What is Sandboxd used for?

Sandboxd is an open-source, self-hosted AI app builder that runs a coding agent in isolated Docker sandboxes and serves each app at a preview URL. It is a good fit for spinning up preview environments and embedding app generation into a product via API.

Is Sandboxd open source?

Yes. Sandboxd is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at tastyeffectco/sandboxd and is written mainly in Go.

Yes. Sandboxd is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $4.99 per month.

Can I self-host Sandboxd?

Yes. Sandboxd can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is Sandboxd an alternative to?

Sandboxd is an open-source alternative to Lovable, Bolt.new, v0 and Replit. Other open-source alternatives to Lovable include Micracode, Onlook and Magic Cloud.

Is Sandboxd actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to Sandboxd was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is v0.3.21, published on 20 September 2026. The project has 957 stars on GitHub.

Sandboxd: open-source alternative to Lovable, Bolt.new, v0

About Sandboxd

Sandboxd is an open-source, self-hosted take on prompt-to-app builders like Lovable, Bolt, v0 and Replit. A single HTTP request creates a private, isolated container, runs an AI coding agent in it against your prompt, and returns a live preview URL for the resulting app, all on a server you own.

Beyond building from a prompt, it can also run existing apps from a curated catalog of more than 80 apps such as n8n, Ghost and Grafana, and every action is exposed as a /v1 API call for headless, scriptable use. Idle sandboxes go to sleep and wake on demand, so one ordinary server can hold many apps rather than a virtual machine each.

The design is intentionally small: a single Go program drives Docker, uses Traefik to route preview URLs and keeps state in SQLite, with no Kubernetes, separate database or queue. Self-hosting is free under the MIT license, and the maintainers also mention an optional managed cloud and a live demo console with sample data.

Key features

Prompt-to-app builds by a coding agent
Isolated Docker sandbox per app
Live preview URL for each app
One-click catalog of 80+ apps
Scriptable /v1 HTTP API
Idle sandboxes sleep and wake on demand

Good fit for

→Self-hosted alternative to AI app builders
→Spinning up preview environments
→Embedding app generation into a product via API

Built with: Go; Docker
Tags: ai-app-builder; self-hosted; docker; sandbox; coding-agent; golang; preview-environments; paas

Sandboxd: questions and answers

What is Sandboxd used for?: Sandboxd is an open-source, self-hosted AI app builder that runs a coding agent in isolated Docker sandboxes and serves each app at a preview URL. It is a good fit for spinning up preview environments and embedding app generation into a product via API.
Is Sandboxd open source?: Yes. Sandboxd is open source under the MIT licence. Its source code is on GitHub at tastyeffectco/sandboxd and is written mainly in Go.
Is Sandboxd free?: Yes. Sandboxd is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available, with paid plans from $4.99 per month.
Can I self-host Sandboxd?: Yes. Sandboxd can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is Sandboxd an alternative to?: Sandboxd is an open-source alternative to Lovable, Bolt.new, v0 and Replit. Other open-source alternatives to Lovable include Micracode, Onlook and Magic Cloud.
Is Sandboxd actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to Sandboxd was on 29 September 2026, and the latest release is v0.3.21, published on 20 September 2026. The project has 957 stars on GitHub.