do-app-sandbox 0.2.2
Experimental sandbox API for DigitalOcean App Platform - provides sandbox-like capabilities similar to Cloudflare Sandbox
License: MIT
Requires Python: >=3.10.12
Keywords: app-platform, cloud, containers, digitalocean, sandbox

# DO App Sandbox

> **Experimental**: This is a personal project and is not officially supported by DigitalOcean. APIs may change without notice.

A Python SDK that provides sandbox-like capabilities for DigitalOcean App Platform, similar to Cloudflare Sandbox.

> **For AI Assistants**: See [do-app-platform-skills](https://github.com/bikramkgupta/do-app-platform-skills) for comprehensive App Platform guidance including deployment, troubleshooting, and this sandbox SDK.

## Features

- **Create sandboxes**: Deploy isolated containers to App Platform (Python/Node images)
- **Execute commands**: Run shell commands with exit code capture
- **File operations**: Read, write, upload, and download files (Spaces-backed for large files)
- **Process management**: Launch and manage background processes
- **Async support**: Both synchronous and asynchronous APIs
- **Pre-warmed pools**: SandboxManager for instant sandbox acquisition (eliminates 30s cold-start)
- **CLI tool**: Manage sandboxes from the command line
- **Hosted images**: Uses maintained Python and Node images; no custom image setup required
- **Troubleshoot existing apps**: Connect to any App Platform app for troubleshooting ([guide](docs/troubleshooting_existing_apps.md))

## Documentation
- **Service Mode** (streaming, port exposure, sessions): [`docs/service_mode.md`](docs/service_mode.md)
- **SandboxManager** (pre-warmed pools): [`docs/sandbox_manager.md`](docs/sandbox_manager.md)
- Reference tables for SDK and CLI parameters/outputs: [`docs/sandbox_reference.md`](docs/sandbox_reference.md)
- Troubleshooting existing App Platform apps: [`docs/troubleshooting_existing_apps.md`](docs/troubleshooting_existing_apps.md)

## Getting Started

Install from [PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/do-app-sandbox/):

```bash
# Using pip
pip install do-app-sandbox

# Using uv
uv add do-app-sandbox

# Or as a CLI tool
uvx do-app-sandbox --help
```

> **For AI Assistants**: Use `do-app-sandbox` to deploy and test code in isolated cloud containers.

## Two Ways to Use This Package

This package has **two powerful capabilities** that work with any DigitalOcean App Platform app:

| Capability | Method | Use Case |
|------------|--------|----------|
| **Create Sandboxes** | `Sandbox.create()` | Spin up new isolated containers for testing, experimentation, or running untrusted code |
| **Troubleshoot Existing Apps** | `Sandbox.get_from_id()` | Connect to ANY running App Platform app for debugging, diagnostics, and file operations |

### Create a New Sandbox

```python
from do_app_sandbox import Sandbox

# Create an isolated sandbox environment
sandbox = Sandbox.create(image="python", name="my-sandbox")

# Run code, install packages, experiment freely
sandbox.exec("pip install requests")
result = sandbox.exec("python3 -c \"import requests; print('OK')\"")

# Clean up when done
sandbox.delete()
```

### Connect to an Existing App

```python
from do_app_sandbox import Sandbox

# Connect to ANY existing App Platform app for troubleshooting
app = Sandbox.get_from_id(
    app_id="your-app-id",           # From DigitalOcean dashboard or doctl
    component="your-component-name"  # Service or worker name (e.g., "web", "api")
)

# Run diagnostics
app.exec("ps aux")                  # Check running processes
app.exec("df -h")                   # Check disk usage
app.exec("env")                     # Inspect environment variables

# Read configuration files
config = app.filesystem.read_file("/app/config.json")

# Download logs for local analysis
app.filesystem.download_file("/var/log/app.log", "./app.log")
```

## Troubleshoot Existing Apps

The `Sandbox.get_from_id()` method connects to **any running App Platform app**—not just sandboxes you create. This is invaluable for debugging production issues, inspecting configuration, and downloading logs.

