How to Give AI Agents a Bash Terminal Without Docker or VMs

Convex Sandbox is an open-source project that provides AI agents with a persistent bash environment without requiring Docker or VMs. It utilizes a Node action, the `just-bash` interpreter, and Convex storage to create a stateful virtual file system. This approach allows AI agents to leverage their existing knowledge of bash commands, providing a more efficient and composable tool surface than custom-built functions. Because the file system state is managed in Convex, changes are reflected in real-time for any connected clients, enabling collaborative workflows. The system is ideal for file-and-shell-based agentic workflows but is not suited for running untrusted code or processes with heavy native dependencies.