How to beginner · 3 min read

E2B filesystem operations

Q: E2B filesystem operations

Use the e2b_code_interpreter.Sandbox class to perform filesystem operations securely within a sandbox. You can write files with sandbox.files.write(), run code that accesses these files via sandbox.run_code(), and read or delete files programmatically. Always close the sandbox with sandbox.close() to release resources.

Quick answer

Use the e2b_code_interpreter.Sandbox class to perform filesystem operations securely within a sandbox. You can write files with sandbox.files.write(), run code that accesses these files via sandbox.run_code(), and read or delete files programmatically. Always close the sandbox with sandbox.close() to release resources.

PREREQUISITES

Python 3.8+
pip install e2b-code-interpreter
E2B API key set in environment variable E2B_API_KEY

Setup

Install the e2b-code-interpreter package and set your API key as an environment variable before running filesystem operations.

bash

pip install e2b-code-interpreter

output

Collecting e2b-code-interpreter
  Downloading e2b_code_interpreter-1.0.0-py3-none-any.whl (15 kB)
Installing collected packages: e2b-code-interpreter
Successfully installed e2b-code-interpreter-1.0.0

Step by step

This example demonstrates creating a sandbox, writing a file, running Python code that reads the file, and then closing the sandbox.

python

import os
from e2b_code_interpreter import Sandbox

# Initialize sandbox with API key from environment
sandbox = Sandbox(api_key=os.environ["E2B_API_KEY"] )

# Write a file inside the sandbox filesystem
sandbox.files.write("hello.txt", b"Hello from E2B sandbox!")

# Run Python code that reads the file content
code = '''
with open("hello.txt", "r") as f:
    content = f.read()
print(content)
'''

execution = sandbox.run_code(code)
print("Sandbox output:", execution.text)

# Clean up and close the sandbox
sandbox.close()

output

Sandbox output: Hello from E2B sandbox!

Common variations

Use sandbox.run_code() asynchronously with asyncio if needed.
Upload multiple files by calling sandbox.files.write() multiple times before running code.
Read files back from the sandbox using sandbox.files.read("filename") to retrieve file contents.
Run shell commands by passing shell=True to sandbox.run_code() for bash scripts.

python

import os
import asyncio
from e2b_code_interpreter import Sandbox

async def async_example():
    sandbox = Sandbox(api_key=os.environ["E2B_API_KEY"])
    sandbox.files.write("data.csv", b"id,value\n1,100\n2,200")
    code = 'import pandas as pd\ndf = pd.read_csv("data.csv")\nprint(df.sum())'
    execution = await sandbox.run_code(code)
    print("Async sandbox output:", execution.text)
    sandbox.close()

asyncio.run(async_example())

output

Async sandbox output: id       3
value  300
dtype: int64

Troubleshooting

If you see API key missing errors, ensure E2B_API_KEY is set in your environment.
For FileNotFoundError, verify the file was written before running code.
If code execution hangs, check network connectivity and sandbox resource limits.
Always call sandbox.close() to avoid resource leaks.

✅

Key Takeaways

Use Sandbox from e2b_code_interpreter for secure sandboxed filesystem operations.
Write files with sandbox.files.write() and run code accessing them via sandbox.run_code().
Always close the sandbox with sandbox.close() to free resources.
You can read files back with sandbox.files.read() and run code asynchronously if needed.
Set your API key in E2B_API_KEY environment variable before usage.

Verified 2026-04

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