Process Sandbox - OpenHands Docs

The Process sandbox runs the agent server directly on your machine as a regular process.

This mode provides no sandbox isolation.The agent can read/write files your user account can access and execute commands on your host system.Only use this in controlled environments.

When to use it

Local development when Docker is unavailable
Some CI environments
Debugging issues that only reproduce outside containers

Choosing process mode

In some deployments, this is selected via the legacy RUNTIME environment variable:

export RUNTIME=process
# (legacy alias)
# export RUNTIME=local

If you are unsure, prefer the Docker Sandbox.