### Finding Your App ID and Component Name

```bash
# List all your apps
doctl apps list

# Get component names for a specific app
doctl apps get <APP_ID> --output json | jq '.spec.services[].name'
doctl apps get <APP_ID> --output json | jq '.spec.workers[].name'
```

You can also find the App ID in the DigitalOcean dashboard URL:
`https://cloud.digitalocean.com/apps/<APP_ID>`

### Common Diagnostic Commands

```python
from do_app_sandbox import Sandbox

app = Sandbox.get_from_id(app_id="ea1525eb-...", component="web")

# System diagnostics
app.exec("ps aux")              # Running processes
app.exec("top -b -n 1")         # CPU/memory snapshot
app.exec("df -h")               # Disk usage
app.exec("free -m")             # Memory usage
app.exec("netstat -tlnp")       # Open ports

# Application diagnostics
app.exec("env")                 # Environment variables
app.exec("cat /proc/1/cmdline") # Main process command
app.exec("ls -la /app")         # Application files

# Log inspection
app.exec("tail -100 /var/log/app.log")
app.exec("grep ERROR /var/log/app.log | tail -20")
```

### File Operations for Debugging

```python
# Read configuration files
config = app.filesystem.read_file("/app/config.json")
env_file = app.filesystem.read_file("/app/.env")

# List directory contents
files = app.filesystem.list_dir("/app")
for f in files:
    print(f"  {f.name} ({f.type})")

# Download logs for local analysis
app.filesystem.download_file("/var/log/app.log", "./app.log")
app.filesystem.download_file("/app/debug.log", "./debug.log")

# Write temporary debug files (use cautiously on production)
app.filesystem.write_file("/tmp/debug-flag.txt", "enabled")
```

> **Note**: Be careful when writing files to production apps. Use `/tmp/` for temporary debug files and clean up when done.

For more details, see the [Troubleshooting Existing Apps Guide](docs/troubleshooting_existing_apps.md).

## Quick Start

### Prerequisites

1. **Python 3.10.12+**: Required for secure tarfile extraction
2. **doctl CLI**: Must be installed and authenticated (`doctl auth init`)
3. *(Optional)* **`DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN`**: Only needed if not using doctl auth
4. *(Optional)* **Spaces**: For large file transfers (`SPACES_ACCESS_KEY`, `SPACES_SECRET_KEY`, `SPACES_BUCKET`, `SPACES_REGION`)

**doctl is required** for all sandbox operations (create, exec, files, etc.). There is no API-only path; `DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN` is only used to feed doctl auth if you prefer environment-based auth.

No image build/push step is required—the sandbox uses the maintained Python and Node images directly.
Default images live at `ghcr.io/bikramkgupta`; override with `GHCR_OWNER`/`GHCR_REGISTRY` if you host your own copies.

### Basic Usage

```python
from do_app_sandbox import Sandbox

# Create a new sandbox with the maintained Python image
sandbox = Sandbox.create(image="python", name="my-sandbox")

# Execute commands (python image ships with python3; use uv for pinned envs)
result = sandbox.exec("python3 --version")
print(result.stdout)
print(result.exit_code)  # 0

# File operations
sandbox.filesystem.write_file("/app/script.py", "print('Hello World')")
content = sandbox.filesystem.read_file("/app/script.py")

# Run the script
result = sandbox.exec("python3 /app/script.py")
print(result.stdout)  # Hello World

# Clean up
sandbox.delete()
```

### Working Directory

The sandbox working directory is `/home/sandbox/app`. For convenience, `/app` is a symlink to this location, so you can use either path:

```python
# Both paths work identically
sandbox.filesystem.write_file("/app/script.py", "print('Hello')")
sandbox.filesystem.write_file("/home/sandbox/app/script.py", "print('Hello')")

# Use cwd parameter to set working directory for commands
sandbox.exec("python script.py", cwd="/app")
```

### Context Manager

```python
from do_app_sandbox import Sandbox

with Sandbox.create(image="python") as sandbox:
    result = sandbox.exec("echo 'Hello'")
    print(result.stdout)
# Sandbox automatically deleted on exit
```

### Async API

```python
import asyncio
from do_app_sandbox import AsyncSandbox

async def main():
    sandbox = await AsyncSandbox.create(image="python")

    await sandbox.filesystem.write_file("/app/test.py", "print('async!')")
    result = await sandbox.exec("python /app/test.py")
    print(result.stdout)

    await sandbox.delete()

asyncio.run(main())
```

### SandboxManager (Pre-Warmed Pools)

For high-throughput use cases, eliminate the 30s cold-start with pre-warmed pools:

```python
from do_app_sandbox import SandboxManager, PoolConfig

async def main():
    manager = SandboxManager(
        pools={"python": PoolConfig(target_ready=3)},  # Keep 3 warm
    )
    await manager.start()

    # Instant acquisition - no 30s wait!
    sandbox = await manager.acquire(image="python")
    result = sandbox.exec("python --version")
    sandbox.delete()  # Single-use

    await manager.shutdown()
```

**Key features:**
- Per-image pools with configurable sizing
- Adaptive scaling (scale to zero when idle)
- Fallback to cold-start or fail-fast on empty pool
- OpenTelemetry metrics for observability

See [`docs/sandbox_manager.md`](docs/sandbox_manager.md) for full documentation.

