What Claude Code Can and Can't Do with Full Access Inside a Docker Sandbox

Claude Code can do more than suggest a fix. It can edit files, install dependencies, run tests, and start your application.

But letting it complete a task on its own raises a practical question: how much of your computer should those commands be allowed to affect?

Approving commands one at a time keeps you involved in every step. Removing those prompts lets Claude keep working, but you still need a way to limit its access.

Docker Sandboxes provides that boundary by running Claude inside a lightweight Linux virtual machine—called a microVM—with controlled access to your project and the network.

I wanted to see how useful that freedom would be, and where its limits were. Inside a Docker sandbox, Claude added a health endpoint to my Flask app, wrote a test, built a Docker image, passed all three tests in a container, and checked that the application responded. It finished without asking me to approve a command.

I also tested Docker's two project modes. In direct mode, the sandboxed Claude could change a project folder on my Mac immediately. In clone mode, it worked on a separate copy inside the sandbox, so I could review its changes before applying them to the original project. I then tested which files Claude could read, change, and send over the network.

In this article, you'll learn what Docker Sandboxes isolates, what those tests revealed, and how to run Claude in a sandbox with your own project. You'll choose between direct and clone mode, configure network access, and review Claude's work before using it.

Table of Contents

• Prerequisites
• What the Sandbox Isolates
• What the Experiment Showed
• Install Docker Sandboxes and Sign in
• ...

via FreeCodeCamp