Isolated AI Development Environments

System Requirements

📋 OS Compatibility: This solution is designed for Linux-based systems (Ubuntu, Debian, etc.)

Required tools:

bash shell (for scripts and automation)

Docker and Docker Compose (container runtime)

git with worktree support (version 2.5+)

yq and jq (YAML/JSON processing - installed automatically if missing)

notify-send (desktop notifications - optional, for host alerts)

Note: macOS and Windows users may need additional setup or use WSL2/Linux VMs.

⚠️ This system is under active development - expect frequent updates and improvements.

💡 We welcome your ideas! Feel free to share suggestions, use cases, or feedback in the Discussions section.

This repository is a foundation (with a full working example) for per-task, agent-centric development. It lets you run several tasks in parallel, each in its own isolated environment.

What it does

Per-task isolation. Each task lives in its own Git worktree with its own containers and network.
Agent-centric workflow. The AI agents run together in the same sandbox (Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI …).
Pluggable services. Start the services you need (DBs, object storage, caches, brokers, vector stores, …).
Highly customizable. Swap agents, services, env vars, and compose files.

Security model

Non-root users. Default user inside containers is non-root (user: claude, UID: 1001).
- Write access only to: the workspace and the user's home directory.
- No write access elsewhere; no sudo in images.
- Group local-ai-team (GID: 3000) for shared file access between host and container.
Restricted networking. Default-deny egress; outbound HTTP/HTTPS goes through Tinyproxy with whitelist filtering.
- Upstream proxy support: Optional SOCKS5/HTTP upstream proxy for additional routing (e.g., SSH tunnels).
- Docker registry proxy: Transparent caching proxy for Docker images, isolated from host network.
Isolated Docker. Docker-in-Docker is network-isolated and constrained; it cannot access host Docker or host files.
- Uses docker-registry-proxy for all image pulls with transparent caching.
- Registry domains automatically whitelisted (Docker Hub, gcr.io, quay.io, registry.k8s.io, ghcr.io).
Constrained devcontainer. Minimal capabilities and internal networking only.
Parallel safety. Multiple environments run side-by-side without colliding over resources, tables, or dashboards.
Host notifications. Secure notification system using mounted volumes for container-to-host alerts.

Architecture — Components & Networks

AI Agents

Pre-configured agents included in the base image:

flowchart TD
    TL["Technical Lead<br/>Architecture design<br/>Task planning & routing<br/>Team coordination"]

    AN["Analytics Engineer<br/>Requirements analysis<br/>Data exploration<br/>Metrics design"]

    SE["Software Engineer<br/>API development<br/>Business logic<br/>Performance optimization"]

    QA["QA Engineer<br/>Test creation & review<br/>Test automation<br/>Quality assurance"]

    CR["Code Reviewer<br/>Automated code review<br/>Uses Codex CLI<br/>Quality analysis"]

    TW["Technical Writer<br/>Documentation<br/>API docs, guides<br/>README files"]

    DO["Senior DevOps<br/>Infrastructure<br/>CI/CD pipelines<br/>Container orchestration"]

    TL <--> AN
    TL --> SE
    TL --> QA
    SE <--> QA
    SE <--> CR
    TL --> TW
    TL --> DO
    AN --> SE
    QA --> CR

Parallel Tasks — Multi-Environment Workflow

flowchart TD
    subgraph E1 ["Environment 1"]
        CC1["Claude Code<br/>Team of agents"]
    end

    subgraph E2 ["Environment 2"]
        CC2["Claude Code<br/>Team of agents"]
    end

    subgraph E3 ["Environment 3"]
        CC3["Claude Code<br/>Team of agents"]
    end

    subgraph ME ["Master environment"]
        CCM["Claude Code<br/>Team of agents"]
    end

    CC1 -->|git worktree 1| REPO[Repository]
    CC2 -->|git worktree 2| REPO
    CC3 -->|git worktree 3| REPO

    REPO -->|Check and merge<br/>to main| CCM

Quick start

One-Time Setup

# System-wide installation (requires sudo)
./install.sh
# This automatically:
# - Builds all Docker images (if not already built)
# - Installs management commands
# - Sets up templates and configurations
# - Creates local-ai-team group
# - Installs shell completions

# The ai-sbx command is installed with subcommands:
# - ai-sbx worktree create: Create git worktree for new tasks
# - ai-sbx worktree connect: Connect to existing task worktree  
# - ai-sbx worktree remove: Remove git worktree and optionally its branch
# - ai-sbx init: Initialize project with proper permissions
# - ai-sbx notify: Start notification watcher for container alerts

Rebuilding Images

You can rebuild images at any time with custom tag using the build script:

