AI Developer Tools
Clawk
Disposable, network-restricted Linux VMs for AI coding agents — give each agent its own machine instead of yours.
Clawk
What is Clawk?
Clawk is an open-source CLI tool that creates disposable, network-restricted Linux VMs for AI coding agents. It lets agents operate freely inside an isolated environment while keeping the host machine safe.
Clawk vs Similar AI Tools
| Pricing Model | Free | Free | Custom Pricing | Free, Paid |
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How to use Clawk?
- 1cd ~/code/my-project
- 2clawk # boot a sandbox for this dir + attach claude
- 3clawk run shell # drop into a shell in the same sandbox
- 4clawk down # stop the VM (repo + agent state persist)
- 5clawk attach # come back later — boots if stopped, reattaches claude
- 6clawk destroy # remove the VM (conversation history is kept)
Clawk Key Features
- Disposable Linux VMs per project
- Network allow-list enforced below the guest
- Works in one command without Dockerfile or devcontainer
- OCI image as rootfs (no Docker daemon needed)
- ssh-agent forwarding for secure git pushes
- Multiple sandboxes per project or ticket
- Idle VMs automatically release memory and suspend to disk
Clawk Use Cases
- Running AI coding agents (Claude Code, Codex, etc.) in an isolated environment
- Testing untrusted code or packages without risk to the host
- Setting up reproducible project environments per repository
- Managing multi-repo tickets with coordinated branches and PRs
Clawk Pricing & Free Credits
Clawk currently operates on a Free model.
This tool is completely free to use
Clawk Pros & Cons
Pros
- Strong isolation via hypervisor boundary
- Network outbound allow-list prevents data exfiltration
- Easy to set up and tear down per project
- Works with any OCI image
- No Docker daemon required on host
Cons
- Currently pre-1.0 and may have breaking changes
- Only works on macOS (Apple Silicon) and Linux (experimental)
- Not suitable for Windows or Intel Macs
- Requires Apple Virtualization.framework or KVM
What is Clawk best for?
- Developers using AI coding agents who need strong isolation
- Teams working on projects with multiple repositories
- Anyone wanting to give AI agents full autonomy without risk to the host