Science & Tech · AI · 1 hr ago
AWS releases open-source sandbox for AI agents in developer preview
AWS has released Strands Box, an open-source sandbox designed to control what AI agents can do.
It is in developer preview and currently runs on Macs with Apple silicon; Linux support is planned.
AI agents can read files, run commands and use online services, sometimes without a person approving each step.
Strands Box isolates agents and checks their actions against rules before allowing them to proceed.
Its shared history can let a rule connect actions across different tools, such as blocking a network request after an agent reads a customer-data file.
The system can also limit actions such as posting messages or making payments, and protect configured API keys by keeping their real values from the agent.
However, files directly granted to an agent are not checked by the policy system, and AWS says the extra software involved could contain bugs that bypass rules.
Developers must also write policies, which AWS acknowledges can be difficult.
AWS released Strands Box, an open-source sandbox for AI agents, in developer preview.
The tool combines operating-system isolation with rules that evaluate an agent’s actions and shared event history.
Its checkpoints route shell commands, Python code, MCP server calls and network traffic through policy checks.
The preview runs on Macs with Apple silicon, while Linux support is planned.
AWS says the approach has security trade-offs, including a larger body of code that must be trusted.
- Who
- Amazon Web Services (AWS).
- What
- AWS released Strands Box, an open-source sandbox for AI agents, in developer preview.
- When
- 2026-10-12, the article’s publication date.
- Where
- It runs on Macs with Apple silicon; Linux support is planned.
- Why
- To isolate agents and apply rules to their actions. The article says agents can otherwise access files, run commands and call APIs without human review.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
the policy layer is the only way out of the box
While we believe our approach is the right one to address the real-world agent isolation challenges we hear from our customers, none of the options in this space come without trade-offs.
This story does not have a timeline yet.
- Name
- Strands Box
- Status
- Developer preview
- Operating system
- macOS with Apple silicon
- Planned support
- Linux
- Policy engine
- Dogwood Local Engine
- Checkpoints
- Shell interpreter, Python interpreter, MCP server broker and network gateway
Sources
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