# Rebuild all images (useful after updates)
./images/build.sh all

# Force rebuild (ignores cache)
./images/build.sh --force all

# Rebuild with custom version tag
IMAGE_TAG=1.0.3 ./images/build.sh all

# Combine force and custom tag
IMAGE_TAG=1.0.3 ./images/build.sh --force all

# Rebuild specific image only
./images/build.sh --force devcontainer

When to rebuild:

After pulling updates from the repository
When changing Dockerfile configurations
To apply security updates to base images
When switching between versions

Version management:

Default tag is latest
Set IMAGE_TAG environment variable for versioning
Update your override.user.yaml to use specific versions

Using in Your Project

Copy .devcontainer.example/ to your project:

cp -r /path/to/ai_agents_sandbox/.devcontainer.example /path/to/your-project/.devcontainer

Initialize project:

ai-sbx init /path/to/your-project
# This sets up permissions, creates .env, configures mounts

Configure (optional):

cd /path/to/your-project/.devcontainer
vim override.user.yaml  # Add services, domains, environment variables

Open in your IDE (handles everything automatically):

VS Code:
- Open project folder
- Click "Reopen in Container" when prompted
- VS Code manages the container lifecycle
PyCharm (DevContainer setup): When you open the project, it should automatically suggest loading in devcontainer. Alternative method:
- Right-click on .devcontainer.json file > Dev Containers > Create Devcontainer and mount sources > PyCharm For other JetBrains IDEs, the process is similar

For parallel tasks (optional):

# Create worktree for new task:
ai-sbx worktree create "feature 123 implement user auth"

Available Commands

# Main command
ai-sbx <command> [arguments]

# Worktree management
ai-sbx worktree create "task description"  # Create new task worktree
ai-sbx worktree connect                    # Connect to existing worktree
ai-sbx worktree remove [name]              # Remove worktree
ai-sbx worktree list                       # List all worktrees

# Project initialization
ai-sbx init [/path/to/project]             # Initialize project

# Notifications
ai-sbx notify                               # Start notification watcher

# Help
ai-sbx --help                              # Show general help
ai-sbx worktree --help                     # Show worktree help

Note: Your IDE (VS Code/PyCharm) handles starting, stopping, and managing containers automatically. No manual Docker commands needed!

What's in `.devcontainer.example/`

A ready-to-use template for new projects:

devcontainer.json - IDE configuration (VS Code/PyCharm compatible)
local.project.yaml - Project-specific services (empty by default)
override.user.yaml - User customizations and overrides
Dockerfile - Shows how to extend the base image
init-project.sh - Wrapper script for project initialization
secure.init.sh.template - Template for sensitive configuration
.gitignore - Ignores sensitive files (.env, secure.init.sh)

Minimal Setup

For the absolute minimum, you need these files in .devcontainer/:

devcontainer.json:

{
  "name": "${localWorkspaceFolderBasename} - AI Sandbox",
  "dockerComposeFile": ["local.project.yaml",
    "/usr/local/share/ai-agents-sandbox/docker-compose.base.yaml",
    "override.user.yaml"
  ],
  "service": "devcontainer",
  "workspaceFolder": "/workspace",
  "initializeCommand": "ai-sbx init \"${localWorkspaceFolder}\""
}

local.project.yaml (empty):

services: {}

override.user.yaml (minimal):

services:
  devcontainer:
    image: ai-agents-sandbox/devcontainer:latest

init-project.sh (wrapper):

#!/bin/bash
if command -v ai-sbx-init-project >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    ai-sbx-init-project "${1:-$(dirname $(dirname $0))}"
fi

Network Configuration

Proxy Configuration

Web Access (Tinyproxy)

Default-deny with whitelist filtering
Pre-configured domains: GitHub, GitLab, PyPI, npm, JetBrains

Add project domains in override.user.yaml:

services:
  tinyproxy-devcontainer:
    environment:
      USER_WHITELIST_DOMAINS: api.myproject.com,cdn.myproject.com

Docker Registry Proxy

Transparent caching for Docker images
Auto-configured for Docker Hub, gcr.io, quay.io, registry.k8s.io, ghcr.io
~9x faster pulls for large images (OpenSearch: 113s → 13s)
Shared cache across all projects

Upstream Proxy Support

Configure optional upstream proxy in override.user.yaml:

services:
  tinyproxy-devcontainer:
    environment:
      # Simple format - just specify proxy URL
      UPSTREAM_PROXY: socks5://host.docker.internal:8900
      # or http://host.docker.internal:3128
      
      # Domains that bypass the upstream proxy
      NO_UPSTREAM: github.com,gitlab.com

For SSH tunnels:

ssh -D 0.0.0.0:8900 your-server  # Creates SOCKS5 proxy

Testing Network

docker exec devcontainer /home/claude/scripts/test-network.sh

Notification System

The environment includes a host notification system for alerts from Claude Code:

Setup

Notification directory is created automatically during installation

Install inotify-tools for instant notifications:

sudo apt-get install inotify-tools  # Debian/Ubuntu

Start the notification watcher on your host:

ai-sbx-notify-watch  # Installed system-wide by ./install.sh

How it works

Claude Code writes notifications to /home/claude/.ai_agents_sandbox/notifications in container
This is mounted to $HOME/.ai_agents_sandbox/notifications on host
Host watcher monitors the directory and shows desktop alerts
Supports different urgency levels (error, complete, clarification, approval, blocked)

Testing

From within the container:

/home/claude/claude-defaults/hooks/notify.sh test "Hello from container!"

