system packages, and native binary support.
• You can use both. agentOS works with sandboxes through sandbox mounting. Agents run in the lightweight VM by default and spin up a full sandbox on demand.

Comparison

	agentOS VM	Full Sandbox
Cost	Very low. Runs in your process.	Pay per second of uptime.
Startup	Near-zero cold start (~6 ms).	Seconds to spin up.
Backend integration	Direct. Host tools call your functions with zero latency.	Indirect. Requires network calls back to your backend.
API keys	Stay on the server via the LLM gateway.	Must be injected into the sandbox environment.
Permissions	Granular, deny-by-default.	Coarse-grained (container-level).
Infrastructure	npm install	Vendor account + API keys.
Best for	Coding, file manipulation, scripting, API calls, orchestration.	Browsers, desktop automation, native compilation, dev servers.

When to use each

agentOS VM

Use the lightweight VM for most agent workloads:

• Coding and file editing
• Running scripts and CLI tools
• Calling APIs and services via host tools
• Multi-agent orchestration and workflows
• Tasks where backend integration matters (permissions, tool access, LLM routing)

Full sandbox

Spin up a sandbox when the workload needs a real Linux kernel:

• Browsers and desktop automation (Playwright, Puppeteer, Selenium)
• Heavy compilation and native toolchains
• Dev servers with hot reload, databases, and system ports
• GUI applications and VNC sessions

Both together

Use agentOS with sandbox mounting for workflows that need both:

• Agent runs in the agentOS VM with full access to host tools and permissions
• Sandbox spins up on demand for heavy tasks
• Sandbox filesystem is mounted into the VM as a native directory
• Agent reads and writes sandbox files the same way it reads local files