AKernel Python SDK

akernel-sdk is the Python interface for creating and managing remote AKernel sandboxes. Applications use one stable API for commands, files, interactive PTYs, port forwarding, and reverse tunnels. The current implementation uses openYuanrong as its backend adapter; backend-specific handles and namespaces are not part of the public API.

Navigation

• Install and configure
• Create a sandbox
• Commands
• Filesystem
• Interactive PTYs
• Port forwarding
• Reverse tunnels
• Rootfs and mounts
• Resources and lifecycle
• CLI
• Examples and tests

Install and configure

AKernel SDK 0.1.0 requires Python 3.10 or newer.

pip install akernel-sdk

To install from a source checkout:

python -m pip install ./sdk/python

Configure the public AKernel entrypoint and a signed JWT token:

export AKERNEL_SERVER_ADDRESS="akernel.example.com"
export AKERNEL_TOKEN="<token>"

Address behavior is deterministic:

• A host or IP without a port uses HTTPS/WSS on 443 for the frontend and HTTP on 80 for public sandbox port URLs.
• host:port uses that port as a shared HTTPS/WSS endpoint.
• AKERNEL_GATEWAY_ADDRESS overrides the port-forwarding and exec gateway for standalone or custom topologies. An override without a scheme uses HTTP/WS.

The standalone launcher prints the Traefik container IP to use as AKERNEL_SERVER_ADDRESS.

Create a sandbox

from akernel_sdk import Sandbox

with Sandbox(cpu=1000, memory=2048) as sandbox:
    result = sandbox.commands.run("printf hello")
    print(result.stdout)

The constructor accepts:

Sandbox(
    image: str | None = None,
    rootfs: S3Config | None = None,
    runtime: str = "runsc",
    cpu: int = 1000,
    memory: int = 4096,
    cpu_limit: int = 0,
    mem_limit: int = 0,
    idle_timeout: int = 300,
    schedule_timeout: int = 30,
    env: dict[str, str] | None = None,
    name: str | None = None,
    cwd: str | None = None,
    port_forwardings: list[int] | None = None,
    mounts: list[Mount] | None = None,
    reverse_tunnel: HttpReverseTunnel | None = None,
    detached: bool = False,
    node_id: str | None = None,
)

cpu is measured in millicores and memory in MiB. A zero CPU or memory limit means the limit follows the corresponding request. A positive limit must not be smaller than its request.

AKernel 0.1.0 supports the gVisor runsc runtime. The independent runtime parameter leaves room for future Kata support without changing the rootfs API.

Commands

Run a foreground command:

result = sandbox.commands.run(
    "printf $GREETING",
    envs={"GREETING": "hello"},
    cwd="/tmp",
    timeout=60,
)
print(result.stdout, result.stderr, result.exit_code)

Run and control a background command:

handle = sandbox.commands.run("sleep 30", background=True)
print(handle.pid)

for process in sandbox.commands.list():
    print(process.pid, process.command, process.running)

handle.kill()

Enable stdin only when it is needed:

handle = sandbox.commands.run("wc -l", background=True, stdin=True)
handle.send_stdin("one\ntwo\n")
handle.close_stdin()
result = handle.wait(timeout=15)

Foreground commands use one actor RPC with the configured timeout. Background commands return a handle whose wait() method also performs one actor RPC.

Filesystem

sandbox.files.write("/tmp/message.txt", "hello")
print(sandbox.files.read("/tmp/message.txt"))

sandbox.files.write("/tmp/data.bin", b"\x00\x01")
print(sandbox.files.read("/tmp/data.bin", format="bytes"))

for entry in sandbox.files.list("/tmp"):
    print(entry.path, entry.type, entry.size)

sandbox.files.make_dir("/workspace")
sandbox.files.rename("/tmp/message.txt", "/workspace/message.txt")
sandbox.files.remove("/workspace/message.txt")

Copy local files or directories through the frontend exec WebSocket:

sandbox.files.copy_from_local("./project", "/workspace/project")
sandbox.files.copy_to_local("/workspace/result.json", "./result.json")

Interactive PTYs

Use sandbox.pty for an interactive byte stream with stdin, streaming output, terminal resizing, and an exit status:

import sys

from akernel_sdk import Sandbox


def write_output(data: bytes) -> None:
    sys.stdout.buffer.write(data)
    sys.stdout.buffer.flush()


with Sandbox() as sandbox:
    with sandbox.pty.create(on_data=write_output) as session:
        session.send_stdin(b"echo hello from PTY\n")
        session.resize(rows=40, cols=120)
        session.send_stdin(b"exit 7\n")
        print(session.wait())

PTY output remains bytes so the SDK does not guess the terminal encoding. Use session.close_stdin() to signal end-of-input while continuing to receive output. A session belongs to its WebSocket connection: closing it terminates the remote interactive process, and reconnecting to an existing session is not supported.

