JAI - An ultra lightweight jail for AI CLIs on modern linux

jai strives to be the easiest container in the world to configure--so easy that you never again need to run a code assistant without protection. It's not a substitute for docker or podman when you need better isolation. But if you regularly do risky things like run an AI CLI with your own privileges in your home directory on a computer that you care about, then jai could reduce the damage when things go wrong.

jai command runs command with the following policy:

• command has complete access to the current working directory.

• command has copy-on-write access to the rest of your home directory. It can write there to store dot files, but the changes will be kept separate in a changes directory and will not actually modify your real home directory.

• /tmp and /var/tmp are private.

• The rest of the file system is read only (though devices are still accessible).

With command-line options or configuration, jai supports the following:

• A "strict" mode where jailed processes start with an empty home directory and a different user id, so can read fewer sensitive files.

• The ability to grant access to other directories besides your current working directory.

• Multiple named sandboxed home directories that do not see each other's changes.

• Per-command configuration files.

jai emphasizes security over portability. It heavily leverages modern linux APIs to isolate processes and avoid time-of-check-to-time-of-use race conditions. It will not work with kernels older than 6.13 or operating systems other than linux.

See the home page or the man page for more documentation.

See the INSTALL file for installation instructions.