Polos: Open-source runtime for AI agents with sandbox and durable exec

Hacker News

Hi HN, I'm Neha. I spent years at Google building infrastructure that handled billions of events at 99.999% reliability. When I started building AI agents, I was surprised at how much production plumbing you're expected to own yourself. The agent itself is the easy part. The hard part is everything around it: where does it execute safely? What happens when it fails midway through a workflow? How do you trigger it from your existing tools? How do you even know what it did? I kept stitching together Docker, a workflow engine, a notification layer, and custom retry logic. Every team I talked to was doing the same thing. So I built Polos - an open-source runtime that handles the production layer so you just write the agent. What it does: - Sandboxed execution: agents run sensitive operations inside managed Docker containers with built-in tools for file I/O, bash, and web search. You don't manage the sandbox or its lifecycle, Polos does. Will support more sandboxes like E2B in the future. - Slack integration: @mention an agent in Slack, get responses in thread. Trigger workflows from Slack, receive notifications, collect input. Agents become part of your team's existing workflow. - Durable workflows: if an agent fails mid-run, it resumes from the exact step that failed. Built-in prompt caching with 60-80% cost savings on retries. - Observability: OpenTelemetry tracing for every step, tool call, and decision. - LLM agnostic: works with OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or any provider via Vercel AI SDK and LiteLLM. The stack is Rust orchestrator (Axum + Tokio + PostgreSQL), Python and TypeScript SDKs, and Vite UI. You can install and run a durable, sandboxed agent in under 5 minutes: ``` curl -fsSL https://install.polos.dev/install.sh | bash npx create-polos cd my-project && polos dev ``` Here's a 3-min demo of a coding agent that picks up a GitHub issue, fixes the code in a sandbox, and submits a PR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYVBpdZ_5eM Happy to discuss technical decisions and more: why Rust for the orchestrator, how durable execution works without a DAG, and the sandbox lifecycle model. GitHub: https://github.com/polos-dev/polos

Visit product View on Hacker NewsFeb 25, 2026

Share card

Actual performance

2points

Did not reach leaderboard

Launch Intel predictions

Analyze your own launch →

Product HuntOn track for Day 1 leaderboard · Strong signals: agents, agent, model · Missing: mac, macos, cursor

97%97% predicted probability of success on Product Hunt, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

best fitHighest predicted score across all platforms for this description.

Indie HackersFits the IH revenue-focused audience · Strong signals: started · Missing: supports, reddit linkedin, podcasting

79%79% predicted probability of success on Indie Hackers, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Hacker NewsStrong engagement from HN community · Strong signals: exist, existing, ide · Missing: https docs, excited, just released

58%58% predicted probability of success on Hacker News, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

nativeThis product was originally launched on this platform.

TrustMRRLess likely to generate early MRR · Strong signals: google, way · Missing: mobile apps, ios, personal

41%41% predicted probability of success on TrustMRR, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Acquire.comPre-revenue stage for this audience · Missing: arr, mrr, revenue

28%28% predicted probability of success on Acquire.com, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

AppSumoMay struggle as an AppSumo deal · Missing: plus, platform, intuitive

19%19% predicted probability of success on AppSumo, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

BetaListMay not resonate with beta-testers · Missing: web3, chat, crypto

0%0% predicted probability of success on BetaList, based on ML models trained on real launch data.

Incorrect prediction on native model

Similar products

MarinaBox: Open-Source Sandbox Infra for AI Agents78%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

MarinaBox: Open-Source Sandbox Infra for AI Agents

Hacker News6

Open Sandbox – an open-source self-hostable Linux sandbox for AI agents76%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Open Sandbox – an open-source self-hostable Linux sandbox for AI agents

Hacker News4

Agyn, an open-source Kubernetes runtime for AI agents49%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Agyn, an open-source Kubernetes runtime for AI agents

Hacker News9

ModelFuzz – Open-source runtime guardrails for AI agents45%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

ModelFuzz – Open-source runtime guardrails for AI agents

Hacker News2

ClawMoat – Open-source runtime security for AI agents (zero deps, <1ms)42%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

ClawMoat – Open-source runtime security for AI agents (zero deps, <1ms)

Hacker News1

Rebuno - An open-source runtime for production agents66%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

Rebuno - An open-source runtime for production agents

Hacker News3

KubeFox – Open-Source At-Runtime Versioning and Virtual Environments59%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

KubeFox – Open-Source At-Runtime Versioning and Virtual Environments

Hacker News2

MirrorNeuron – an open-source runtime for reliable on-device AI agents50%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

MirrorNeuron – an open-source runtime for reliable on-device AI agents

Hacker News1

DearAgent – Open-source email inboxes for AI agents51%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

DearAgent – Open-source email inboxes for AI agents

Hacker News1

BreakMyAgent – Open-source red-teaming sandbox for LLM system prompts39%Launch Intel prediction score: how likely this product is to succeed on its source platform, based on its name, tagline, and description.

BreakMyAgent – Open-source red-teaming sandbox for LLM system prompts

Hacker News2

Browse all products Analyze your launch