# Docker Sandbox Kit Spec

> Updated 2026-09-24 · type: news · category: ai-infrastructure · status: active · rev 1

Docker's Sandbox Kit Specification packages an AI agent's network rules, credentials, tools and volumes as a pinnable OCI image enforced by conforming runtimes.

- Open source: yes (Apache-2.0)
- Last verified: 2026-09-26

- **Canonical:** https://gtmstacker.com/registry/news/docker-sandbox-kit-spec/
- **Source:** [docker · GitHub (sandbox-kit-spec)](https://github.com/docker/sandbox-kit-spec)
- **Tags:** ai-infrastructure, mcp-agents, news, specification, oci, open-standard

## Is Docker Sandbox Kit Spec open source?

Yes, Docker Sandbox Kit Spec is open source under the Apache-2.0 license.

## How much does Docker Sandbox Kit Spec cost?

Docker Sandbox Kit Spec is open source: self-hosting is free, and you pay only for your own infrastructure.


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Docker's Sandbox Kit Specification is a vendor-neutral spec (v3) that packages an AI agent's network rules, credentials, tools and volumes as a pinnable OCI image — a "Kit" — enforced by conforming runtimes. The Apache-2.0 spec is open (github.com/docker/sandbox-kit-spec); Docker Sandboxes is the first runtime, and Docker plans to take the spec to the CNCF.

## Notes

- What it is (spec facts, WebFetch 2026-09-26): a vendor-neutral specification, currently v3 and experimental, that packages a piece of a working environment — an agent's network rules, credentials, capabilities and volumes — into an OCI image pinned by digest, so a conforming runtime can install a Kit, grant it exactly what it declares, and combine it with other Kits. The spec's phrasing: "Kits make authority reproducible" — declarations live in the manifest of the image they describe. 73 stars; repo created 2026-09-16; published ~2026-09-24.
- Open-source status — accurate and load-bearing: the specification itself is Apache-2.0 and open at github.com/docker/sandbox-kit-spec. This is filed as news because a spec is not a runnable tool; the runnable product is Docker Sandboxes (the `sbx` CLI runtime), referenced here via news.mentions.
- Runtime and governance: Docker Sandboxes is positioned as the first conforming runtime, and Docker has stated it is taking the spec to the CNCF — a signal of intended vendor-neutral governance, though the donation is planned, not completed. v3 targets a Q4 2026 final release.
- Surfaced via the 2026-09-26 X viral-posts brief (cross-corroboration); spec facts independently verified against the primary repo.
- The GTM-stack read: as agents run more of a team's tooling, the hard problem becomes granting each agent exactly the authority it needs and no more — reproducibly. Packaging that authority (network, creds, tools, volumes) as a pinnable OCI image turns "what can this agent touch" into an artifact you can version, review and enforce, the same way you already ship containers. If runtimes converge on the standard, this is the substrate under agent execution; today it is an experimental v3 spec with one runtime, so track it as a direction, not a dependency.
- Curated from the GTM Stacker signal registry (2026-09-26 pass); license/facts independently verified 2026-09-26.