{"slug": "crafting-express-isolated-local-environments-for-ai-coding-agents", "title": "Crafting Express – isolated local environments for AI coding agents", "summary": "Crafting released Crafting Express Edition, a free local evaluation build of its AI agent execution and orchestration platform that runs inside a single Docker container, launched with the command \"cs express start\" after installing the Crafting CLI via curl. The Express edition is limited to trial and evaluation purposes and is provided as-is without warranty; production deployments require Crafting Enterprise, which adds Kubernetes cluster connectivity, multi-cloud and multi-region failover, per-agent scoped credentials, and SOC 2 Type II certification. Crafting says Express lets users delegate tasks across parallel coding, testing, and security sub-agents, and supports OpenRouter, self-hosted endpoints, AWS Bedrock, and Google Cloud Vertex AI as model backends.", "body_md": "**Run and coordinate AI agents in a single Docker container.**\n\nCrafting Express lets you evaluate Crafting’s agent execution and orchestration platform on your own machine. Launch agents, coordinate handoffs, and inspect their work through a web UI and CLI.\n\nExpress is for evaluation only. Production deployments use Crafting Enterprise.\n\nDownload the Crafting CLI:\n\n```\ncurl -sSL https://sandboxes.cloud/sh/install-cli | bash\n```\n\nAlternatively, you can download it [directly here](https://github.com/crafting-dev/express/blob/master/docs/Download.md).\n\nLaunch *Crafting Express Edition* using a single command:\n\n```\ncs express start\n```\n\nIt will guide you to:\n\n- Sign-up and log in\n- Create Docker volumes for persisted states and data\n- Create a Docker container to run *Crafting Express Edition*\n- Instructions on how to access *Crafting Express Edition* via Web UI and CLI\n\nFor more details, check out our [documentation](https://docs.sandboxes.cloud).\n\nCrafting brings agent coordination and execution environments together in one platform. Express gives you a local evaluation of that platform; production infrastructure integrations and enterprise controls are available through Crafting Enterprise.\n\n- \n**Delegate work to specialist agents.** A lead agent can split a task among\ncoding, testing, and security agents. Sub-agents run in parallel with separate\nconversation contexts, return results to the lead, and receive follow-up work\nas needed.[Build an agent team](https://docs.sandboxes.cloud/guides/developers/build-agent.html#agent-team) .\n- \n**Choose models without replacing your harness.** Crafting's native harness\nsupports OpenRouter, compatible self-hosted endpoints, AWS Bedrock, and Google\nCloud Vertex AI. Centrally managed model configuration lets you evaluate new\nmodels while keeping your agent definitions and execution environments.[Model-agnostic agent teams](https://www.crafting.dev/post/model-agnostic-agent-teams) .\n- \n**Share workspaces when collaboration calls for it.** Give agents dedicated\nenvironments or let multiple agents work in an existing workspace. Engineers\ncan work alongside agents using the same codebase and development tools.[See how Faire collaborates with agents](https://www.crafting.dev/post/faire-agentic-stack-case-study) .\n- \n**Scope tools and access to each agent's role.** Define the tools, dependencies,\nand access each agent needs. The Crafting platform combines sandbox access\ncontrols, network isolation, and managed credentials to constrain what agents\ncan reach as they coordinate across systems.[How infrastructure-level control works](https://www.crafting.dev/blog/ai-control-plane-infrastructure-vs-governance) .\n- \n**Give agents an environment to test their work.** Connect agents to real\nservices and dependencies in production-like environments so they can run\ntests, inspect failures, and iterate on a fix. Agents and engineers can validate\nchanges in parallel using isolated slices of your application stack.[Closing the loop with Crafting](https://www.crafting.dev/post/announcing-crafting-for-agents) .\n\nUpgrade to the Enterprise edition to manage and run agents at scale.\n\n- **Connect to your k8s cluster** - agents execute against your real infrastructure,\nnot a local container\n- **Multi-cloud and multi-region** by default - automated failover, no vendor lock-in\n- **Secure access to internal systems** - credentials scoped and injected per agent,\nadmin-managed, and never exposed\n- **SOC 2 Type II certified** - independently audited for security and availability\n\nWe'll get you up and running in two weeks or less.\n\n**DISCLAIMER** — Crafting Express Edition runs inside a single Docker container\nfor **trial and evaluation purposes only** and is provided as-is without warranty.\nIt is not the Enterprise Edition. For production use, contact Crafting.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/crafting-express-isolated-local-environments-for-ai-coding-agents", "canonical_source": "https://github.com/crafting-dev/express", "published_at": "2026-10-01 21:27:36+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-10-01 21:50:09.954225+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "ai-tools", "developer-tools", "ai-infrastructure"], "entities": ["Crafting", "Crafting Express Edition", "Crafting Enterprise", "Docker", "OpenRouter", "AWS Bedrock", "Google Cloud Vertex AI", "Faire"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/crafting-express-isolated-local-environments-for-ai-coding-agents", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/crafting-express-isolated-local-environments-for-ai-coding-agents.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/crafting-express-isolated-local-environments-for-ai-coding-agents.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/crafting-express-isolated-local-environments-for-ai-coding-agents.jsonld"}}