Community Sandboxes#

Use pre-built sandboxes from the OpenShell Community catalog, or contribute your own.

What Are Community Sandboxes#

Community sandboxes are ready-to-use environments published in the OpenShell Community repository. Each sandbox bundles a Dockerfile, policy, optional skills, and startup scripts into a single package that you can launch with one command.

Current Catalog#

The following community sandboxes are available in the catalog.

Sandbox

Description

base

Foundational image with system tools and dev environment

ollama

Ollama with cloud and local model support, Claude Code, OpenCode, and Codex pre-installed. Use ollama launch inside the sandbox to start coding agents with zero config.

openclaw

Open agent manipulation and control

sdg

Synthetic data generation workflows

Use a Community Sandbox#

Launch a community sandbox by name with the --from flag:

$ openshell sandbox create --from openclaw

When you pass --from with a community sandbox name, the CLI:

  1. Resolves the name against the OpenShell Community repository.

  2. Pulls the Dockerfile, policy, skills, and any boot-hook scripts.

  3. Builds the container image locally.

  4. Creates the sandbox with the bundled configuration applied.

You end up with a running sandbox whose image, policy, and tooling are all preconfigured by the community package.

Other Sources#

The --from flag also accepts:

  • Local directory paths: Point to a directory on disk that contains a Dockerfile and optional policy/skills:

    $ openshell sandbox create --from ./my-sandbox-dir

  • Container image references: Use an existing container image directly:

    $ openshell sandbox create --from my-registry.example.com/my-image:latest

Contribute a Community Sandbox#

Each community sandbox is a directory under sandboxes/ in the OpenShell Community repository. At minimum, a sandbox directory must contain the following files:

  • Dockerfile that defines the container image.

  • README.md that describes the sandbox and how to use it.

You can also include the following optional files:

  • policy.yaml that defines the default policy applied when the sandbox launches.

  • skills/ that contains agent skill definitions bundled with the sandbox.

  • boot.sh or another startup script that your Dockerfile installs at /etc/openshell/boot.sh. OpenShell runs that script as a supervisor-managed child process on every sandbox pod start, including restarts.

To contribute, fork the repository, add your sandbox directory, and open a pull request. Refer to the repository’s CONTRIBUTING.md for submission guidelines.

Note

The community catalog is designed to grow. If you have built a sandbox that supports a particular workflow (data processing, simulation, code review, or anything else), consider contributing it back so others can use it.

Next Steps#

Explore related topics: