
Unfortunately, any type of runtime that does not have access to operating system-level APIs will come with certain limitations.

That makes them slower and harder to use compared to Nodebox, which is optimized to run sandboxes fast and with as little friction as possible. While there are alternatives to Nodebox, they are closer to mimicking a container-based environment, running commands step-by-step, or even the entire Linux distributive in your browser. That CDN is an open-source Rust package manager that runs in the cloud and can be self-hosted pretty easily as well. Nodebox uses an internal dependency manager that is fine-tuned to deliver optimal initial load time by utilizing dependency caching via Sandpack CDN. This means that it implements as much of the Node.js API as possible while keeping a minimal performance imprint, using browser API where applicable and, in some cases, leaving out certain parts of Node.js due to browser limitations or complexity. Nodebox does not emulate Node.js but is, instead, a Node.js-compatible runtime. Nodebox is currently the only cross-browser Node.js runtime supporting all the latest browsers:

Nodebox gives you the same user experience you have come to expect from Sandpack, which means a near-instant server-side JavaScript environment at the click of a button-built for experimentation, examples and documentation.

To solve this problem, we built Nodebox, a runtime that runs entirely in the browser, eliminating the need for a network connection and infrastructure. Unfortunately, as VMs live in the cloud, they require infrastructure and a network connection, resulting in a higher cost compared to our client-side sandboxes. At CodeSandbox we have solved this by using Firecracker VMs, allowing us to bring your entire development environment to the cloud regardless of the programming language or tooling you might be using. However, server-side JavaScript remained a challenge. This improves the learning, experimentation and sharing experience of client-side JavaScript code.
#Download nodebox pip install#
With sandpack-bundler, we allowed any developer anywhere to instantly create a fast, local, shareable playground inside their browser, without having to wait forever to install dependencies and fight with devtools. Nodebox is a runtime for executing Node.js modules in the browser.
