In simple English
This program runs the hidden engine behind secure AI coding environments. It creates tiny, isolated Linux computers that start in milliseconds from saved snapshots. Your AI agent can run untrusted code inside these boxes without breaking your main server. It pauses when the agent stops and wakes up instantly when new work arrives. Running it yourself requires a dedicated Linux server with virtualization support.
What it is
E2B Runtime is the open-source backend for cloud agent execution, combining a control plane API, node orchestrator, edge router, and virtual machine agent. It uses Firecracker (a lightweight virtualization technology used to run secure virtual machines fast) and Go to manage fast-resuming sandboxes.
What it is good for
Platform teams and solo developers who want to run AI agents inside secure, isolated sandboxes on their own infrastructure without relying on a hosted cloud service.
- Boots sandboxes instantly by restoring memory and disk snapshots instead of booting a full kernel.
- Provides strong hardware isolation using microVMs, cgroups, and network namespaces.
- Includes built-in support for pausing idle sandboxes and waking them transparently on incoming traffic.
- Requires a dedicated Linux host with KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine, a technology that lets your CPU run virtual machines directly) enabled in the hardware.
- Complex multi-service architecture needs databases like PostgreSQL, Redis, and ClickHouse to run fully.
- Setup and local development require familiarity with container composition and Go tooling.
Manual virtual machine provisioning and slower container-based sandboxes for AI agents
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mkdir e2b && cd e2b
curl -fsSL --remote-name-all "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/e2b-dev/runtime/main/embed/compose/{compose.yaml,.env}"
docker compose up -d --wait