Sandboxing in computing is a security mechanism that runs programs (or code) in a tightly controlled, isolated environment. The goal is to limit what the code can access—files, network, processes, devices, or the host system—so faults, bugs, or malicious behavior stay contained and cannot harm the rest of the machine or other workloads.

Common uses include testing untrusted code, malware analysis, multi-tenant cloud services, browser tabs and apps, and running AI-generated or agent-driven code safely. With agent development taking off, sandboxes are showing up everywhere again—and the design choices matter more than the marketing labels.