### Service Mode (Streaming & Port Exposure)

Service mode provides an HTTP API with real-time streaming, port exposure, and persistent sessions:

```python
from do_app_sandbox import Sandbox, SandboxMode

# Create a service-mode sandbox
sandbox = Sandbox.create(image="python", mode=SandboxMode.SERVICE)

# Stream command output in real-time
for event in sandbox.exec_stream("pip install numpy pandas"):
    if event.type == "stdout":
        print(event.data, end="", flush=True)
    elif event.type == "exit":
        print(f"\nDone with exit code: {event.data}")

# Expose internal ports through public URL
sandbox.exec("python -m http.server 3000 &")
port_info = sandbox.expose_port(3000)
print(f"Access at: {port_info.url}")
# https://sandbox-xxx.ondigitalocean.app/proxy/3000
```

See [`docs/service_mode.md`](docs/service_mode.md) for sessions, log streaming, and HTTP API reference.

## CLI Reference

The `sandbox` CLI provides commands for managing sandboxes from the terminal.

### Create a Sandbox

```bash
# Create a Python sandbox (--image is required)
sandbox create --image python --name my-sandbox

# Create with custom region and instance size
sandbox create --image python --region sfo3 --instance-size apps-s-1vcpu-2gb

# Create a Node.js sandbox without waiting for ready state
sandbox create --image node --no-wait
```

### List Sandboxes

```bash
# List all sandboxes
sandbox list

# Output as JSON
sandbox list --json
```

### Execute Commands

```bash
# Execute a command in a sandbox (by name)
sandbox exec my-sandbox "python3 --version"

# Execute in sandbox by ID
sandbox exec --id abc123-def456 "ls -la"

# With custom timeout
sandbox exec my-sandbox "long-running-command" --timeout 300
```

### Delete Sandboxes

```bash
# Delete by name
sandbox delete my-sandbox

# Delete by ID
sandbox delete --id abc123-def456

# Delete all sandboxes (with confirmation)
sandbox delete --all

# Delete all without confirmation
sandbox delete --all --force
```

## API Reference

### Sandbox Class

#### Class Methods

- `Sandbox.create(*, image, name, region, instance_size, api_token, wait_ready, timeout)` - Create a new sandbox (`image` is required)
- `Sandbox.get_from_id(app_id, component, api_token)` - Connect to existing sandbox (doctl authentication required)

#### Instance Methods

- `exec(command, env, cwd, timeout)` - Execute a command
- `launch_process(command, cwd, env)` - Start a background process
- `list_processes(pattern)` - List running processes
- `kill_process(pid)` - Kill a process
- `kill_all_processes()` - Kill all launched processes
- `get_url()` - Get the public URL
- `delete()` - Delete the sandbox

#### Properties

- `app_id` - The App Platform application ID
- `component` - The component name
- `status` - Current deployment status
- `filesystem` - FileSystem instance for file operations

### FileSystem Class

- `read_file(path, binary)` - Read a file
- `write_file(path, content, binary)` - Write a file
- `upload_file(local_path, remote_path)` - Upload local file
- `download_file(remote_path, local_path)` - Download file
- `list_dir(path)` - List directory contents
- `mkdir(path, recursive)` - Create directory
- `rm(path, recursive, force)` - Remove file/directory
- `exists(path)` - Check if path exists
- `is_file(path)` - Check if path is a file
- `is_dir(path)` - Check if path is a directory

### CommandResult

```python
@dataclass
class CommandResult:
    stdout: str
    stderr: str
    exit_code: int

    @property
    def success(self) -> bool:
        return self.exit_code == 0
```

## Large Files (Spaces)

Set `SPACES_ACCESS_KEY`, `SPACES_SECRET_KEY`, `SPACES_BUCKET`, and `SPACES_REGION` to enable Spaces-backed transfers. The SDK will automatically use Spaces for files larger than ~250KB (configurable via `SANDBOX_LARGE_FILE_THRESHOLD`) via `filesystem.upload_large` / `download_large`.

```python
sandbox = Sandbox.create(image="python", spaces_config={"bucket": "my-bucket", "region": "nyc3"})
sandbox.filesystem.upload_large("./big.zip", "/tmp/big.zip")
sandbox.filesystem.download_large("/tmp/output.zip", "./output.zip")
```

**How it works**: Uses time-limited presigned URLs (15 min expiry by default) so no credentials are needed in the container. Files are transferred via curl and Spaces objects are deleted after transfer by default.

