Installation

Install OpenShell

Install OpenShell with a single command:

curl -LsSf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/NVIDIA/OpenShell/main/install.sh | sh

The script detects your operating system and installs the OpenShell CLI and gateway with your native package manager. It then starts the local gateway server so you can begin creating sandboxes.

You can also download release artifacts directly from the OpenShell GitHub Releases page.

The openshell package on PyPI provides the Python SDK only. It does not install the openshell CLI. Add the SDK to a Python project with:

uv add openshell

Use openshell status to confirm the CLI can reach the gateway.

Supported Compute Drivers

OpenShell supports several local compute drivers. Package-managed gateways leave the driver unset by default so the gateway can auto-detect an available driver. Set compute_driver in the gateway TOML when you need to pin a specific driver.

For detailed driver behavior, refer to Sandbox Compute Drivers. For gateway and sandbox operations, refer to Gateways and Sandboxes.

macOS

On macOS, the install script uses Homebrew. The Homebrew package installs the openshell CLI, the gateway binary, and a Homebrew-managed gateway service.

The Homebrew service uses the gateway’s built-in 127.0.0.1:17670 listener and generates a local mTLS bundle on install. The installer registers https://localhost:17670 with the CLI so TLS uses a DNS name covered by the generated certificate. The formula creates a Homebrew prefix config, such as /opt/homebrew/var/openshell/gateway.toml, without overriding bind_address. Docker Desktop and Podman Machine reuse the primary listener for sandbox callbacks when they can reach it. The gateway reads ~/.config/openshell/gateway.toml instead when that file exists. Homebrew upgrades migrate exact package-generated schema-v1 prefix configs, including the affected IPv6 variant. They preserve edited prefix configs and all user configs. Follow the schema version 2 migration steps for an edited v1 file.

The CLI reads the client bundle from ~/.config/openshell/gateways/openshell/mtls/.

The installer starts the service for you. Use Homebrew service commands when you need to inspect, restart, or stop the gateway service:

brew services list
brew services restart openshell

Linux

On Fedora and RHEL, the install script uses RPM packages. The RPM installs the openshell CLI, the openshell-gateway daemon, and a systemd user service.

On Debian and Ubuntu, the install script uses a Debian package. The Debian package installs the openshell CLI, the openshell-gateway daemon, VM sandbox support, and a systemd user service.

Linux packages require glibc 2.28 or newer. The installer checks libc before downloading packages and exits with an error on older glibc versions, Alpine, musl-based distributions, or unknown libc environments.

The Linux user service listens on https://127.0.0.1:17670 and generates a local mTLS bundle before the gateway starts. Debian uses built-in gateway defaults unless you create a config. RPM seeds ~/.config/openshell/gateway.toml from its packaged Podman template on first start. RPM upgrades migrate only an unchanged package-generated schema-v1 file; they preserve edited files. Follow the schema version 2 migration steps when upgrading an edited v1 configuration.

The CLI reads the client bundle from ~/.config/openshell/gateways/openshell/mtls/.

The installer starts the service for you. Use systemd user commands when you need to inspect, restart, or stop the gateway service:

systemctl --user status openshell-gateway
systemctl --user restart openshell-gateway
journalctl --user -u openshell-gateway -f

To keep the user service running after logout, enable linger:

sudo loginctl enable-linger $USER

Snap

Install the OpenShell snap from the Snap Store:

sudo snap install openshell

The snap defines two apps: the openshell CLI and the openshell.gateway systemd service. The gateway listens on https://127.0.0.1:17670 and stores its database at $SNAP_COMMON/gateway.db (typically /var/snap/openshell/common/gateway.db). Create $SNAP_COMMON/gateway.toml when you need to override gateway settings.

The snap CLI stores per-user config, data, and state under $SNAP_USER_COMMON, typically ~/snap/openshell/common. Gateway registrations live under $SNAP_USER_COMMON/.config/openshell/gateways/ instead of ~/.config/openshell/gateways/.

Snap store installs

When installing from the Snap Store, snapd automatically connects the home, network, and network-bind plugs. The docker plug still requires manual connection:

sudo snap connect openshell:docker docker:docker-daemon

The snap declares default-provider: docker on the Docker plug so snapd will offer to install the Docker snap, but the connection itself must be made manually.

Locally built snap packages

When installing a locally built .snap file, no plugs are connected by default:

sudo snap install ./openshell_*.snap --dangerous
sudo snap connect openshell:home
sudo snap connect openshell:network
sudo snap connect openshell:network-bind
sudo snap connect openshell:docker docker:docker-daemon
sudo snap connect openshell:log-observe
sudo snap connect openshell:system-observe

The log-observe and system-observe plugs are needed for the gateway service to read logs and inspect system processes. The docker plug requires the docker:docker-daemon slot from the Docker snap and does not work with system-installed Docker.

Gateway service

The gateway runs as a snap daemon with refresh-mode: endure, meaning snapd will not restart it during snap refreshes. This prevents the gateway from killing active sandbox sessions mid-refresh. Restart the service manually after a snap refresh when you need the updated binary:

sudo systemctl restart snap.openshell.gateway

Kubernetes

Kubernetes deployments use the OpenShell Helm chart. For step-by-step installation, refer to Kubernetes Setup. For chart values and packaging details, refer to the Helm chart README.

Next Steps

• To create your first sandbox, refer to the Quickstart.
• To run the gateway as a container without the installer, refer to Running the Gateway as a Container.
• To register, select, and inspect gateways, refer to Gateways.
• To supply API keys or tokens, refer to Manage Providers.
• To control what the agent can access, refer to Policies.

Validate a package-managed gateway configuration

Debian and Ubuntu packages validate the selected gateway configuration before generating local certificates or starting the service. Snap does the same before its gateway daemon starts. The validation never changes the file. If startup reports a legacy schema, malformed TOML, a symlink, or a nonregular configuration path, fix or manually migrate the operator-owned file instead of deleting it.

Check the selected file before restarting a service:

openshell-gateway config preflight --path ~/.config/openshell/gateway.toml

Without --path, preflight checks a nonempty OPENSHELL_GATEWAY_CONFIG or an auto-discovered XDG config; no config is also a successful result. It applies read-only startup validation to the effective selector, registered compute driver, driver configuration, socket, rate limits, TLS, interceptors, and middleware. If a selected file omits the selector, preflight validates configured tables for auto-detectable drivers without running socket or process-based detection probes. Wrappers can pass daemon arguments after -- to validate the exact startup invocation. Debian keeps its bare service invocation and gateway.env semantics. Snap replays its effective daemon arguments through preflight and gives a nonempty OPENSHELL_GATEWAY_CONFIG precedence over SNAP_COMMON/gateway.toml. See Gateway Configuration for preflight details and manual schema-v1 migration steps.