Sandbox overview — DefenseClaw

Overview

DefenseClaw's sandbox support is centered on OpenShell standalone mode. The Python CLI provisions the sandbox user, networking, OpenClaw config, and policy files; the Go gateway CLI provides systemd convenience commands for the running standalone services.

OpenShell standalone mode is Linux-only in the Python setup path. On macOS and Windows, use host mode plus the guardrail, scanners, firewall policy, and audit paths; see macOS fallback.

Why a sandbox

Even with the guardrail and scanners, an agent that can run code needs a narrower execution boundary. In the current source, DefenseClaw's owned boundary is the OpenShell standalone integration: sandbox user ownership, OpenShell policy management, network setup, and service lifecycle.

What DefenseClaw manages

• Ownership boundary — defenseclaw sandbox init creates or uses the sandbox user and moves OpenClaw ownership into the sandbox home.
• Network setup — defenseclaw sandbox setup writes bridge/IP, DNS, guardrail, and OpenClaw gateway settings.
• OpenShell policy — Go code loads and saves defenseclaw-policy.yaml, and MCP enforcement can allow or deny endpoints in that policy.
• Service lifecycle — defenseclaw-gateway sandbox start|stop|restart|status wraps systemd targets and services.

Quick start

See Install for the provisioning steps.

defenseclaw sandbox init
defenseclaw sandbox setup --policy permissive --non-interactive
defenseclaw-gateway sandbox status
defenseclaw-gateway sandbox exec python -c 'print("hi")'

Section map

Related

• Firewall
• sandbox CLI
• Setup sandbox