What is this?
NVX is an ultra-light micro-VM sandbox for running untrusted workloads with hardware-enforced isolation, built on OpenVMM and running Linux as the guest OS.
NVX is an ultra-light micro-VM sandbox for running untrusted workloads with hardware-enforced isolation, built on OpenVMM and running Linux as the guest OS.Is this a library I import, or a standalone tool?It is a command-line runtime harness (scripts/nvx.py) that boots and manages micro-VMs, not a library you import into your own code; there is also a path to drive OpenVMM directly without the harness.
It is a command-line runtime harness (scripts/nvx.py) that boots and manages micro-VMs, not a library you import into your own code; there is also a path to drive OpenVMM directly without the harness.How do I get a sandbox running?Install Python 3.10 or newer, then run the quick-start commands for your platform; they download the latest NVX release so no local build is needed, and a successful boot prints the boot-OK message and opens a root shell.
Install Python 3.10 or newer, then run the quick-start commands for your platform; they download the latest NVX release so no local build is needed, and a successful boot prints the boot-OK message and opens a root shell.What hypervisor do I need already set up on my machine?You need a hypervisor enabled on your OS: KVM with read/write access to /dev/kvm on Linux, MSHV on Linux, or Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHP) enabled on Windows.
You need a hypervisor enabled on your OS: KVM with read/write access to /dev/kvm on Linux, MSHV on Linux, or Windows Hypervisor Platform (WHP) enabled on Windows.What's the main pitfall when getting NVX to boot?Each backend has its own prerequisite that must already be in place — e.g. the right read/write permissions on /dev/mshv for MSHV, or WHP switched on in Windows — otherwise the micro-VM won't start.
Each backend has its own prerequisite that must already be in place — e.g. the right read/write permissions on /dev/mshv for MSHV, or WHP switched on in Windows — otherwise the micro-VM won't start.Who is this built for?It targets engineers and researchers who need hardware-isolated sandboxes for running untrusted or agent-generated code, such as agentic coding workloads.
It targets engineers and researchers who need hardware-isolated sandboxes for running untrusted or agent-generated code, such as agentic coding workloads.Can I choose a different guest OS than the default?Yes, NVX boots an Alpine Linux guest by default, and you can switch to an Ubuntu userland with the same NVX kernel by passing --guest ubuntu.
Yes, NVX boots an Alpine Linux guest by default, and you can switch to an Ubuntu userland with the same NVX kernel by passing --guest ubuntu.What is OpenVMM and why does NVX depend on it?OpenVMM is the hypervisor runtime NVX is built on top of; the repo pins specific Linux and OpenVMM versions and adds the patches, guest sources, build tools, and benchmarks needed to run them together as NVX.
OpenVMM is the hypervisor runtime NVX is built on top of; the repo pins specific Linux and OpenVMM versions and adds the patches, guest sources, build tools, and benchmarks needed to run them together as NVX.Does the project test its own sandbox isolation?Yes, it documents 'Copilot-driven adversarial testing' — bounded adaptive stress and containment campaigns used to probe the robustness of the sandbox's isolation.
Yes, it documents 'Copilot-driven adversarial testing' — bounded adaptive stress and containment campaigns used to probe the robustness of the sandbox's isolation.Which topics is it in?agentic-engineering, agentic-workflows, microvm, hypervisor, kvm, vm, sandboxing, virtual-machine, agentic-coding, virtualization, microsoft, systems-programming
agentic-engineering, agentic-workflows, microvm, hypervisor, kvm, vm, sandboxing, virtual-machine, agentic-coding, virtualization, microsoft, systems-programming