How to run Go code in a sandbox

On Runtime, Go is one apt command away in every sandbox, or it is already there in an image you build once. Each sandbox is a Firecracker microVM with its own kernel, with sudo and gcc ready. The code interpreter runs Go cells too. On 26 October 2026, the first Go cell in a sandbox installed Go from Ubuntu's archive in about 20 seconds, once per sandbox (code interpreter). A 2 vCPU, 4 GiB sandbox costs $0.08 an hour while it compiles and $0.03125 while it waits (pricing).

Which Go to install

The code interpreter also installs Go from Ubuntu's archive. Use the tarball when your module's go line requires a newer release.

Install Go and run a program

TypeScriptimport { Sandbox } from "withruntime";const program = `package mainimport (	"fmt"	"sort")func main() {	xs := []int{42, 7, 19, 3}	sort.Ints(xs)	fmt.Println(xs)}`;await using sbx = await Sandbox.create({ timeoutSeconds: 600, onLeaseEnd: "stop" });await sbx.exec("sudo apt-get update -q && sudo apt-get install -y -q golang-go", {  check: true,  timeoutMs: 300_000,});await sbx.network.set({ internet: false }); // the program itself gets no networkawait sbx.files.write("/workspace/job/main.go", program);const run = await sbx.exec(["go", "run", "main.go"], { cwd: "/workspace/job", timeoutMs: 120_000 });console.log(run.exitCode, run.stdout); // 0 [3 7 19 42]

Pythonfrom withruntime import Sandboxprogram = """package mainimport (\t"fmt"\t"sort")func main() {\txs := []int{42, 7, 19, 3}\tsort.Ints(xs)\tfmt.Println(xs)}"""with Sandbox.create(timeout_seconds=600, on_lease_end="stop") as sbx:    sbx.exec("sudo apt-get update -q && sudo apt-get install -y -q golang-go",             check=True, timeout_ms=300_000)    sbx.network.set(internet=False)  # the program itself gets no network    sbx.files.write("/workspace/job/main.go", program)    run = sbx.exec(["go", "run", "main.go"], cwd="/workspace/job", timeout_ms=120_000)    print(run.exit_code, run.stdout)  # 0 [3 7 19 42]

• files.write makes the parent directories.
• go run compiles before it runs, so give it more time than a script. A command that runs out of time returns timedOut: true and its output so far. It does not throw.
• The apt install needs internet access. The program does not, so the network is turned off between the two steps.

The newest Go from go.dev

The official Linux steps extract the tarball into /usr/local. They add /usr/local/go/bin to PATH (Go install). Link the binaries into /usr/local/bin, which is already on the sandbox user's PATH:

Terminalcurl -fsSL https://go.dev/dl/go1.27.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz | sudo tar -C /usr/local -xzsudo ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/go /usr/local/go/bin/gofmt /usr/local/bin/go version

Modules with dependencies

Upload the module. Download its dependencies while the internet is on. Then turn off the network and run the tests. Nothing the tests do can reach the network.

TypeScriptimport { Sandbox } from "withruntime";await using sbx = await Sandbox.create({ image: "go", timeoutSeconds: 1800, onLeaseEnd: "stop" });await sbx.files.upload("./service", "/workspace/service");await sbx.exec("go mod download", { cwd: "/workspace/service", check: true, timeoutMs: 300_000 });await sbx.network.set({ internet: false });const test = await sbx.exec(["go", "test", "./..."], {  cwd: "/workspace/service",  timeoutMs: 900_000,  onStdout: (text) => process.stdout.write(text),});console.log("exit", test.exitCode);

This uses the go image built below.

A Go notebook: the code interpreter

Runtime's code interpreter keeps a Go context's functions, types and imports between cells. It runs each cell as a program. Values do not carry over between cells, but declarations do:

TypeScriptimport { Sandbox } from "withruntime";await using sbx = await Sandbox.create();await sbx.interpreter.run(  "func fib(n int) int {\n\tif n < 2 {\n\t\treturn n\n\t}\n\treturn fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)\n}",  {    language: "go",  },);const cell = await sbx.interpreter.run('import "fmt"\nfmt.Println(fib(20))', { language: "go" });console.log(cell.stdout); // 6765

Pythonfrom withruntime import Sandboxwith Sandbox.create() as sbx:    sbx.interpreter.run("func fib(n int) int {\n\tif n < 2 {\n\t\treturn n\n\t}\n\treturn fib(n-1) + fib(n-2)\n}",                        language="go")    cell = sbx.interpreter.run('import "fmt"\nfmt.Println(fib(20))', language="go")    print(cell["stdout"])  # 6765

The first Go cell installs Go from Ubuntu's archive, so that sandbox needs internet access for the install. An image with Go skips both the wait and the network access.

Go in every sandbox

TypeScriptimport { Runtime } from "withruntime";const runtime = new Runtime();await runtime.images.build({ name: "go", recipe: { apt: ["golang-go"] } });// Or the newest release, from the official tarball:await runtime.images.build({  name: "go-latest",  recipe: {    commands: [      "curl -fsSL https://go.dev/dl/go1.27.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -C /usr/local -xz",      "ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/go /usr/local/go/bin/gofmt /usr/local/bin/",    ],  },});

Pythonfrom withruntime import Runtimeruntime = Runtime()runtime.images.build(name="go", recipe={"apt": ["golang-go"]})runtime.images.build(name="go-latest", recipe={"commands": [    "curl -fsSL https://go.dev/dl/go1.27.3.linux-amd64.tar.gz | tar -C /usr/local -xz",    "ln -sf /usr/local/go/bin/go /usr/local/go/bin/gofmt /usr/local/bin/",]})

Recipe commands run as root. Building is free. A stored image is billed by its size (custom images).

Related

• Run Rust code in a sandbox
• Run Java code in a sandbox
• Grade student code
• Agent evals and SWE-bench
• Run Docker in a sandbox

A new account gets 100 free hours of a 1 GB machine in its first 30 days. No payment card is needed:

Terminalnpx withruntime sandboxes run -- bash -c 'sudo apt-get update -q && sudo apt-get install -y -q golang-go && go version'

Sources

• Ubuntu 24.04 package indexes for noble, noble-updates and noble-security (golang-go 2:1.22~2build1, golang-1.22-go 1.22.2-2ubuntu0.5): http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/noble-updates/main/binary-amd64/ (read 26 October 2026)
• Go downloads, current release go1.27.3: https://go.dev/dl/ (read 26 October 2026)
• Go installation steps: https://go.dev/doc/install (read 26 October 2026)

Facts on this page were checked on 26 October 2026.