What gets sandboxed

The tool calls that run inside the sandbox, the directory discovery contract, and the parts that deliberately stay on the host.

What gets sandboxed

• Tool execution: exec, ls, read, write, edit, apply_patch, process, etc.
• The optional sandboxed browser (agents.defaults.sandbox.browser).

Directory discovery uses ls without granting shell execution. It returns whole, JSON-quoted names and a filename cursor when another page is available. Use the same directory and returned after value to continue. Each page fits the selected model's tool-result budget; no partial filename is returned.

Custom backends can provide SandboxFsBridge.readDirectory({ filePath, cwd, signal }), returning { name, isDirectory } entries from their permitted filesystem roots. The method is optional for older plugins: ls is hidden when it is absent, and OpenClaw does not fall back to reading the host filesystem.

Not sandboxed:

• The Gateway process itself.
• Any tool explicitly allowed to run outside an ordinary sandbox via tools.elevated. Elevated exec uses the configured escape path (gateway by default, or node when the exec target is node), but cannot escape a session whose creator role requires sandboxing. If sandboxing is off, tools.elevated changes nothing since exec already runs on the host. See Elevated Mode.