Sandbox

Alfred can write and run code for you. All of it happens in a sandbox, which is an isolated environment that gets created for the work and thrown away afterwards.

There are two flavours of it, and Alfred picks between them based on the job.

Code Runner

Code Runner is the quick one. Alfred writes a bit of Python or JavaScript, runs it, and uses the result.

It’s good for:

• Maths, data crunching and unit conversions where you want an actual answer instead of a guess.
• Parsing or reshaping a file you uploaded.
• Generating a chart or a table from raw numbers.
• Any small task where code is more reliable than the AI doing it in its head.

Code Runner is quick and cheap, and Alfred reaches for it on his own when a question is better answered by running something than by reasoning about it.

Sandbox VM

Sandbox VM is the heavy one. It’s a full Debian machine that Alfred gets a shell on, with sudo, package installs, and network access.

It’s good for:

• Cloning a repo, running it, building it, and opening a pull request. See GitHub.
• Anything that needs real tools installed rather than a single script.
• Longer multi-step work where Alfred needs a place to keep files while working.

Inside the VM, GitHub and your Cards are already authenticated, so Alfred can clone your repos and read your cards without you handing over anything. Alfred can also publish a file he generated in there and give you a public link to it.

The VM is short-lived. Treat it as scratch space, not storage. If something in there is worth keeping, ask Alfred to save it to a card or upload it.

Safety

Your credentials are never inside the sandbox. Authentication happens in a proxy layer outside of it, so the sandbox gets access without ever holding your tokens.

That matters because sandboxes run code, and some of that code comes from the internet. Even if something malicious ended up running in there, there’s no GitHub token or account credential sitting in the environment for it to steal.

The sandbox is also isolated per run. It can’t reach your other conversations, your Dashboard session, or anything else on your account beyond what Alfred was explicitly given access to.

Automation

Reflexes run in the same sandbox, which is what makes them cheap enough to fire all day. A reflex handler is just code running in a sandbox with access to Alfred’s tools, no AI in the loop.

Enabling it

Code Runner and Sandbox VM are both modules, so you can turn either off from the Modules Page if you’d rather Alfred didn’t run code at all. See Modules.