Building Docker Images

The system requires several Docker images to function. You can build them using the provided build script:

Build All Images (Recommended)

cd /path/to/ai-agents-sandbox
./images/build.sh all

This builds:

ai-agents-sandbox/devcontainer:latest - Base development container
ai-agents-sandbox/tinyproxy:latest - HTTP/HTTPS proxy with filtering
ai-agents-sandbox/tinyproxy-base:latest - Base proxy image
ai-agents-sandbox/tinyproxy-registry:latest - Registry-specific proxy
ai-agents-sandbox/docker-dind:latest - Docker-in-Docker service
ai-agents-sandbox/devcontainer-dotnet:latest - .NET development variant
ai-agents-sandbox/devcontainer-golang:latest - Go development variant

Build Specific Images

# Build only the base devcontainer
./images/build.sh devcontainer

# Build only the proxy
./images/build.sh tinyproxy

# Build Docker-in-Docker
./images/build.sh docker-dind

# Build language-specific variants
./images/build.sh devcontainer-dotnet
./images/build.sh devcontainer-golang

Verify Images

# List all ai-agents-sandbox images
docker images | grep ai-agents-sandbox

# Expected output:
# ai-agents-sandbox/devcontainer      latest    ...
# ai-agents-sandbox/tinyproxy         latest    ...
# ai-agents-sandbox/docker-dind       latest    ...

Image Versioning

All images are tagged with version 1.0.0 by default. To use specific versions:

# Build with custom tag
IMAGE_TAG=1.1.0 ./images/build.sh all

# Use in your override.user.yaml:
services:
  devcontainer:
    image: ai-agents-sandbox/devcontainer:1.1.0

Customization

Extend the foundation for your specific needs:

Add services: Edit local.project.yaml to add databases, caches, message brokers, vector stores

Configure domains: Add allowed domains in override.user.yaml:

services:
  tinyproxy-devcontainer:
    environment:
      USER_WHITELIST_DOMAINS: api.myproject.com,cdn.myproject.com

Extend base image: Configure in override.user.yaml and create Dockerfile:

services:
  devcontainer:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: Dockerfile

Environment variables: Set project-specific vars in override.user.yaml

See .devcontainer.example/ for complete customization examples.

Acknowledgments

This project uses and extends the following excellent open-source projects:

docker-registry-proxy - Transparent caching proxy for Docker registries with HTTPS interception
Tinyproxy - Lightweight HTTP/HTTPS proxy daemon for POSIX systems
Docker-in-Docker - Official Docker image for Docker-in-Docker functionality

Special thanks to the maintainers and contributors of these projects for making secure, isolated development environments possible.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 65 Commits
.claude		.claude
.devcontainer.example		.devcontainer.example
.devcontainer		.devcontainer
.idea		.idea
docs		docs
host		host
images		images
.gitignore		.gitignore
CLAUDE.md		CLAUDE.md
JetBrains.gitignore		JetBrains.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
install.sh		install.sh

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Isolated AI Development Environments

System Requirements

What it does

Security model

Architecture — Components & Networks

AI Agents

Parallel Tasks — Multi-Environment Workflow

Quick start

One-Time Setup

Rebuilding Images

Using in Your Project

Available Commands

What's in `.devcontainer.example/`

Minimal Setup

Network Configuration

Proxy Configuration

Web Access (Tinyproxy)

Docker Registry Proxy

Upstream Proxy Support

Testing Network

Notification System

Setup

How it works

Testing

Building Docker Images

Build All Images (Recommended)

Build Specific Images

Verify Images

Image Versioning

Customization

Acknowledgments

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Repository files navigation

Isolated AI Development Environments

System Requirements

What it does

Security model

Architecture — Components & Networks

AI Agents

Parallel Tasks — Multi-Environment Workflow

Quick start

One-Time Setup

Rebuilding Images

Using in Your Project

Available Commands

What's in .devcontainer.example/

Minimal Setup

Network Configuration

Proxy Configuration

Web Access (Tinyproxy)

Docker Registry Proxy

Upstream Proxy Support

Testing Network

Notification System

Setup

How it works

Testing

Building Docker Images

Build All Images (Recommended)

Build Specific Images

Verify Images

Image Versioning

Customization

Acknowledgments

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What's in `.devcontainer.example/`