diff --git a/docs/research/landscape-containerized-claude.md b/docs/research/landscape-containerized-claude.md index c976073..e72a60a 100644 --- a/docs/research/landscape-containerized-claude.md +++ b/docs/research/landscape-containerized-claude.md @@ -1,14 +1,20 @@ -# Landscape: containerized Claude Code agent tools +# Landscape: containerized AI coding agent tools Research into whether bot-bottle is redundant with existing projects, and whether it's worth publishing. ## Summary -The "Claude Code in Docker" space is active but not saturated. bot-bottle -occupies a distinct position: no surveyed project combines all five of its -defining features. Publishing is likely worthwhile, with the main risk being -claudebox expanding to absorb the same niche. +The "AI coding agents in isolated sandboxes" space is active but not saturated. +bot-bottle occupies a distinct position: no surveyed project combines all five +of its defining features. Publishing is likely worthwhile, with the main risk +being claudebox expanding to absorb the same niche. + +**Updated 2026-07-09:** bot-bottle now supports three isolation backends +(Docker, Apple `container`, smolmachines/libkrun microVMs) and three built-in +agent providers (Claude Code, OpenAI Codex, Pi) with an open plugin system for +arbitrary providers. This meaningfully strengthens the differentiation against +all surveyed competitors. ## Closest competitor: claudebox @@ -43,28 +49,78 @@ manifest merge. Still marked early-development. - **E2B, Northflank, Cloudflare Sandbox SDK** — cloud-hosted SaaS sandbox runtimes; fundamentally different architecture. +- **superhq.ai / SuperHQ** (v0.4.4, April 2026) — macOS desktop app (Rust/GPUI) + that runs Claude Code, Codex, and Pi inside microVMs via Apple's + Virtualization.framework (their own shuru-sdk / libkrun). Auth gateway + injects API keys on the wire so the sandbox never sees them; tmpfs overlay + stages agent writes for diff-and-accept review; mobile remote access via + remote.superhq.ai. Early alpha, free on launch, Apple Silicon only. + + Overlap: both projects cover agent isolation, credential proxying, and + multi-provider support (Claude Code / Codex / Pi). Differences: SuperHQ is a + GUI desktop app with no manifest layer; bot-bottle is a CLI fleet manager with + named agents, skills injection, per-agent system prompts, and cross-platform + backends (Docker, Apple `container`, smolmachines). SuperHQ's microVM + isolation story is now partially matched by bot-bottle's `macos_container` and + smolmachines backends. Worth watching — it targets the same security-minded + power-user audience and moves fast. + + **Known gap in SuperHQ (user-requested, as of 2026-07-09):** A named user + (Brian Cheong, Founder, Dunialabs.io) explicitly called out the absence of + per-run audit logging: tool calls and network egress. Bot-bottle covers both: + network egress is logged by pipelock/mitmproxy, and per-run op-log/audit state + is persisted to SQLite. ## What no found project does None combine: -1. Named-agent JSON manifest with per-agent env resolution (prompt / host-forward / literal) -2. Claude Code skills directory injection +1. Named-agent manifest with per-agent env resolution (prompt / host-forward / literal), supporting multiple providers (Claude Code, Codex, Pi, arbitrary plugins) +2. Skills directory injection 3. Per-agent system prompts 4. SSH-agent key forwarding without copying private keys into the container 5. Home + project manifest merge +6. Pluggable isolation backends: Docker (Linux/macOS), Apple `container` (macOS microVMs), smolmachines/libkrun microVMs +7. Per-run audit log: network egress via pipelock/mitmproxy + op-log persisted to SQLite + +**In-flight directions (not yet shipped):** + +- **Forge-native dispatch (issue #317):** Gitea webhook → orchestrator spins up a bottle + with the issue body as prompt → agent works → bottle freezes awaiting review comment → + rehydrates on comment → tears down on PR close. The issue-to-PR lifecycle concept is not + novel (Devin, Copilot Workspace, SWE-agent all do this as cloud services); what's + distinct is doing it self-hosted, manifest-driven, inside bot-bottle's isolation + primitives. +- **Paid web control plane (issue #327):** Browser-based multi-host agent launch and + monitoring; account-scoped bottle and agent definitions; secret custody (encrypted at + rest, injected into the sidecar at launch, never exposed to the agent or returned by any + read API). Monetization model: OSS runtime free, control plane paid — a standard split + (HashiCorp, Grafana) applied to a self-hosted agent sandbox. The principled secret + custody model (agent never sees real credentials, even via printenv) is more rigorous + than most surveyed tools but not unprecedented. ## Publishing verdict Worth publishing. Differentiators that matter to the target audience (power -users running parallel Claude Code sessions with distinct personas/tooling): +users running parallel AI coding agent sessions with distinct personas/tooling): -- The Python-stdlib-first, low-dependency design — competitors are npm-based or - Kubernetes-native. +- The Python-stdlib-first, low-dependency design — competitors are npm-based, + Rust/GUI, or Kubernetes-native. - Named agents with distinct skills and system prompts, not just language profiles. +- Multi-backend isolation: Docker, Apple `container` microVMs, and + smolmachines/libkrun — single manifest works across all three. +- Multi-provider: Claude Code, Codex, Pi, plus an open plugin system for + arbitrary providers. - SSH forwarding without key copying. +- Per-run audit log (tool calls + network egress) — an explicitly requested gap + in SuperHQ as of 2026-07-09. +- Forge-native dispatch and a paid control plane (in flight) bring bot-bottle + into the same product category as cloud services like Devin and Copilot + Workspace — but self-hosted, with stronger isolation guarantees and a + manifest-driven fleet model those services don't have. -Main risk: claudebox adds manifest/agent config. The space is moving fast -enough that publishing sooner is better if establishing prior art matters. +Main risk: claudebox adds manifest/agent config; SuperHQ is moving fast on the +GUI / microVM side. The space is moving fast enough that publishing sooner is +better if establishing prior art matters. Discovery will be slow without active promotion; an Anthropic Discord post or HN "Show HN" would do most of the work. @@ -73,4 +129,4 @@ HN "Show HN" would do most of the work. - GitHub search cannot surface private or very new repos comprehensively. - Counts (stars, forks) were not confirmed for every project. -- Research conducted 2026-05-07; the space moves fast. +- Initial research conducted 2026-05-07; SuperHQ entry added 2026-07-09; the space moves fast.