Container Use

<div align="center"> <img src="./_assets/container-use.png" align="center" alt="Container use: Development environments for coding agents." style="max-width:300px" /> <h2 align="center">container-use</h2> <p align="center">Containerized environments for coding agents. (📦🤖) (📦🤖) (📦🤖)</p> <p align="center"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/stability-experimental-orange.svg" alt="Experimental" /> <a href="https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-Apache_2.0-blue.svg"> </a> <a href="https://discord.gg/UhXqKz7SRM"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/discord/707636530424053791?logo=discord&logoColor=white&label=Discord&color=7289DA" alt="Discord"> </a> </p> </div>

Container Use lets each of your coding agents have their own containerized environment. Go from babysitting one agent at a time to enabling multiple agents to work safely and independently with your preferred stack.

<p align='center'> <img src='./_assets/demo.gif' width='700' alt='container-use demo'> </p>

It's an open-source MCP server that works as a CLI tool with Claude Code, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible agents.

• 📦 Isolated Environments: Each agent gets a fresh container in its own git branch - run multiple agents without conflicts, experiment safely, discard failures instantly.
• 👀 Real-time Visibility: See complete command history and logs of what agents actually did, not just what they claim.
• 🚁 Direct Intervention: Drop into any agent's terminal to see their state and take control when they get stuck.
• 🎮 Environment Control: Standard git workflow - just git checkout <branch_name> to review any agent's work.
• 🌎 Universal Compatibility: Works with any agent, model, or infrastructure - no vendor lock-in.

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🦺 This project is in early development and actively evolving. Expect rough edges, breaking changes, and incomplete documentation - but also expect rapid iteration and responsiveness to feedback.

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Installing

make

This will build the cu binary but NOT install it to your $PATH. If you want to build and install the binary into your $PATH, run:

make install && hash -r

The make install command will put cu in your $PATH. In order to use it, you will need to restart your terminal or run hash -r to refresh your $PATH (or equivalent for your shell).

Agent Integration

Enabling container-use requires 2 steps:

1. Adding an MCP configuration for container-use
2. (Optional) Adding a rule so the agent uses containarized environments.

Claude Code

# Add the container-use MCP
npx @anthropic-ai/claude-code mcp add container-use -- <path to cu> stdio

# Save the CLAUDE.md file at the root of the repository. Alternatively, merge the instructions into your own CLAUDE.md.
curl -o CLAUDE.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dagger/container-use/main/rules/agent.md

goose

Add this to ~/.config/goose/config.yaml:

extensions:
  container-use:
    name: container-use
    type: stdio
    enabled: true
    cmd: cu
    args:
    - stdio
    envs: {}

Cursor

curl --create-dirs -o .cursor/rules/container-use.mdc https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dagger/container-use/main/rules/cursor.mdc

VSCode / GitHub Copilot

curl --create-dirs -o .github/copilot-instructions.md https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dagger/container-use/main/rules/agent.md

Kilo Code

Kilo Code allows setting MCP servers at global or project level - chose any as appropriate for your case. The video shows MCP server setting at global level.

<p align='center'> <img src='./_assets/kilo-code-set-mcp-server.gif' width='300' alt='container-use kilo code mcp setting'> </p>

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "container-use": {
      "command": "replace with pathname of cu",
      "args": [
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {},
      "alwaysAllow": [],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Examples

| Example | Description | |---------|-------------| | hello_world.md | Creates a simple app and runs it, accessible via localhost HTTP URL | | parallel.md | Creates and serves two variations of a hello world app (Flask and FastAPI) on different URLs | | security.md | Security scanning example that checks for updates/vulnerabilities in the repository, applies updates, verifies builds still work, and generates patch file |

Run with Claude Code

cat ./examples/hello_world.md | claude

Run with goose

goose run -i ./examples/hello_world.md -s

Run with Kilo Code in vscode

Prompt as in parallel.md but added a sentence 'use container-use mcp'

<p align='center'> <img src='./_assets/run-with-kilo-code.gif' width='300' alt='container-use kilo code'> </p>

Watching your agents work

Your agents will automatically commit to a container-use remote on your local filesystem. You can watch the progress of your agents in real time by running:

cu watch