snekbox

Python sandbox runners for executing code in isolation aka snekbox.

A client sends Python code to a snekbox, the snekbox executes the code, and finally the results of the execution are returned to the client.

          +-------------+           +-----------+
 input -> |             |---------->|           | >----------+
          |  HTTP POST  |           |  SNEKBOX  |  execution |
result <- |             |<----------|           | <----------+
          +-------------+           +-----------+
             ^                         ^
             |                         |- Executes python code
             |                         |- Returns result
             |                         +-----------------------
             |
             |- HTTP POST Endpoint receives request and returns result
             +---------------------------------------------------------

The code is executed in a Python process that is launched through NsJail, which is responsible for sandboxing the Python process. See [snekbox.cfg] for the NsJail configuration.

HTTP REST API

Communication with snekbox is done over a HTTP REST API. The framework for the HTTP REST API is Falcon and the WSGI being used is Gunicorn. By default, the server is hosted on 0.0.0.0:8060 with two workers.

See [snekapi.py] and [resources] for API documentation.

Running snekbox

A Docker image is available in the GitHub Container Registry. A container can be started with the following command, which will also pull the image if it doesn't currently exist locally:

docker run --ipc=none --privileged -p 8060:8060 ghcr.io/python-discord/snekbox

To run it in the background, use the -d option. See the documentation on [docker run] for more information.

The above command will make the API accessible on the host via http://localhost:8060/. Currently there's only one endpoint: http://localhost:8060/eval.

Development Environment

Initial Setup

A Python 3.9 interpreter and the pipenv package are required. Once those requirements are satisfied, install the project's dependencies:

pipenv sync --dev

Follow that up with setting up the pre-commit hook:

pipenv run precommit

Now Flake8 will run and lint staged changes whenever an attempt to commit the changes is made. Flake8 can still be invoked manually:

pipenv run lint

Running snekbox

The Docker images can be built with:

pipenv run buildbase
pipenv run buildvenv
pipenv run build

Use Docker Compose to start snekbox:

docker-compose up

Running Tests

Tests are run through coverage.py using unittest. Before tests can run, the dev venv Docker image has to be built:

pipenv run builddev

Alternatively, the following command will build the image and then run the tests:

pipenv run testb

If the image doesn't need to be built, the tests can be run with:

pipenv run test

Coverage

To see a coverage report, run

pipenv run report

Alternatively, a report can be generated as HTML:

pipenv run coverage html

The HTML will output to ./htmlcov/ by default

The devsh Helper Script

This script starts a bash shell inside the venv Docker container and attaches to it. Unlike the production image, the venv image that is built by this script contains dev dependencies too. The project directory is mounted inside the container so any filesystem changes made inside the container affect the actual local project.

Usage

pipenv run devsh [--build [--clean]] [bash_args ...]

• --build Build the venv Docker image
• --clean Clean up dangling Docker images (only works if --build precedes it)
• bash_args Arguments to pass to /bin/bash (for example -c "echo hello"). An interactive shell is launched if no arguments are given

Invoking NsJail

A shell alias named nsjpy is included and is basically nsjail python -c <args> but NsJail is configured as it would be if snekbox invoked it (such as the time and memory limits). It provides an easy way to run Python code inside NsJail without the need to run snekbox with its webserver and send HTTP requests. Example usage:

nsjpy "print('hello world!')"

The alias can be found in ./scripts/.profile, which is automatically added when the shell is launched in the container.