SideKernel

At a glance

SideKernel runs coding agents inside a temporary Linux microVM on Apple Silicon. It is worth exploring on a scratch project if you want to give an agent a Linux environment while keeping its login credentials on the Mac. The current project directory is still shared with the guest.

Good fit

Apple Silicon developers evaluating local isolation for terminal coding agents.

Consider something else when

Skip it if you need an audited production sandbox or cannot expose the project directory to the guest.

Start here

Start a guest from a disposable folder with a synthetic file. Verify which files are visible from inside, then try the network toggle with a harmless public endpoint before signing into an agent.

Cost and requirements

Apache-2.0. The maintainer reports testing M1 and M4 with macOS 26.2. The first launch downloads a Linux kernel and Ubuntu base image. Agent provider charges can still apply.

Limits to know

The project describes itself as an unaudited research prototype. Its host proxy keeps login files and tokens outside the guest, while the guest can still make model calls through the proxy. The documentation says the Claude API remains reachable when guest internet access is turned off.

Related work

• Anthropic, maker of Claude Code (context)
• OpenAI, maker of Codex (context)