How to beginner · 3 min read

How to run long-running tasks in E2B

Q: How to run long-running tasks in E2B

Use the Sandbox class from the e2b_code_interpreter package to run long-running tasks by invoking sandbox.run_code() with your code string. For asynchronous or extended tasks, run code in a separate thread or process and manage the sandbox lifecycle carefully to avoid blocking.

Quick answer

Use the Sandbox class from the e2b_code_interpreter package to run long-running tasks by invoking sandbox.run_code() with your code string. For asynchronous or extended tasks, run code in a separate thread or process and manage the sandbox lifecycle carefully to avoid blocking.

PREREQUISITES

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

Setup

Install the e2b-code-interpreter package and set your API key in the environment variable E2B_API_KEY. This package provides the Sandbox class to run code securely.

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

Use the Sandbox class to run long-running tasks by calling run_code() with your Python code as a string. Manage the sandbox lifecycle and close it after completion.

python

import os
from e2b_code_interpreter import Sandbox
import time

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

# Define a long-running Python code snippet
code = '''
import time
for i in range(5):
    print(f"Step {i+1}/5")
    time.sleep(1)
'''

# Run the code in the sandbox
execution = sandbox.run_code(code)

# Print the output
print("Output:")
print(execution.text)

# Close the sandbox to free resources
sandbox.close()

output

Output:
Step 1/5
Step 2/5
Step 3/5
Step 4/5
Step 5/5

Common variations

For asynchronous execution of long-running tasks, run sandbox.run_code() in a separate thread or process to avoid blocking your main program. You can also upload files to the sandbox before running code or install packages dynamically.

python

import os
from e2b_code_interpreter import Sandbox
import threading

sandbox = Sandbox(api_key=os.environ["E2B_API_KEY"])

code = '''
import time
for i in range(3):
    print(f"Async step {i+1}/3")
    time.sleep(2)
'''

def run_long_task():
    result = sandbox.run_code(code)
    print("Async output:")
    print(result.text)
    sandbox.close()

# Run the long task in a separate thread
thread = threading.Thread(target=run_long_task)
thread.start()

print("Main program continues while task runs asynchronously.")

thread.join()

output

Main program continues while task runs asynchronously.
Async output:
Async step 1/3
Async step 2/3
Async step 3/3

Troubleshooting

If sandbox.run_code() hangs or times out, ensure your code does not contain infinite loops or blocking calls without timeouts.
Always call sandbox.close() to release resources; otherwise, you may hit connection limits.
If you need to run multiple long tasks concurrently, create separate Sandbox instances per task.

✅

Key Takeaways

Use Sandbox.run_code() to execute long-running Python code safely in E2B.
Run long tasks asynchronously with threads or processes to avoid blocking your main program.
Always close the sandbox with sandbox.close() to free resources after execution.

Verified 2026-04

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