Claude Sandbox

A containerized environment for running Claude Code in autonomous mode. Provides isolation for safe experimentation while preserving access to your projects and credentials.

Requirements

• Podman (tested on Fedora with rootless Podman)
• Claude Code authentication (Anthropic API key or Vertex AI credentials)

Quick Start

# Build the container
./build.sh

# Run the container
./run.sh

# Inside the container, start Claude (see Permission Modes below)
claude

Permission Modes

Claude Code has several permission modes, from most to least restrictive:

Default Mode (Recommended for Most Users)

claude

Claude prompts for confirmation on potentially dangerous operations. You approve each action as it runs.

Pre-approved Tools

Allow specific tools without prompting, while still requiring approval for others:

# Allow file operations, prompt for bash commands
claude --allowedTools "Read,Write,Edit,Glob,Grep"

# Allow git commands, prompt for everything else
claude --allowedTools "Bash(git:*)"

Block Specific Tools

Deny tools you consider risky:

# Block network tools (note: incomplete, many ways to access network)
claude --disallowedTools "Bash(curl:*),Bash(wget:*),WebFetch,WebSearch"

Full Autonomy

Skip all permission checks. Use only when you accept the risks:

claude --dangerously-skip-permissions

Combining Options

# Allow most tools, but block network access from bash
claude --allowedTools "Read,Write,Edit,Glob,Grep,Bash(git:*)" \
       --disallowedTools "Bash(curl:*),Bash(wget:*),WebFetch"

Note: There's no built-in way to allow API access while blocking all other network traffic. Claude needs unrestricted network to reach the Anthropic/Vertex API.

Directory Structure

~/projects/          → /home/claude/projects    (read-write)
~/.claude/           → /home/claude/.claude     (read-write)
~/.config/gcloud/    → /home/claude/.config/gcloud (read-only, if exists)

Authentication

Anthropic API

Set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in your host environment before running:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-...
./run.sh

Vertex AI

1. Authenticate on the host:

   gcloud auth application-default login

2. Create ~/.claude-sandbox.env:

   export CLAUDE_CODE_USE_VERTEX=1
   export CLOUD_ML_REGION=us-east5
   export ANTHROPIC_VERTEX_PROJECT_ID=your-project-id

The gcloud credentials are mounted automatically if present.

Installing Packages

Packages installed at runtime are lost when the container exits. To persist them:

1. Start the container: ./run.sh
2. In another terminal, get a root shell: ./root-shell.sh
3. Install packages: dnf install -y <packages>
4. Save to image: ./save-image.sh

For frequently-used packages, add them to the Containerfile and rebuild.

Configuration

Environment variables (set on host or in ~/.claude-sandbox.env):

Variable	Default	Description
CLAUDE_SANDBOX_IMAGE	claude-sandbox/default	Container image name
CLAUDE_SANDBOX_CONTAINER	claude-sandbox	Container instance name
CLAUDE_SANDBOX_PROJECTS	$HOME/projects	Host projects directory
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	-	Anthropic API key

Scripts

All scripts support -h or --help for usage information.

run.sh

Usage: run.sh [OPTIONS] [-- COMMAND]

Options:
  -n, --name NAME        Container name (default: claude-sandbox)
  -i, --image IMAGE      Image name (default: default → claude-sandbox/default)
  -p, --projects DIR     Projects directory to mount (default: ~/projects)

build.sh

Usage: build.sh [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -i, --image IMAGE      Image name (default: default → claude-sandbox/default)

root-shell.sh / save-image.sh

Options:
  -n, --name NAME        Container name (default: claude-sandbox)
  -i, --image IMAGE      Image name (save-image.sh only)

Multiple Environments

All images are prefixed with claude-sandbox/ automatically:

# Build a project-specific image (creates claude-sandbox/myproject)
./build.sh -i myproject

# Run it
./run.sh -i myproject -n myproject -p ~/work/myproject

# In another terminal
./root-shell.sh -n myproject
./save-image.sh -n myproject -i myproject

Managing Images

List all sandbox images:

podman images 'claude-sandbox/*'

Remove an image:

podman rmi claude-sandbox/myproject

Remove all sandbox images:

podman rmi $(podman images -q 'claude-sandbox/*')

Included Tools

• Node.js, npm
• Python 3, pip
• Git, git-extras, git-filter-repo, gh (GitHub CLI)
• ripgrep, fd, vim

Security Considerations

This setup provides convenience isolation, not security hardening. It protects against accidents, not malicious behavior.

What's Protected

Threat	Status
Accidents outside ~/projects	Protected — can't touch other home directories
System file modification	Protected — rootless Podman, container root ≠ host root
Persistent malware	Mitigated — --rm clears container on exit
Other users' files	Protected — namespace isolation

What's Exposed

Asset	Access	Risk
~/projects	Read-write	Full modification/deletion of all projects
~/.claude	Read-write	Auth tokens, conversation history
~/.config/gcloud	Read-only	Can authenticate to GCP, access cloud resources
Network	Unrestricted	Data exfiltration, external connections
CPU/Memory	Unlimited	Could DoS host

With --dangerously-skip-permissions

Claude can, without confirmation:

• Delete or modify your entire projects directory
• Read and exfiltrate source code over the network
• Use your cloud credentials to access resources
• Install and run arbitrary software

Bottom Line

This setup is for containing mess, not containing malice. It's appropriate for experimentation where you trust the model but want easy cleanup and separation from the rest of your system.

Troubleshooting

Permission denied on ~/.claude

The container uses --userns=keep-id to map your host UID. If you see permission errors, ensure the mounted directories are owned by your user.

GCP credentials not found

Run gcloud auth application-default login on the host to create credentials at ~/.config/gcloud/application_default_credentials.json.

Slow container startup

First run may be slow due to Podman's user namespace setup. Subsequent runs are faster.