Perplexity Open-Sources SPACE Sandbox for AI Agents With Root Access

Perplexity has open-sourced SPACE, a platform for running AI agents with root privileges inside isolated virtual machines while keeping API keys outside each VM and routing external traffic through a gateway.

SPACE powers Perplexity’s Computer product and uses Firecracker to create a separate microVM for every agent task. Agents can install software and run commands inside that machine, but cannot directly control the host.

SPACE can save a VM’s memory, running state and files, enabling tasks to pause, resume or branch from a saved point. A branch can try a different approach without restarting from the beginning. The saved-state feature supports long-running agent tasks.

In July 2026, Perplexity replaced its previous commercial sandbox service with SPACE. The platform now creates millions of sandboxes each day. Median creation latency fell from 185 milliseconds to 60 milliseconds, a roughly threefold increase in speed.

The software is open source under the Apache 2.0 license.