What is sandboxing?
Sandboxing means running software in a restricted, controlled environment, so that it cannot reach system resources it is not authorised to use. NIST's glossary says an application in a sandbox is usually restricted from accessing the file system or the network.
NIST's glossary gives several definitions of a sandbox. One describes a restricted, controlled execution environment that prevents potentially malicious software from accessing any system resources except those it is authorised to use.
Another describes a system that lets an untrusted application run in a highly controlled environment, with its permissions restricted to an essential set. A third uses the word for isolating each guest operating system from the others and restricting what resources they can access.
In Claude Code, for example, Anthropic's documentation describes the sandbox as a boundary the operating system enforces around the shell commands the tool runs, and says it is off by default.
Background from ai notis, not part of the news. Checked against its sources on 4 Oct 2026.