Onyx is a MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that executes code securely inside Docker sandboxes. It supports multiple programming languages and integrates seamlessly with Claude Desktop or other MCP clients. Onyx makes it safe and easy to execute arbitrary code in a sandboxed MCP environment. Perfect for Claude Desktop power users or anyone building AI workflows with executable code.
-
🔹 Multi-language support:
- Python (
python:3.11
) - Java (
openjdk:17
) - C (
gcc:12
) - C++ (
gcc:12
) - JavaScript / Node.js (
node:20
) - Rust (
rust:1.72
)
- Python (
-
🔹 Docker sandboxing:
- Network disabled (
--network none
) - Read-only FS with tmpfs mounts for safe writes
- Limited CPU, memory, and process count
- Non-root execution (
--user 1000:1000
)
- Network disabled (
-
🔹 MCP protocol: Exposes a
run_code
tool for executing arbitrary code. -
🔹 Logging: All execution logs go to
stderr
(safe for MCP clients). -
🔹 CI-ready: Automated tests for executors via GitHub Actions.
sandbox/
├── .github/
│ └── workflows/ci.yml # GitHub Actions CI
├── cmd/
│ └── server/
│ └── main.go # MCP server entrypoint
├── internal/
│ ├── model/ # Code params, executor interface, result types
│ ├── executor/ # Language-specific executors
│ └── utils/ # Docker availability checks
├── tests/
├── go.mod, go.sum
- Go 1.20+
- Docker Desktop (Windows/macOS) or Docker Engine (Linux)
Verify both:
go version
docker --version
To avoid delays during the first execution, pre-pull all language runtimes:
docker pull python:3.11
docker pull openjdk:17
docker pull gcc:12
docker pull node:20
docker pull rust:1.72
From the root of the repo:
# Run directly
go run ./cmd/server/main.go
# Or build a binary (recommended for Claude Desktop)
go build -o sandbox_server ./cmd/server/main.go
You should now have sandbox_server
(or sandbox_server.exe
on Windows).
-
Locate Claude Desktop’s config file:
code $env:AppData\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
-
Add an MCP server entry for Onyx:
{ "mcpServers": { "onyx": { "command": "<absolute path>/sandbox_server.exe", "args": [] } } }
-
Restart Claude Desktop.
-
You should now see the
run_code
tool available.
Adding support for another language requires:
-
Choose a Docker image with the language’s compiler/runtime. Example:
golang:1.22
for Go,php:8.2-cli
for PHP. -
Implement an Executor in
internal/executor/<lang>.go
:-
Define a struct (e.g.,
GoExecutor
). -
Implement the
Execute
method to:- Pipe source code into the container.
- Compile/interpret it inside
/workspace
. - Run the output binary/script.
-
-
Register it in
main.go
:if args.Language == "go" { runtime = executor.GoExecutor{} }
-
Write a test in
internal/executor/go_test.go
. -
Pull the Docker image ahead of time (
docker pull golang:1.22
).