Sandbox
Also called agent sandbox, sandboxing, sandboxed
A walled-off space where a program, link or AI agent's commands run, with limits on what they can write and where they can connect.
A sandbox is a set of walls the operating system enforces around a program. Inside, it works normally. When it tries to write somewhere it shouldn't, or connect to a site it wasn't given, the attempt fails, whatever the program wanted.
Security teams have long used sandboxes to open suspicious links and attachments safely. Coding agents use them for a different reason. An agent that asks before every command soon trains you to click yes without reading. A sandbox swaps those questions for walls, so routine work runs on its own and anything outside the walls is blocked.
The walls are only as good as their settings, so check what the sandbox still lets the agent read, and that it's actually on.
For example
A coding agent in a sandbox can edit files in your project and reach the sites you allowed; a command that tries to write to your home folder or upload to an unknown server fails.
Put it to use
Where you'll meet sandbox in ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude, how to use it there, and the mix-up most people make.
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