Boxlite
Compute substrate for AI agents: lightweight enough to live on your laptop, elastic enough to scale into the cloud and unleash unlimited resources.
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What is Boxlite?
BoxLite is an embeddable micro-VM runtime for secure, isolated code execution designed specifically for AI agents. It functions as the
Boxlite pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Free and open source under the Apache License, Version 2.0. The license is permissive and compatible with commercial use and closed-source applications. BoxLite runs entirely on your local machine with no cloud account needed, so there are no per-minute billing costs or subscription fees. You can scale to the cloud when ready, but the core runtime is free.
Boxlite pros
- Embeddable library — no daemon required
- No cloud account needed — runs locally first
- No root access required
- Hardware-level isolation via micro-VMs
- Each sandbox has its own Linux kernel
- Stateful workspaces persist across restarts
- Snapshots for checkpoint and instant rollback
- Fork environments for parallel exploration
- OCI/Docker image compatibility
- < 50ms boot time
- Native Python, Node.js, Rust, and C SDKs
- BoxRun management layer with CLI and REST API
- Free and open source under Apache 2.0
- Data never leaves your machine — complete privacy
- ISOLated networking per sandbox
- Resource limits via cgroups and rlimits
- OS-level sandboxing (seccomp on Linux, sandbox-exec on macOS)
- Supports prebuilt or custom rootfs images
Boxlite cons
- No macOS Intel (x86_64) support
- No native Windows support without WSL2
- Node.js and Go SDKs still under development
- Requires Python 3.10+ for Python SDK
- Linux requires KVM enabled
- macOS requires version 12 or higher
- WSL2 on Windows requires KVM support
- Apple Silicon only — no Intel Mac support
Frequently asked questions about Boxlite
What is BoxLite?
BoxLite is an embeddable micro-VM runtime for secure AI agent isolation. It's the SQLite of sandboxing — a single importable library that creates hardware-isolated micro-VMs called Boxes, each with its own Linux kernel. No daemon, no root, no cloud account needed. Just import and run.
How is BoxLite different from Docker containers?
Unlike Docker containers that share the host kernel, each BoxLite sandbox runs its own Linux kernel in a real micro-VM. This provides true hardware-level isolation via KVM or Hypervisor.framework, making escape impossible. You get VM-level security with container-level ergonomics.
Do I need a cloud account to use BoxLite?
No. BoxLite is local-first — it runs entirely on your machine with no cloud account needed. You can import the library and sandbox with just a few lines of code. Scale out to the cloud only when you're ready.
What platforms does BoxLite support?
BoxLite runs on macOS (Apple Silicon only, macOS 12+), Linux (x86_64 and ARM64 with KVM enabled), and Windows (WSL2 with KVM support). It does not support macOS Intel (x86_64) or native Windows without WSL2.
What SDKs are available?
BoxLite has native SDKs for Python (pip install boxlite), Node.js (npm install @boxlite-ai/boxlite), Rust (Git dependency), and C (link libboxlite). Official Node.js and Go SDKs along with comprehensive API references are still under development.
What are stateful workspaces?
Stateful workspaces mean Boxes retain packages, files, and environment configuration across stop/restart cycles. You can install packages, create files, build up environment state, then come back hours later and pick up where you left off without rebuilding.
How do snapshots work in BoxLite?
Snapshots let you checkpoint before risky operations and rollback instantly. You can fork environments for parallel exploration and clone identical sandboxes for batch processing — like git branch but for environments.
Can I use Docker images with BoxLite?
Yes. BoxLite is OCI-compatible, allowing you to run standard container images like python:slim or node:alpine within secure micro-VMs. You can use prebuilt images or custom rootfs images.
What is BoxRun?
BoxRun is the management layer for BoxLite sandboxes. It lets you create, list, stop, and delete boxes through a CLI, REST API, Python SDK, or web dashboard — all in a single binary. BoxLite creates and runs micro-VMs; BoxRun manages them by tracking state and persisting data.
Is BoxLite safe for running untrusted code?
Yes. Each sandbox is a real micro-VM with hardware isolation (KVM/Hypervisor.framework), OS-level sandboxing (seccomp on Linux, sandbox-exec on macOS), resource limits (cgroups, rlimits), and environment sanitization. Nothing can escape to the host system.