---
title: Quickstart
description: Make your first sandbox, run a command in it and remove it, from the command line or from code.
---

You need one thing: your lane's API key. It starts with `ibk_`. It was shown to you once, when it was made, so keep it in a password manager or a secret store.

## 1. Put your key in the environment

Every tool reads the key from the `IBBY_API_KEY` environment variable. Paste it without echoing it, so it stays out of your shell history:

```sh
read -rs IBBY_API_KEY && export IBBY_API_KEY
```

## 2. Make a sandbox and run a command

With the command line tool:

```sh
npm install --global @ibby-ai/cli
ibby sandboxes create --workdir /work
echo 'echo hello from the sandbox' > hello.sh
ibby sandboxes write-files sbx_... --file /work/hello.sh=./hello.sh
ibby sandboxes exec sbx_... -- sh /work/hello.sh
ibby sandboxes remove sbx_...
```

`create` prints the new sandbox. Copy its id (`sbx_...`) into the commands after it.

The same steps in TypeScript:

```ts
import { Ibby } from "@ibby-ai/sdk";

const ibby = new Ibby({ apiKey: process.env["IBBY_API_KEY"] ?? "" });
const sandbox = await ibby.create({ workdir: "/work" });
await sandbox.writeFiles({ "/work/hello.sh": "echo hello from the sandbox\n" });
const result = await sandbox.exec({ command: ["sh", "/work/hello.sh"] });
if (result.outcome === "exited") {
  console.log(result.exit_code, result.stdout);
}
await sandbox.remove();
```

And in Python:

```python
import os

from ibby import Ibby

with Ibby(os.environ["IBBY_API_KEY"]) as client:
    sandbox = client.create(workdir="/work")
    sandbox.write_files({"/work/hello.sh": "echo hello from the sandbox\n"})
    result = sandbox.exec(["sh", "/work/hello.sh"])
    print(result.outcome, result.stdout)
    sandbox.remove()
```

## 3. Clean up

A sandbox stops on its own when its lifetime ends (two minutes unless you ask for more, five at most). Removing it yourself frees it at once.

## Next

- [Concepts](/concepts) explains lanes, sandboxes, jobs, retries and errors.
- The pages for the [TypeScript SDK](/sdks/typescript), the [Python SDK](/sdks/python) and the [command line tool](/cli) cover every call.
- [Usage and cost](/usage) lists your runs and their estimated cost.