Features / Forks and templates
Fork a VM in under a second.
Set up one sandbox: clone the repo, install the dependencies, fill the caches. Then fork it once per task, or save it as a template and start every new sandbox from it. Copying takes well under a second, however full the disk is.
curl -fsSL https://pols.so/install.sh | sh- Fork a running sandbox
- 0.64 s
- Save it as a template
- 0.79 s
- From fork to SSH login
- 9.2 s
Medians of 7 runs on our sandbox host in Germany, 1 October 2026.
Prepare once, fork per task
Each fork is an independent sandbox with its own ID, machine ID and SSH host keys. The source keeps running, so an agent can try two fixes side by side and you delete the one that failed.
# prepare one sandbox
$ pols new --name base
$ pols exec base -- git clone https://github.com/you/app
$ pols exec base -- bash -lc 'cd app && npm ci'
# one fork per task
$ pols fork base --name fix-login
$ pols fork base --name fix-search
# keep the prepared disk as a template
$ pols template save base app-ready
# new sandboxes start from it, gone after two hours
$ pols new --template app-ready --name pr-142 --ttl 2hHow a fork works
Snapshot
pols snapshots the source's ZFS disk. The source can be running or stopped and is left as it was.
Clone
The snapshot is cloned copy-on-write. Both disks share every block until one of them writes to it, so nothing is copied up front.
Boot
The fork boots from the copied disk with a new machine ID and new SSH host keys. Memory is not copied: processes that ran in the source do not run in the fork.
Fork, template or stop?
| Fork | Template | Stop and resume | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You get | A second running sandbox | A saved disk to start new sandboxes from | The same sandbox, later |
| Environment and vault secrets | Kept; add more with --secret | Not kept | Kept |
| Time (median) | 0.64 s, then 9.2 s to SSH | 0.79 s | Stop 0.76 s, resume 8.7 s to SSH |
More of pols
- Desktop and computer use
A 1920×1080 desktop with Chrome that agents click, type into and drive over CDP.
- HTTPS ports and SSH
Any port at its own HTTPS address, private until you share it. SSH with your own keys.
- Hosted in Germany
Disks, templates and the encrypted vault stay on our servers in Germany.
Start with one machine.
Install the CLI, sign up, and give your agent somewhere to work.
curl -fsSL https://pols.so/install.sh | sh