microvms

Run coding agents and their tools in sandboxed AWS Lambda MicroVMs. Give each task its own Linux workspace, execute commands, collect files, and terminate the VM from Python. AgentVm runs Claude Code or Codex through Amazon Bedrock; Sandbox supports your own agent or command runner.

Install

python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install microvms

Requires CPython 3.9+. On Windows, activate with .venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1 in PowerShell. Wheels ship for Linux x64/ARM64 (glibc), macOS Intel/Apple Silicon, and Windows x64. Type declarations are included.

Run your first command

With an existing image and AWS credentials, this is the 90-second path to a working SDK example. One-time AWS setup and image builds take longer.

You need Lambda MicroVMs access, your normal AWS credential configuration, and an execution role. Follow AWS setup to set AWS_REGION and MICROVM_EXECUTION_ROLE_ARN. Then use the CLI to prepare an image containing agentd:

microvm build --name agent-tools --json
export MICROVM_IMAGE='paste data.imageIdentifier from the result'

Use the image ARN, in the same account and region as your credentials. The CLI can resolve image names; the SDK example takes the ARN directly. The CLI provisions agentd and uploads the build artifact for you. Shell examples use Bash or Zsh; in PowerShell, set variables with $env:NAME='value'.

Save as hello.py:

import os
import sys
from microvms import Region, Sandbox

image = os.environ["MICROVM_IMAGE"]
role = os.environ["MICROVM_EXECUTION_ROLE_ARN"]
vm = Sandbox(Region.parse(os.environ.get("AWS_REGION", "us-east-1")))
try:
    session = vm.run(image_identifier=image, execution_role_arn=role)
    result = session.run_sync(["echo", "hello from a sandbox"])
    print(result.stdout, end="")
    print(result.stderr, end="", file=sys.stderr)
    if not result.ok:
        raise RuntimeError(f"Command exited with {result.exit_code}")
finally:
    cleanup = vm.terminate()
    if cleanup.failures or cleanup.undeleted:
        print("Cleanup needs attention:", cleanup.to_dict(), file=sys.stderr)

python hello.py

Expected output: hello from a sandbox. The VM is terminated after the command; the image stays available for reuse. terminate() returns once termination is accepted by default. Pass wait_for_terminated=True to wait for the final state. Inspect failures and undeleted because cleanup reports failures in its result.

Run a coding agent

First prepare a Claude Code image using the same AWS setup plus Bedrock permissions. This builds or reuses the agent image and starts a temporary VM. Capture only its image ARN, then terminate that temporary VM:

MICROVM_AGENT_IMAGE="$(microvm agent-up --vm-name sdk-image --agent claude-code --json |
  python -c 'import json, sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin)["data"]["imageIdentifier"])')"
export MICROVM_AGENT_IMAGE
microvm terminate sdk-image --wait

Save as agent.py. The agent writes a file inside its own VM; the SDK downloads that file before cleanup:

import os
import sys
from microvms import AgentVm, Region

image = os.environ["MICROVM_AGENT_IMAGE"]
role = os.environ["MICROVM_EXECUTION_ROLE_ARN"]
vm = AgentVm(Region.parse(os.environ.get("AWS_REGION", "us-east-1")))
try:
    session = vm.launch(image_identifier=image, execution_role_arn=role)
    vm.install_access()
    result = vm.prompt_sync(
        "claude-code",
        "Create /workspace/hello.py that prints hello from a sandbox. Run it.",
    )
    print(result.stdout, end="")
    print(result.stderr, end="", file=sys.stderr)
    if not result.ok:
        raise RuntimeError(f"Agent exited with {result.exit_code}")
    with open("hello-from-agent.py", "wb") as artifact:
        artifact.write(session.download_file("/workspace/hello.py"))
finally:
    cleanup = vm.terminate()
    if cleanup.failures or cleanup.undeleted:
        print("Cleanup needs attention:", cleanup.to_dict(), file=sys.stderr)

python agent.py

For Codex, prepare the image with --agent codex, import AgentSpec, create AgentVm(region, [AgentSpec.codex()]), and prompt "codex". Agent images must contain the agent you select. Agents run as UID/GID 1000 in /workspace; install_access() installs a short-lived Bedrock token after launch. AgentVm enables internet egress for model calls.

Next steps

For a Sandbox named vm and its session:

Each method that calls AWS or the VM blocks, and has an awaitable twin with the same arguments and an _async suffix for asyncio code (see below). run_sync starts a command, waits, and acknowledges its saved output. A nonzero exit is a result, so check result.ok or result.exit_code. Use shell=True when passing a shell script string. Library exceptions expose code, kind, wire_kind, and retryable.

Omitting egress does not block outbound traffic. For no egress, use egress_network_connectors=[vpc_connector_arn] with a VPC without an internet gateway, NAT gateway, or other internet route. deny_egress sets advisory proxy variables that workloads can bypass. Keep the guest execution role limited to the task's needs.

Use it from asyncio

Every method that calls AWS or the VM has an awaitable twin named with an _async suffix, and the constructors have create_async. A twin takes the same arguments and returns the same result, and its work runs on the library's own runtime, so the event loop keeps running and many calls overlap:

import asyncio
import os
from microvms import Region, Sandbox, Session


async def main() -> None:
    region = Region.parse(os.environ.get("AWS_REGION", "us-east-1"))
    async with await Sandbox.create_async(region) as vm:
        session = await vm.run_async(
            image_identifier=os.environ["MICROVM_IMAGE"],
            execution_role_arn=os.environ["MICROVM_EXECUTION_ROLE_ARN"],
        )
        proc = await session.spawn_async(["sh", "-c", "echo out; echo err >&2"])
        async for chunk in proc.stdout:
            print(chunk.decode(), end="")
        # An attached session has a transport of its own, so its calls overlap.
        worker = await Session.attach_async(
            region, vm.microvm_id, vm.endpoint, session.agent_token
        )
        results = await asyncio.gather(
            *(worker.run_sync_async(["echo", str(n)]) for n in range(3))
        )
        print([result.stdout.strip() for result in results])


asyncio.run(main())

async with terminates the VM on the way out, as with does. Cancelling a read, wait, transfer or command start stops it. Cancelling run_async, build_image_async, ensure_image_async, suspend_async, resume_async or terminate_async lets the call finish, so a VM a cancelled launch started is still the sandbox's to terminate. Calls through the sandbox's own session take turns on the sandbox, as the blocking methods do, so a lifecycle call never interleaves with them; Session.attach_async gives a session whose calls run at once. A property such as vm.lifecycle waits for a transition in flight, so read it before or after awaiting one.

SDK tutorial · API reference · Source · Apache-2.0