Documentation

Pi is a minimal terminal coding agent that can be extended with TypeScript extensions, skills, prompt templates, and themes. E2B provides a pre-built pi template with Pi already installed.

CLI

Create a sandbox with the E2B CLI.

e2b sbx create pi

Once inside the sandbox, start Pi.

pi

Use /login to authenticate with a supported subscription provider, or provide an API key through an environment variable.

Run headless

Use -p for non-interactive print mode. Pi does not show permission prompts for its built-in tools, so no auto-approval flag is needed. The sandbox isolates Pi from your host machine, but sandboxes can reach the open internet by default — restrict outbound traffic with network rules. Pi supports multiple model providers. The examples below use Anthropic through the ANTHROPIC_API_KEY environment variable.

Pi can read and modify files and run shell commands directly. E2B contains those operations inside the sandbox, so Pi cannot access your host files or credentials. It can still make outbound network requests — use outbound network rules to limit access by CIDR or hostname. Hostname rules apply to HTTP(S) traffic only; use CIDR rules for other protocols.

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('pi', {
  envs: { ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY },
})

const result = await sandbox.commands.run(
  `pi -p "Create a hello world HTTP server in Go"`
)

console.log(result.stdout)
await sandbox.kill()

import os
from e2b import Sandbox

sandbox = Sandbox.create("pi", envs={
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": os.environ["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"],
})

result = sandbox.commands.run(
    'pi -p "Create a hello world HTTP server in Go"',
)

print(result.stdout)
sandbox.kill()

Example: work on a cloned repository

import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

const sandbox = await Sandbox.create('pi', {
  envs: { ANTHROPIC_API_KEY: process.env.ANTHROPIC_API_KEY },
  timeoutMs: 600_000,
})

await sandbox.git.clone('https://github.com/your-org/your-repo.git', {
  path: '/home/user/repo',
  username: 'x-access-token',
  password: process.env.GITHUB_TOKEN,
  depth: 1,
})

const result = await sandbox.commands.run(
  `cd /home/user/repo && pi -p "Add error handling to all API endpoints"`,
  { onStdout: (data) => process.stdout.write(data) }
)

const diff = await sandbox.commands.run('cd /home/user/repo && git diff')
console.log(diff.stdout)

await sandbox.kill()

import os
from e2b import Sandbox

sandbox = Sandbox.create("pi", envs={
    "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": os.environ["ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"],
}, timeout=600)

sandbox.git.clone("https://github.com/your-org/your-repo.git",
    path="/home/user/repo",
    username="x-access-token",
    password=os.environ["GITHUB_TOKEN"],
    depth=1,
)

result = sandbox.commands.run(
    'cd /home/user/repo && pi -p "Add error handling to all API endpoints"',
    on_stdout=lambda data: print(data, end=""),
)

diff = sandbox.commands.run("cd /home/user/repo && git diff")
print(diff.stdout)

sandbox.kill()

Build a custom template

If you need to customize the environment (e.g. pre-install dependencies, add config files), build your own template on top of the pre-built pi template.

// template.ts
import { Template } from 'e2b'

export const template = Template()
  .fromTemplate('pi')

# template.py
from e2b import Template

template = (
    Template()
    .from_template("pi")
)

// build.ts
import { Template, defaultBuildLogger } from 'e2b'
import { template as piTemplate } from './template'

await Template.build(piTemplate, 'my-pi', {
  cpuCount: 2,
  memoryMB: 2048,
  onBuildLogs: defaultBuildLogger(),
})

# build.py
from e2b import Template, default_build_logger
from template import template as pi_template

Template.build(pi_template, "my-pi",
    cpu_count=2,
    memory_mb=2048,
    on_build_logs=default_build_logger(),
)

Run the build script to create the template.

npx tsx build.ts

python build.py

Sandbox persistence

Auto-pause, resume, and manage sandbox lifecycle

Git integration

Clone repos, manage branches, and push changes

SSH access

Connect to the sandbox via SSH for interactive sessions

Getting started

Use cases

Agents

Storage

Code interpreting

Sandbox

Templates

Network

Filesystem

Volumes

Commands

MCP gateway

CLI

Deployment

Migration

FAQ

Pi

CLI

Run headless

Example: work on a cloned repository

Build a custom template

Sandbox persistence

Git integration

SSH access

​CLI

​Run headless

​Example: work on a cloned repository

​Build a custom template

​Related guides

Sandbox persistence

Git integration

SSH access

CLI

Run headless

Example: work on a cloned repository

Build a custom template

Related guides