Snapshots and forking

This feature is currently in private preview and is not recommended for production use.

Snapshots capture the current state of a sandbox at a point in time. Use snapshots to checkpoint sandbox state to allow rollbacks after making changes, or as the basis for forking a sandbox into a new sandbox.

Create a snapshot

Create a snapshot of an existing sandbox. The snapshot captures the filesystem, running processes, and memory state.

import { SandboxInstance } from "@blaxel/core";

const sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox");
const snapshot = await sandbox.snapshot("before-migration");

from blaxel.core import SandboxInstance

sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox")
snapshot = await sandbox.snapshot("before-migration")

curl -X POST https://api.blaxel.ai/v0/sandboxes/my-sandbox/snapshots \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BL_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Blaxel-Workspace: my-workspace" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "name": "before-migration" }'

List snapshots

import { SandboxInstance } from "@blaxel/core";

const sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox");
const snapshots = await sandbox.listSnapshots();

from blaxel.core import SandboxInstance

sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox")
snapshots = await sandbox.list_snapshots()

curl https://api.blaxel.ai/v0/sandboxes/my-sandbox/snapshots \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BL_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Blaxel-Workspace: my-workspace"

Delete a snapshot

import { SandboxInstance } from "@blaxel/core";

const sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox");
await sandbox.deleteSnapshot("snap_abc123");

from blaxel.core import SandboxInstance

sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox")
await sandbox.delete_snapshot("snap_abc123")

curl -X DELETE https://api.blaxel.ai/v0/sandboxes/my-sandbox/snapshots/snap_abc123 \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BL_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Blaxel-Workspace: my-workspace"

Fork a sandbox

Forking creates a new sandbox from an existing one, forking its entire memory state (files + running processes). The fork inherits the source sandbox’s image, memory configuration, environment variables, and port settings. Calling fork() automatically snapshots the source sandbox’s current state and forks from it — you don’t need to create a snapshot first.

import { SandboxInstance } from "@blaxel/core";

const sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox");
const result = await sandbox.fork("my-sandbox-copy");

from blaxel.core import SandboxInstance

sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox")
result = await sandbox.fork("my-sandbox-copy")

bl fork sbx/my-sandbox sbx/my-sandbox-copy

curl -X POST https://api.blaxel.ai/v0/sandboxes/my-sandbox/fork \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BL_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Blaxel-Workspace: my-workspace" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "targetType": "sandbox",
    "targetName": "my-sandbox-copy"
  }'

Fork from a snapshot

To create a sandbox from a snapshot you took earlier, pass its snapshotId. The fork is created from that snapshot instead of the source sandbox’s current state:

import { SandboxInstance } from "@blaxel/core";

const sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox");
const result = await sandbox.fork("my-sandbox-copy", {
  targetType: "sandbox",
  snapshotId: "snap_abc123",
});

from blaxel.core import SandboxInstance

sandbox = await SandboxInstance.get("my-sandbox")
result = await sandbox.fork(
    "my-sandbox-copy",
    target_type="sandbox",
    snapshot_id="snap_abc123",
)

curl -X POST https://api.blaxel.ai/v0/sandboxes/my-sandbox/fork \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $BL_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Blaxel-Workspace: my-workspace" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "targetType": "sandbox",
    "targetName": "my-sandbox-copy",
    "snapshotId": "snap_abc123"
  }'

Fork request parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
`targetType`	string	Target resource type: `sandbox`
`targetName`	string	Name of the sandbox to create
`port`	integer	Port to expose
`snapshotId`	string	Fork from a specific snapshot instead of current state

Sandbox overview

Learn more about sandbox lifecycle and configuration.

Last modified on August 3, 2026

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Create a snapshot

List snapshots

Delete a snapshot

Fork a sandbox

Fork from a snapshot

Fork request parameters

Sandbox overview

​Create a snapshot

​List snapshots

​Delete a snapshot

​Fork a sandbox

​Fork from a snapshot

​Fork request parameters

Sandbox overview

Create a snapshot

List snapshots

Delete a snapshot

Fork a sandbox

Fork from a snapshot

Fork request parameters