## Efficient File Transfers

For initial deployment with many files (10+), use zip to transfer in bulk rather than file-by-file:

```python
# LOCAL: Create zip of your project (excluding node_modules, .git, etc.)
import shutil
shutil.make_archive("/tmp/app", "zip", "/path/to/your/project")

# Upload single zip file
sandbox.filesystem.upload_file("/tmp/app.zip", "/home/sandbox/app.zip")

# REMOTE: Unzip in sandbox
sandbox.exec("cd /home/sandbox && unzip -o app.zip -d app && rm app.zip")
```

**When to use each approach:**
| Scenario | Recommended Method |
|----------|-------------------|
| Initial deployment (10+ files) | Zip and upload once |
| Quick config change | Single file upload |
| Hot-reload during development | Single file upload |
| Replacing entire codebase | Zip and upload once |

## Smoke & Perf Harness

- Smoke: `uv run python -m tests.smoke.main --spaces` (writes JSON to `tests/artifacts/`)
- Perf (light by default): `uv run python -m tests.perf.main --spaces --run-large-file` (100MB Spaces transfer)

## Configuration

### Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Description |
|----------|----------|-------------|
| `DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN` | No | DigitalOcean API token for doctl auth (optional if doctl is already authenticated) |
| `GHCR_OWNER` | No | GHCR image owner/namespace (default: `bikramkgupta`) |
| `GHCR_REGISTRY` | No | GHCR registry host (default: `ghcr.io`) |
| `APP_SANDBOX_REGION` | No | Default region (defaults to `atl1`) |

### Sandbox.create() Parameters

| Parameter | Default | Description |
|-----------|---------|-------------|
| `image` | **Required** | Sandbox image (`"python"` or `"node"`) |
| `name` | Auto-generated | Sandbox name |
| `region` | From env or `"atl1"` | App Platform region |
| `instance_size` | `"apps-s-1vcpu-1gb"` | Instance size slug |
| `component_type` | `"service"` | `"service"` for HTTP endpoint, `"worker"` for background process |
| `wait_ready` | `True` | Wait for sandbox to be ready |
| `timeout` | `600` | Max wait time in seconds |
| `api_token` | From env | DigitalOcean API token for doctl auth (optional if doctl is already authenticated) |

### Creating a Worker (No HTTP Endpoint)

Workers are useful for long-running background tasks that don't need a public URL:

```python
# Create a worker sandbox
worker = Sandbox.create(image="python", component_type="worker")

# Execute commands just like a service
result = worker.exec("python3 --version")
print(result.stdout)

# Workers have no URL (get_url() returns None)
```

### Sandbox.get_from_id() Parameters

| Parameter | Default | Description |
|-----------|---------|-------------|
| `app_id` | **Required** | The App Platform application ID |
| `component` | `"sandbox"` | The component/service name |
| `api_token` | From env | DigitalOcean API token |
| `spaces_config` | None | SpacesConfig for large file transfers |

**Note**: Registry is NOT required for `get_from_id()`. All operations work with just the app_id and doctl authentication.

### Available Regions

See [App Platform Availability](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/details/availability/) for the full list of supported regions.

### Available Instance Sizes

See [App Platform Pricing](https://docs.digitalocean.com/products/app-platform/details/pricing/) for the full list of available instance sizes.

## Known Limitations

1. **Deployment Time**: Creating a sandbox takes ~30 seconds (use [SandboxManager](docs/sandbox_manager.md) for instant acquisition)
2. **Static Port**: User applications must listen on port 8080 (health checks are on port 9090)
3. **Per-Command Console**: Each command opens a new console session
4. **No Persistent Storage**: Data is lost when sandbox is deleted

## Development

```bash
# Clone the repository
cd app-platform-sandbox

# Install dependencies
uv sync

# Run the CLI directly
python -m app_platform_sandbox --help

# Run tests
uv run pytest tests/ -v
```

## License

MIT