Use sandbox.commands instead when the caller needs separate stdout and stderr, a complete CommandResult, or a controllable background process. The former Shell API and its actor bash_* methods were removed before the v0.1.0 public API was released.

Port forwarding

Declare each sandbox port at creation time:

from akernel_sdk import Sandbox

with Sandbox(port_forwardings=[8080]) as sandbox:
    server = sandbox.commands.run(
        "python3 -m http.server 8080 --bind 0.0.0.0",
        background=True,
    )
    print(sandbox.get_port_url(8080))
    server.kill()

get_port_url() rejects undeclared ports. Pass internal=True only when a deployment operator explicitly wants the direct Traefik address instead of the public gateway.

Reverse tunnels

A reverse tunnel lets sandbox code call an HTTP or HTTPS service reachable from the machine running the SDK:

from akernel_sdk import HttpReverseTunnel, Sandbox

tunnel = HttpReverseTunnel(
    target="https://service.example.com",
    reverse_port=8765,
    listen_port=8766,
    connect_timeout=60,
)

with Sandbox(reverse_tunnel=tunnel) as sandbox:
    result = sandbox.commands.run(
        f"curl {sandbox.reverse_tunnel.url}/health"
    )

reverse_port carries the WebSocket tunnel through Traefik. listen_port is the loopback HTTP listener used inside the sandbox. Consequently, sandbox.reverse_tunnel.url is always http://127.0.0.1:<listen_port>, even when target uses HTTPS.

For an HTTPS target, the SDK-side tunnel client performs the TLS handshake and certificate verification. The sandbox application talks only to its loopback HTTP listener. AKernel 0.1.0 supports one HTTP/WebSocket reverse tunnel per sandbox; it does not expose a general TCP tunnel.

Rootfs and mounts

Use a public OCI image:

with Sandbox(image="ubuntu:24.04") as sandbox:
    print(sandbox.commands.run("cat /etc/os-release").stdout)

Or use an object in S3-compatible storage as the rootfs:

from akernel_sdk import S3Config, Sandbox

rootfs = S3Config(
    endpoint="https://s3.example.com",
    bucket="akernel-rootfs",
    object="ubuntu-24.04/rootfs.img",
    access_key="<optional>",
    secret_key="<optional>",
)

with Sandbox(rootfs=rootfs) as sandbox:
    print(sandbox.commands.run("cat /etc/os-release").stdout)

image and rootfs are mutually exclusive. The SDK generates the backend wire representation; callers do not pass raw rootfs JSON or override the runtime inside an S3 object.

The same S3Config type can be used as a read-only mount source:

from akernel_sdk import Mount

mount = Mount(target="/models", type="erofs", s3_config=rootfs)
with Sandbox(mounts=[mount]) as sandbox:
    print(sandbox.commands.run("ls /models").stdout)

OCI images can also be mounted read-only:

mount = Mount(target="/opt/tools", image_url="ubuntu:24.04")

Resources and lifecycle

resources() returns stable NodeInfo values rather than backend objects:

from akernel_sdk import resources

for node in resources():
    print(node.id, node.status, node.capacity, node.allocatable, node.labels)

Use the context manager for ordinary sandboxes. For a named detached sandbox, explicitly delete it when it is no longer needed:

sandbox = Sandbox(name="worker", detached=True)
sandbox.kill()             # closes local clients; remote sandbox remains
Sandbox.delete("worker")   # terminates the named remote sandbox

sandbox.id is the physical ID shown by ak list. get_info() returns a SandboxInfo containing id, state, requested CPU and memory, and the OCI image when one was configured.

CLI

The ak CLI is installed with the SDK package:

ak resources
ak list
ak list --quiet
ak exec <sandbox-id>
ak exec <sandbox-id> -- /bin/sh
ak delete <sandbox-id> [<sandbox-id> ...]

It uses the same AKERNEL_SERVER_ADDRESS and AKERNEL_TOKEN environment as the Python API.

Examples and tests

Maintained examples are under examples/:

• basic_usage.py
• command_stdin.py
• custom_image.py
• named_sandbox.py
• pty.py
• port_forwarding.py
• reverse_tunnel.py
• s3_rootfs_and_mounts.py

Run unit tests without a deployment:

PYTHONPATH=sdk/python \
  python -m unittest discover -s sdk/python/tests/unit -t sdk/python -v

Run the integration suite against a configured deployment:

export AKERNEL_RUN_INTEGRATION=1
PYTHONPATH=sdk/python \
  python -m unittest discover -s sdk/python/tests/integration -t sdk/python -v

Load and transfer benchmarks live under benchmarks/ and are not part of the default test suite.

Public value types