[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-sidekernel-sandbox-aims-to-make-ai-coding-agents-safer-on-macos":10,"sections":35},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":24,"tags":25,"sources":30,"feedback":34,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":34,"total_tokens":34},9989,"sidekernel-sandbox-aims-to-make-ai-coding-agents-safer-on-macos","SideKernel Sandbox Aims to Make AI Coding Agents Safer on macOS","A new open-source microVM sandbox called SideKernel aims to fix why most developers skip sandboxing their AI coding agents in the first place.","A new sandbox wants to fix the real reason developers skip sandboxing their AI coding agents: it is annoying to set up.\n\nA researcher surveyed AI coding agent users and found fewer than 40% run their agents inside any sandbox at all, then dug into why. The survey flagged the specific usability complaints turning people off the idea. Those complaints shaped SideKernel, a new open-source, local sandbox for macOS that isolates coding agents using microVMs instead of lighter-weight containers. The researcher then ran SideKernel and other local, open-source, microVM-based sandboxes that met five inclusion criteria through 23 capability tests built around those same complaints.\n\nThe interesting part isn't the code, it's the diagnosis. Security tooling for AI agents already exists; what's missing is tooling people will actually bother installing. That reframes agent sandboxing as a product problem, not just a technical one, which matters given how much filesystem and shell access these agents already have on everyday developer machines.\n\nOnly a handful of sandboxes even cleared the paper's comparison criteria, and Docker Sandboxes scored roughly as well as SideKernel on usability. Worth remembering that this is one researcher's project, not a hardened standard. The real test is whether anyone besides the author still uses it a year from now.","[\"ai-coding-agents\",\"sandboxing\",\"macos\",\"open-source\"]","2026-10-05T04:00:00.000Z","2026-10-05T16:54:06.486Z","2026-10-05T16:54:10.488Z","published",null,[],"security",[26,27,28,29],"ai-coding-agents","sandboxing","macos","open-source",[31],{"name":32,"url":33},"arXiv cs.AI","https:\u002F\u002Farxiv.org\u002Fabs\u002F2610.02456",0,{"sections":36},[37,41,44,49,54,59,63,68,72,76,81,86,91,96],{"name":38,"slug":39,"count":40,"latest_published_at":18},"AI","ai",6233,{"name":42,"slug":24,"count":43,"latest_published_at":18},"Security",868,{"name":45,"slug":46,"count":47,"latest_published_at":48},"Policy","policy",444,"2026-10-03T15:02:01.000Z",{"name":50,"slug":51,"count":52,"latest_published_at":53},"Deals","deals",323,"2026-10-04T13:00:00.000Z",{"name":55,"slug":56,"count":57,"latest_published_at":58},"Hardware","hardware",204,"2026-10-03T14:50:50.000Z",{"name":60,"slug":61,"count":62,"latest_published_at":18},"Science","science",177,{"name":64,"slug":65,"count":66,"latest_published_at":67},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",158,"2026-10-03T03:21:12.000Z",{"name":69,"slug":70,"count":71,"latest_published_at":18},"Dev Tools","dev-tools",97,{"name":73,"slug":74,"count":71,"latest_published_at":75},"Software","software","2026-10-04T10:00:00.000Z",{"name":77,"slug":78,"count":79,"latest_published_at":80},"Startups","startups",92,"2026-10-04T14:36:25.000Z",{"name":82,"slug":83,"count":84,"latest_published_at":85},"Gaming","gaming",53,"2026-10-02T02:50:39.000Z",{"name":87,"slug":88,"count":89,"latest_published_at":90},"General","general",51,"2026-10-05T02:35:01.000Z",{"name":92,"slug":93,"count":94,"latest_published_at":95},"Reviews","reviews",32,"2026-10-02T18:00:00.000Z",{"name":97,"slug":98,"count":99,"latest_published_at":100},"How-To","how-to",7,"2026-10-01T09:00:00.000Z"]