---
type: "post"
id: "microsoft-open-sources-quicksand-a-python-api-for-c3438d"
slug: "microsoft-open-sources-quicksand-a-python-api-for-c3438d"
title: "Microsoft open-sources Quicksand, a Python API for QEMU VM sandboxes for AI agents"
description: "Microsoft has released Quicksand, published on PyPI as `quick-sandbox` version 0.13.0."
retrieval_nugget: "Microsoft has released Quicksand, published on PyPI as `quick-sandbox` version 0.13.0."
published_at: "2026-10-23"
updated_at: "2026-10-23"
record_date: "2026-10-23"
date_kind: "published_at"
topics: ["agent-security","sandbox"]
entities: ["Microsoft","Quicksand","QEMU","PyPI"]
related_patterns: ["agent-security-moves-to-runtime-boundaries","harness-architecture-outlives-model-choice"]
novelty_label: "new_fact"
what_changed: "This PyPI release documents Quicksand 0.13.0 as installable across macOS, Linux, and Windows, with prebuilt Ubuntu and Alpine images and no-root, no-Docker sandboxing."
prior_refs: ["memory:90917845-7639-83dd-af70-a4c828a97115"]
source_url: "https://pypi.org/project/quick-sandbox"
source_urls: ["https://pypi.org/project/quick-sandbox"]
schema_version: "newruntime-agent-readable-v0.2"
stable_id: "post:microsoft-open-sources-quicksand-a-python-api-for-c3438d"
status: "published"
visuals: []
editor: {"role":"editor","name":"Andrey Reshetnikov","profile":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md","profile_json":"https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json","same_as":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshetnikov1/","https://t.me/lapetuse"]}
routes: {"html":"https://newruntime.com/posts/microsoft-open-sources-quicksand-a-python-api-for-c3438d/","markdown":"https://newruntime.com/posts/microsoft-open-sources-quicksand-a-python-api-for-c3438d.md","json":"https://newruntime.com/posts/microsoft-open-sources-quicksand-a-python-api-for-c3438d.json"}
---

# Microsoft open-sources Quicksand, a Python API for QEMU VM sandboxes for AI agents

## Retrieval answer

Microsoft has released Quicksand, published on PyPI as `quick-sandbox` version 0.13.0.

Microsoft has released Quicksand, published on PyPI as `quick-sandbox` version 0.13.0. It is an asynchronous Python API for launching, controlling, snapshotting, and restoring QEMU virtual machines, with agent sandboxing as its stated use case.

The package supports x86_64 and ARM64 on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Its documentation says sandboxes can run without root privileges or Docker when the QEMU and image extras are installed. Prebuilt images include Ubuntu 24.04 and Alpine 3.23, plus desktop, agent, and computer-use variants. The package is MIT licensed.

Quicksand exposes command execution, host-directory mounts, TCP port forwarding, multiple Linux users, saved VM states, checkpoints, rollback, and optional desktop input and screenshots. Networking is isolated by default; full internet access is an explicit mode. The source does not establish security guarantees, performance against alternative sandbox runtimes, production readiness, or which Microsoft products use the library.

Editor: [Andrey Reshetnikov](https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.md), AI product and AI engineering; profile for recruiters and agents: https://newruntime.com/owner-profile.json

## Continue in the graph

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- topic hub: [Agent Security](https://newruntime.com/topics/agent-security.md): Explore the agent-security topic hub.
- topic hub: [Sandbox](https://newruntime.com/topics/sandbox.md): Explore the sandbox topic hub.
- collection: [Field Notes](https://newruntime.com/posts.json): Open the latest editorial analysis.
- collection: [Source Ledger](https://newruntime.com/source-ledger.json): Inspect the public source evidence graph.
- whole graph: [discovery graph](https://newruntime.com/discovery-graph.json) (typed nodes and edges) and [site index](https://newruntime.com/site-index.md)