Coding agents do more than write code. Agents can install dependencies, access networks, use credentials, and keep working after we’ve moved on to something else. Agents need access to get real work done. But the more access they have, the bigger the impact of a mistake. The challenge is building enough trust into the system to give agents more freedom without giving them access to everything.
At WeAreDevelopers North America, Docker President Mark Cavage laid out Docker’s answer: give every agent a strong boundary, make its environment and authority reproducible, and let the work run where it makes sense, from a developer’s laptop to the cloud.
In 30 minutes, Mark demonstrates what happens when an agent pushes beyond a container’s limits and how Docker Sandboxes create a stronger boundary. He then connects that foundation to Kits, cloud capacity for work that needs to continue beyond the laptop, and new partnerships helping developers put agents to work safely.
Agents are actors, not workloads
Containers were built to isolate applications. Agents do more. They make decisions and act on the systems around them, so the boundary needs to extend to the environment they can reach.
Mark’s onstage demo makes that clear. The container worked as designed. What the agent needed was containment around its full environment. Docker Sandboxes provide that containment. Each agent gets its own isolated microVM and kernel, separate from the developer’s host environment.
Developers can choose the agent, model, and tools that fit the job, then define the sandbox’s access to files, networks, and secrets. Those policies stay outside the agent’s control. Together, the sandbox and its policies create a trusted environment for autonomous work.
Docker Sandboxes are available today through the free, standalone CLI, so developers can bring stronger isolation to the agent workflows they already use.
Make the agent and its authority reproducible
A strong boundary gives an agent a safe place to work. Developers also need a repeatable way to define what runs and what it can access.
In the keynote, Mark announced the next generation of Docker Sandbox Kits, now built as standard OCI images, and invited ecosystem partners to help shape the specification as Docker works towards neutral governance.
Docker Sandbox Kits package the agent, its tools, and the rules for what the sandbox can reach into one versioned, shareable artifact. Developers can share Kits through the same workflows they already use for container images, while keeping changes to an agent’s authority visible and reviewable.
The result is a common foundation for the agent ecosystem, built on an open standard.
Dockerfiles made software reproducible. Kits make authority reproducible
Start on your laptop. Finish in the cloud.
Some agent work begins and ends on a developer laptop. Longer-running or parallel work needs capacity that stays available when the developer steps away. In the keynote, Mark announced Docker Cloud Sandboxes, bringing the same microVM-based isolation from the laptop to Docker-managed cloud compute.
Using the familiar sbx workflow, developers can start locally, move their work to the cloud with one command, and let it continue after they close their laptop. They can also run tasks in parallel without provisioning or maintaining the infrastructure themselves.
Docker Cloud Sandboxes are available today with pay-as-you-go pricing.
An ecosystem built around trust
An open agent ecosystem needs both: choice for the developers and shared standards the industry can build on.
Nous Research joined Mark onstage to show Hermes running as a first-class Kit in Docker Sandboxes. The demo showed what choice looks like in practice: a third-party agent packaged for a common environment, with Docker providing the underlying isolation and controls. Developers can choose the agent that best fits their work without having to rebuild the trusted execution layer around it.
Choice also depends on shared standards that the wider ecosystem can adopt. Docker has committed to submitting its Kits specification to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), the open source, vendor-neutral hub of cloud-native computing.
“Standards are what let an ecosystem move fast without fragmenting, and few companies understand that better than Docker through their involvement in efforts like the OCI and CNCF. By delivering Sandbox Kits as standard OCI images, Docker is giving the industry an open, repeatable way to package an AI agent, its tools, and its guardrails as one artifact. OCI is the foundation the cloud native ecosystem is built on, so a standard for agents that builds on OCI reaches the whole ecosystem at once. The cloud native community looks forward to working with Docker to bring this work under neutral governance.”
Chris Aniszczyk
CTO at CNCF
Together, these partners show what an open agent ecosystem can look like: choice at the agent layer and a shared format for packaging an agent’s environment and authority. Docker provides the trusted foundation underneath, whether agents run locally or in the cloud.
Trust comes from the system around the agent
Taken together, the announcements in Mark’s keynote form one system. Sandboxes provide a deterministic boundary. Kits make the agent’s environment and authority reproducible. Cloud Sandboxes extend the same trust model to durable cloud capability.
They give developers the freedom to choose their agents and more autonomy, while retaining control over what they can access and change.
As agents take on bigger jobs, the infrastructure around them matters more. Docker provides the trusted foundation they need to work locally or scale in the cloud, while developers continue to stay in control of what ships.
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Watch, Explore, Build
- Start Locally: Run an agent in a Docker Sandbox
- Scale in the Cloud: Read the announcement and get started with Docker Cloud Sandboxes
- Build with Kits: Read the technical deep dive and explore the open kit specification.