Windows desktop engine setup preview — test this before merging PR #134.
What changed
On Windows, choose This computer → Install & open workspace. If no local engine is running, sandboxd sets up its own WSL 2 environment, installs Docker Engine and the sandboxd engine, shows progress, and opens the workspace when ready. No separate terminal or Docker Desktop installation is needed for this flow.
Windows may request administrator permission to enable WSL. If a reboot is required, restart Windows when convenient, reopen sandboxd, and choose Continue setup. The app never restarts Windows automatically. Hardware virtualization must be enabled. Initial setup downloads several GB and can take 15–30 minutes or longer; keep the app open while it works. Retry setup resumes the same environment after an interruption.
When ready, create your engine's first password. The API uses localhost:9090 and app previews use port 8080. Existing local and remote engines can still be connected by address. Reopening the app restarts its managed engine if needed; closing the app leaves engine workloads running.
Downloads
- Windows Intel/AMD:
sandboxd-desktop-0.3.24-win-x64.exe - Windows ARM/Snapdragon:
sandboxd-desktop-0.3.24-win-arm64.exe - Mac Apple Silicon:
sandboxd-desktop-0.3.24-mac-arm64.dmg - Mac Intel:
sandboxd-desktop-0.3.24-mac-x64.dmg
The in-app local engine installer is Windows-only in this preview. macOS continues to connect to an already running engine. Mac ZIP bundles and SHA256SUMS are also included.
These are unsigned preview packages, so Windows or macOS may warn or block them. They are separate from the signed production desktop release and are not used by the automatic download installers.
Review and testing
Source: PR #134, commit e1b7f63b6bc4c4387851b8e7e7e43a80241fbf9e. This change has not been merged into main; maintainer manual testing is pending.
Validation: core CI passed. The real Windows x64 WSL test passed actual environment import, Docker installation, engine build, Windows localhost connectivity, first password creation, environment restart and login with the saved password. Desktop tests cover 18 security/setup cases. Native package validation covers Windows and macOS on x64 and ARM64; actual WSL provisioning was tested on Windows x64, not Windows ARM64. Enabling WSL on a machine without it, UAC and a full Windows reboot still require manual testing.
Ubuntu Base images are pinned by SHA-256. Engine source is pinned to reviewed main commit 1a860a57b4d0ca27bcebbfd712a7e45e6fa4a6c9. Setup creates a uniquely named WSL distribution and does not delete existing workspaces or modify other distributions. Windows elevation is limited to Microsoft's WSL installer; the renderer cannot supply shell commands or installation paths.
Please test first installation, any Windows restart/resume prompt, password creation, project creation, agent interactions, terminal, previews, and reopening the app after restarting Windows. The engine remains separate from Electron.