--- title: Run AI Agents in GitHub Actions with Docker Sandboxes description: GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) added Docker Sandboxes as a supported agent runtime in July 2026, letting AI coding agents run inside an isolated microVM with... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/run-ai-agents-in-github-actions-with-docker-sandboxes-gdctkffi2 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Run AI Agents in GitHub Actions with Docker Sandboxes | daily.dev og:description: GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) added Docker Sandboxes as a supported agent runtime in July 2026, letting AI coding agents run inside an isolated microVM with... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/run-ai-agents-in-github-actions-with-docker-sandboxes-gdctkffi2 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/GdCTKFfi2.png og:image:alt: Run AI Agents in GitHub Actions with Docker Sandboxes og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Run AI Agents in GitHub Actions with Docker Sandboxes **[Docker](https://daily.dev/sources/docker)** · 9 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) added Docker Sandboxes as a supported agent runtime in July 2026, letting AI coding agents run inside an isolated microVM with its own private Docker daemon while operating in GitHub Actions CI. The isolation lets an agent have broad shell and sudo access inside the sandbox while the outer workflow keeps a narrow network and file-patch surface. A walkthrough demo shows a Copilot agent running a Java 21 Testcontainers suite against PostgreSQL inside the sandbox, finding a seeded case-sensitivity bug, fixing it, and opening a draft pull request restricted to files under src/**. Setup steps cover installing gh-aw, configuring Docker credentials, compiling the Markdown workflow into a .lock.yml, and running it on a GitHub-hosted ubuntu-24.04 runner, plus trying sbx locally and pairing it with Docker AI Governance for org-wide policy and audit control. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I run an AI coding agent safely inside a GitHub Actions CI job? Use GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) with the docker-sbx runtime, which runs the agent inside a Docker Sandbox microVM that has its own kernel, filesystem, network stack, and private Docker daemon. The agent gets full root and shell access inside the sandbox but only a narrow allowlisted network and a restricted repository patch surface outside it, with pull request creation handled by a separate safe-output job. _Teams isolating AI agents in CI can track new sandboxing patterns like this on daily.dev._ ### What version of gh-aw added Docker Sandboxes as an agent runtime? Docker Sandboxes support landed as a supported agent runtime in GitHub Agentic Workflows version 0.82.9, released in July 2026. It is configured under the sandbox.agent section of a gh-aw Markdown workflow by setting runtime to docker-sbx, and the compiled result is a standard GitHub Actions .lock.yml file that still runs on ubuntu-24.04. _Developers adopting agentic CI workflows can follow gh-aw release changes via daily.dev._ ### Can Testcontainers work inside a Docker Sandbox microVM in CI? Yes, because each Docker Sandbox runs its own private Docker daemon with a dedicated kernel and network stack, Testcontainers can spin up dependencies like PostgreSQL exactly as it would on a developer's local machine. In one demonstration, Docker client and server version 29.7.1 ran inside the sandbox's default template, and a Maven container passed the sandbox's Docker socket through to launch a PostgreSQL Testcontainers instance for integration tests. _Engineers wiring Testcontainers into agentic CI pipelines can follow implementation details on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Building AI Teams with Docker Sandboxes & Docker Agent](https://daily.dev/posts/building-ai-teams-with-docker-sandboxes-docker-agent-mdqr85lrj) · Docker · 2 upvotes · 2 comments - [foojay – a place for friends of OpenJDK](https://daily.dev/posts/foojay-a-place-for-friends-of-openjdk-vdufyf20w) · Foojay.io · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [GitHub Agentic Workflows](https://daily.dev/posts/github-agentic-workflows-6xigduvrg) · Hacker News · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#docker](https://daily.dev/tags/docker), [#cicd](https://daily.dev/tags/cicd), [#github-actions](https://daily.dev/tags/github-actions) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/run-ai-agents-in-github-actions-with-docker-sandboxes-gdctkffi2) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Run AI Agents in GitHub Actions with Docker Sandboxes","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/run-ai-agents-in-github-actions-with-docker-sandboxes-gdctkffi2","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/run-ai-agents-in-github-actions-with-docker-sandboxes-gdctkffi2"},"datePublished":"2026-08-21T13:03:27.527Z","dateModified":"2026-09-13T18:32:50.140Z","description":"GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) added Docker Sandboxes as a supported agent runtime in July 2026, letting AI coding agents run inside an isolated microVM with...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7be8a0db8ab91f7126d8d6f3da0e7f7f?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/7be8a0db8ab91f7126d8d6f3da0e7f7f?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Docker","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Docker","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/8a1022bebfc04a7d824c309bd3686787","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/docker"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/run-ai-agents-in-github-actions-with-docker-sandboxes-gdctkffi2","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"ai-agents,docker,cicd,github-actions","timeRequired":"PT9M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Docker","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/docker"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Run AI Agents in GitHub Actions with Docker Sandboxes"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/run-ai-agents-in-github-actions-with-docker-sandboxes-gdctkffi2#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I run an AI coding agent safely inside a GitHub Actions CI job?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Use GitHub Agentic Workflows (gh-aw) with the docker-sbx runtime, which runs the agent inside a Docker Sandbox microVM that has its own kernel, filesystem, network stack, and private Docker daemon. 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