Documentation

Sandbox persistence

Sandbox persistence is currently in public beta:

  1. You'll need to install the beta version of the SDKs.
  2. Consider some limitations.
  3. The persistence is free for all users during the beta.

The sandbox persistence allows you to pause your sandbox and resume it later from the same state it was in when you paused it.

This includes not only state of the sandbox's filesystem but also the sandbox's memory. This means all running processes, loaded variables, data, etc.

Pausing sandbox

When you pause a sandbox, both the sandbox's filesystem and memory state will be saved. This includes all the files in the sandbox's filesystem and all the running processes, loaded variables, data, etc.

import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/code-interpreter'
// or use Core: https://github.com/e2b-dev/e2b
// import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'
//
// or use Desktop: https://github.com/e2b-dev/desktop
// import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/desktop'

const sbx = await Sandbox.create()
console.log('Sandbox created', sbx.sandboxId)

// Pause the sandbox
// You can save the sandbox ID in your database
// to resume the sandbox later
const sandboxId = await sbx.pause() 
console.log('Sandbox paused', sandboxId)

Resuming sandbox

When you resume a sandbox, it will be in the same state it was in when you paused it. This means that all the files in the sandbox's filesystem will be restored and all the running processes, loaded variables, data, etc. will be restored.

import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/code-interpreter'
// or use Core: https://github.com/e2b-dev/e2b
// import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'
//
// or use Desktop: https://github.com/e2b-dev/desktop
// import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/desktop'

const sbx = await Sandbox.create()
console.log('Sandbox created', sbx.sandboxId)

// Pause the sandbox
// You can save the sandbox ID in your database
// to resume the sandbox later
const sandboxId = await sbx.pause()
console.log('Sandbox paused', sandboxId)

// Resume the sandbox from the same state
const sameSbx = await Sandbox.resume(sandboxId) 
console.log('Sandbox resumed', sameSbx.sandboxId)

Listing paused sandboxes

You can list all paused sandboxes by calling the Sandbox.list method and supplying the state query parameter. More information about using the method can be found in List Sandboxes.

import { Sandbox, SandboxInfo } from '@e2b/code-interpreter'
// or use Core: https://github.com/e2b-dev/e2b
// import { Sandbox, SandboxInfo } from 'e2b'
//
// or use Desktop: https://github.com/e2b-dev/desktop
// import { Sandbox, SandboxInfo } from '@e2b/desktop'

// List all paused sandboxes
const paginator = Sandbox.list({ query: { state: ['paused'] } }) 

// Get the first page of paused sandboxes
const sandboxes = await paginator.nextItems() 

// Get all paused sandboxes
const sandboxes: SandboxInfo[] = []
while (paginator.hasNext) {
  const items = await paginator.nextItems()
  sandboxes.push(...items)
}

Removing paused sandboxes

You can remove paused sandboxes by calling the kill method on the Sandbox instance.

import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/code-interpreter'
// or use Core: https://github.com/e2b-dev/e2b
// import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'
//
// or use Desktop: https://github.com/e2b-dev/desktop
// import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/desktop'

const sbx = await Sandbox.create()
console.log('Sandbox created', sbx.sandboxId)

// Pause the sandbox
// You can save the sandbox ID in your database
// to resume the sandbox later
const sandboxId = await sbx.pause()

// Remove the sandbox
await sbx.kill() 

// Remove sandbox by id
await Sandbox.kill(sandboxId)

Sandbox's timeout

When you resume a sandbox, the sandbox's timeout is reset to the default timeout of an E2B sandbox - 5 minutes.

You can pass a custom timeout to the Sandbox.resume() method like this:

import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/code-interpreter'
// or use Core: https://github.com/e2b-dev/e2b
// import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'
//
// or use Desktop: https://github.com/e2b-dev/desktop
// import { Sandbox } from '@e2b/desktop'

const sbx = await Sandbox.resume(sandboxId, { timeoutMs: 60 * 1000 }) // 60 seconds

Network

If you have a service (for example a server) running inside your sandbox and you pause the sandbox, the service won't be accessible from the outside and all the clients will be disconnected. If you resume the sandbox, the service will be accessible again but you need to connect clients again.

Limitations while in beta

  • It takes about 4 seconds per 1 GB RAM to pause the sandbox
  • It takes about 1 second to resume the sandbox
  • Sandbox can be paused up to 30 days
    • After 30 days, the data will be deleted and you will not be able to resume the sandbox. Trying to resume sandbox that was deleted or does not exist will result in the NotFoundError error in JavaScript SDK and NotFoundException exception in Python SDK