# Show HN: Sandbox the install step of any NPM package > Source: > Published: 2026-08-15 07:59:05+00:00 It fetches the exact tarball npm install would, runs the declared install scripts in a sandbox (no network, all capabilities dropped, read-only filesystem), and returns a verdict signed under a published Ed25519 key, bound to the sha256 of the bytes. No account, it mints an anonymous rate-limit key on first call. Node and Python, 20 checks/hour. I built it to put a denominator under "npm install runs arbitrary code." Of 658 MCP-related packages, 20 declare an install script (3.0%). Running the twenty is where reading the manifest misled me: four were preinstall: npx only-allow pnpm, which I had filed as a benign guard, and all four make a network call at install because npx fetches only-allow from the registry. A manifest tells you what a script is; only running it tells you what it needs. Honest scope: dependencies are not installed, so this is a package's own declared install surface, not its transitive closure; and install-time is not the whole attack surface, a package can act at first import or at runtime instead. The verdict is a bounded, signed observation ("under these constraints, these bytes did X"), not a safety oracle. Tell me where it is wrong. The failure I most want is a package it clears that you would have flagged. Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49308683](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49308683) Points: 1 # Comments: 0