box by ASCII

Docker sandbox for AI coding agents

Many software tasks depend on Docker: databases, queues, browsers, local stacks, integration tests, and production-like services. box gives agents a VM where Docker works inside the machine.

Use box when your agent needs to build and run the project the same way a developer would.

What you get

Docker pre-installed

GitHub CLI and language runtimes included

Run multi-service dev environments

Expose real services from the VM

Keep containers and project state across sessions

Docker inside the VM

box is not a narrow function runtime. Each workspace is a full Linux VM with Docker support, so agents can run containers, compose local stacks, and debug services with normal tooling.

Better fit for real repositories

Modern repos often need more than `npm test`. They need Postgres, Redis, browsers, background workers, migrations, and ports exposed for previews. A Docker-capable sandbox lets an agent operate on that full surface.

From test run to hosted demo

Because each VM has networking and IPv4, the same environment can run tests, serve a preview, host a temporary app, or keep a background service alive while the agent continues working.

Start a box VM

Install the CLI, create a machine, and run your agent in a full Linux environment.

curl -fsSL https://ascii.dev/api/box/install | sh