Sandbox as a Service

What the Sandbox as a Service MCP server does

The Sandbox as a Service MCP server gives an AI agent access to dedicated Linux virtual machines. Each sandbox has its own kernel and is not reused between accounts. The service removes a sandbox when its lifetime expires, including cases where the agent does not explicitly destroy it.

Agents can create a VM, execute shell commands, write and read files, and inspect directory trees. They can also expose a port from the VM through a public HTTPS preview URL. Account and lifecycle operations include checking sandbox status, listing the account's sandboxes, extending expiry, destroying a sandbox, and checking remaining credit and recent usage.

How it works

The Sandbox as a Service MCP server is available through a hosted Streamable HTTP endpoint at https://sandbox-as-a-service.com/v1/mcp. Requests can authenticate with either an Authorization: Bearer header or an x-api-key header. Anonymous initialization, tool discovery, and service information are available for hosted discovery, while account and execution operations require an API key.

A local stdio option runs through an npm package archive with npx. The hosted service exposes the eleven account and execution tools plus get_service_info; the local package exposes the eleven account and execution tools. The implementation uses MCP POST requests and SSE responses, so a GET-only request is not a connection test.

Setup and configuration

Create an API key through the service dashboard, then provide it as AAS_API_KEY. For local use, run the package with npx -y https://sandbox-as-a-service.com/mcp.tgz. Claude Desktop and Claude Code can launch the same command through an MCP configuration with the key in the environment section.

AAS_BASE_URL is optional and defaults to https://sandbox-as-a-service.com. If changed, provide only the origin; the client adds the API prefix. Hosted clients should connect to the documented /v1/mcp endpoint and send the key per request.

Tools and capabilities

The Sandbox as a Service MCP server provides tools for:

• Creating and destroying sandboxes.
• Running shell commands and receiving stdout, stderr, and exit status.
• Writing files without routing their content through command-line quoting.
• Reading files and listing directory trees.
• Publishing a sandbox port through an HTTPS preview URL.
• Reading status, size, and expiry information.
• Listing account sandboxes and extending their expiry.
• Checking remaining credit and recent usage.

Limitations and notes

Commands run as an unprivileged user. sudo is unavailable, so apt-get cannot be used. The README identifies pip install --user --break-system-packages and npm install as alternatives.

run_command waits for the command to finish. A server started without backgrounding may keep the MCP call open until the command times out; use & when starting a long-running service. Expiry is automatic, but calling destroy_sandbox earlier stops billing and returns unused minutes that would otherwise not be used.