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Every project on the Code surface runs in its own isolated cloud sandbox: a disposable environment with a file system, a terminal, and a running dev server. The coding agent works inside the sandbox, and you watch the result through a live preview URL embedded in the workspace. Nothing runs on your machine, and AI-generated code never touches the ProductOS host environment.

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One sandbox per project

Sandboxes are project-scoped. Opening a project either reconnects to its existing sandbox or provisions a fresh one. The lifecycle looks like this:
  1. Create: a sandbox is provisioned when the project needs one.
  2. Execute: the agent writes files, installs dependencies, and runs build commands.
  3. Preview: a live URL is returned and embedded in the workspace, with an option to open it in a new tab.
  4. Teardown: after a period of inactivity, the sandbox is cleaned up. Your code is safe; it lives in the project’s Git repository, not only in the sandbox.
Mobile projects use a dedicated mobile build environment rather than the web one. If a mobile project ever resumes onto the wrong environment type, it is detected and recreated automatically. See Mobile.

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Cold boots

When you return to a project whose sandbox has been torn down, ProductOS restores it: it pulls your code back in, reinstalls anything missing, and restarts the dev server. A boot loader shows progress while this happens. A few things keep cold boots short:
  • Prewarming: after your code is pulled in, the home route is compiled ahead of time, so you do not pay a cold compile on your first navigation.
  • Volume-backed templates: curated templates that ship with a prepared volume boot in about 3 seconds instead of roughly 25 seconds for the standard import path. See Templates.
  • A hard ceiling on the loader: if the preview cannot be restored within the time limit (150 seconds by default), you get an actionable error with options to try again or start a build, instead of an indefinite spinner.
The preview loader is dismissed when the app actually responds, not on a fixed timer. If you see the loader for a while on a large project, the sandbox is still compiling; it will hand off as soon as the app serves a real page.

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Resources by plan

Sandbox memory is sized by your plan, so heavier builds get more headroom: Credit consumption is tracked per sandbox session and per AI call; you can review it on your usage page. See Plans and credits.

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Security notes

  • Sandboxes are isolated from each other and from ProductOS infrastructure.
  • Platform credentials never enter your sandbox. For example, when a template is cloned for you, the download happens server-side and only the extracted files reach the sandbox.
  • Your project’s canonical code lives in Git, so a torn-down sandbox never means lost work.