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---
title: "Introduction"
description: "Cloud sandboxes for AI apps"
---

OpenComputer gives you a full Linux VM in the cloud. Each sandbox is an isolated virtual machine with its own filesystem, network, and process space — persistent, long-running, and capable of hibernating when idle. Write files, install packages, run commands, and build complete projects inside secure, isolated environments.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Full Linux VM" icon="server">
    Not a container. Real VM with its own kernel, memory, and disk. Hardware-level isolation via KVM.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Long-running" icon="clock">
    Hours or days, not minutes. Install packages, build projects, run test suites, iterate — no cold starts between steps.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Checkpoint & fork" icon="code-branch">
    Named snapshots you can fork from. Try five approaches in parallel from the same starting point — like git branches for VMs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Elastic compute" icon="gauge-high">
    Scale memory and CPU at runtime. Request more resources for heavy tasks and release them after.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Install

<Tabs items={["npm", "pip", "CLI"]}>
  <Tab title="npm">
    ```bash
    npm install @opencomputer/sdk
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="pip">
    ```bash
    pip install opencomputer-sdk
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="CLI">
    ```bash
    # Installs to ~/.local/bin (no sudo). See cli/overview for manual install.
    curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/diggerhq/opencomputer/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

```bash
export OPENCOMPUTER_API_KEY=your-api-key
```

<Tip>Grab your API key from [app.opencomputer.dev](https://app.opencomputer.dev)</Tip>

## Quick Example

<Tabs items={["TypeScript", "Python"]}>
  <Tab title="TypeScript">
    ```typescript
    import { Sandbox } from "@opencomputer/sdk";

    const sandbox = await Sandbox.create();
    const result = await sandbox.commands.run("echo 'Hello World from OpenSandbox!'");
    console.log(result.stdout);
    await sandbox.kill();
    ```
  </Tab>

  <Tab title="Python">
    ```python
    import asyncio
    from opencomputer import Sandbox

    async def main():
        sandbox = await Sandbox.create()
        result = await sandbox.commands.run("echo 'Hello World from OpenSandbox!'")
        print(result.stdout)
        await sandbox.kill()

    asyncio.run(main())
    ```
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

## Next Steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="rocket" href="/quickstart">
    Create your first sandbox in 2 minutes
  </Card>

  <Card title="How It Works" icon="microchip" href="/how-it-works">
    Architecture: VMs, hibernation, checkpoints
  </Card>

  <Card title="Sandboxes" icon="box" href="/sandboxes/overview">
    The compute primitive
  </Card>

  <Card title="Working with Files" icon="file" href="/sandboxes/working-with-files">
    Upload, download, and manage files
  </Card>
</CardGroup>