e2b MCP Code Mode

A Model Context Protocol server that gives an agent three tools instead of dozens for driving the e2b REST API. The agent writes a short JavaScript function that runs inside an e2b sandbox and calls the API through a thin api.request() client — looping, filtering, and chaining calls in one round-trip.

This applies Cloudflare's Code Mode pattern to e2b:

• LLMs write API-calling code more reliably than long chains of individual tool calls.
• Intermediate data stays in the sandbox, out of the model's context.
• The agent discovers endpoints with search (the OpenAPI spec), then calls them with execute_read/execute_write.

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Quickstart

Prerequisites: Node.js ≥ 20.12, pnpm (corepack enable provides it), and an e2b API key (dashboard).

pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm start          # or: pnpm dev  (no build step)

The server starts a stateless streamable-HTTP MCP endpoint on http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp. It has no API key of its own — each request carries the caller's e2b key as a bearer token.

Connect an MCP client (the key travels as Authorization: Bearer <e2b-key>; this repo ships a .mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "e2b-code-mode": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${E2B_API_KEY}" }
    }
  }
}

Copy .env.example to .env and set E2B_API_KEY so ${E2B_API_KEY} expands and the live tests can run.

Try it — call execute_read with an async arrow function:

async () => {
  const res = await api.request({ method: 'GET', path: '/sandboxes' })
  return { status: res.status, running: res.data.length }
}

You get back e.g. { "status": 200, "running": 2 } — produced by code the agent wrote, run in a sandbox that can reach only the e2b API. See TEST-PROMPT.md for a richer, dashboard-visible demo task.

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The three tools

Each takes a single code string — an async arrow function that returns a value. console.log output comes back separately as stdout.

Tool	What it does	In scope	Annotation
search	Query the e2b OpenAPI spec (all $refs resolved) to find endpoints and their shapes. Network-isolated.	spec	read-only
execute_read	Call the e2b API via api.request() — GET only.	api	read-only
execute_write	Call the e2b API via api.request() — any method (POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE).	api	destructive

The workflow is: search to find an endpoint's path and request shape, then execute_read/execute_write to call it. The client is api.request({ method, path, query?, body?, contentType?, rawBody? }), which returns { status, ok, data }.

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How it works

MCP client ──HTTP (stateless JSON)──▶ express /mcp ──▶ McpServer (3 tools)
   Bearer: e2b key                         │
                          ┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
                        search        execute_read       execute_write
                          │                └───────┬───────┘
                          ▼                        ▼
                 fresh sandbox            fresh sandbox
                 (egress DENIED)          (egress → api.e2b.dev only;
                 embeds `spec`             E2B_API_KEY injected;
                                           `api.request()` client)

• Transport — stateless JSON: a fresh McpServer + transport per POST /mcp (sessionIdGenerator: undefined, enableJsonResponse: true — no sessions, no SSE), so the server holds no protocol state and scales horizontally; GET/DELETE /mcp return 405.
• Per call — a fresh e2b sandbox, killed in finally. No SDK is installed inside it, so there's nothing to amortize with a warm pool.
• search sandbox — all egress denied; the slimmed OpenAPI spec is embedded as spec for the agent's read-only code to query.
• execute_* sandbox — egress limited to api.e2b.dev; the caller's key is injected as E2B_API_KEY and used by api.request(). The read/write split is enforced in the client: execute_read throws on any non-GET before the fetch (annotated read-only), while execute_write allows every method (destructive).
• Runner — agent code is written to a file and run with node (never eval); output returns via a result file. The code sits on its own lines in the invoke scaffold, so a trailing // comment can't swallow the closing tokens.

The source is small and layered by responsibility:

File	Responsibility
src/index.ts	Entry point: loads .env, starts the HTTP listener, configures loopback DNS-rebinding protection.
src/http.ts	Express app: streamable-HTTP transport, bearer auth, Host/Origin validation, /healthz, /debug/endpoints.
src/server.ts	The MCP surface: the three tools, response formatting, the untrusted-data boundary.
src/sandbox.ts	Sandbox plumbing: runner construction, the two sandbox shapes, the injected api.request() client, output caps, the credential/admin guard.
src/spec.ts	Fetches, $ref-resolves, slims, and caches the e2b OpenAPI spec for search.
src/log.ts	pino logger + credential redaction.

Security notes

Agent code is untrusted but runs inside an e2b Firecracker microVM and authenticates with the caller's own e2b key — so by design it can use that key against the e2b API. Beyond the sandbox isolation, per-tool egress, and read/write split above:

• Untrusted-data boundary — all execute output (result/stdout/stderr) may embed API content (logs, metadata), so it's wrapped in a <untrusted-data-{uuid}>…</> envelope (error path too), with the model told not to follow instructions inside. Truncation happens before wrapping, so a size cap can't sever the closing tag.
• Credential/admin block — paths containing api-keys, access-tokens, teams, or admin (incl. /admin/teams/{id}/api-keys) are refused. The path is first normalized to a fixpoint (percent-decode, re-resolve dot-segments, collapse slashes, lowercase), so encoded spellings (/%61pi-keys, //access-tokens, /x%2F..%2Fteams, /TEAMS) still match; it only over-blocks.
• HTTP hardening — bearer token required on /mcp (401 + WWW-Authenticate otherwise); loopback binds get DNS-rebinding protection (Host/Origin allowlist, incl. [::1]); 1 MB body cap.
• Output caps — bounded inside the sandbox before reaching the server: runner result cap (400k chars), head -c reads (500k file / 20k per stream), final server truncate (100k result / 10k logs).
• Token location (vs Cloudflare) — Cloudflare keeps the token out of the isolate via an outbound-fetch proxy; e2b has no such hook, so E2B_API_KEY lives in the sandbox env (agent code can read it). Safety rests on isolation + egress — the key only reaches api.e2b.dev — not token secrecy.

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Configuration

All optional except the caller's bearer token.

Env var	Default	Meaning
PORT	3000	HTTP listen port
HOST	127.0.0.1	Bind address (loopback enables DNS-rebinding protection)
E2B_TEMPLATE	base	e2b template the sandboxes boot from (needs Node with global fetch; secure-mode compatible)
E2B_EXEC_TIMEOUT_MS	120000	Per-call budget for the agent's code
E2B_OPENAPI_URL	e2b infra spec	Override the OpenAPI spec URL the search tool loads
E2B_API_KEY	—	Only used by local tooling/tests; HTTP callers send it as the bearer token
LOG_LEVEL	info	trace/debug/info/warn/error/fatal/silent
LOG_FORMAT	json	json (structured) or pretty (dev)
MCP_DEBUG_ENDPOINT	true	Set false to disable GET /debug/endpoints

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Observability

• Structured logs via pino to stderr: one line per HTTP request (method, path, status, responseTime, req.id; 4xx→warn, 5xx→error) plus per-call lifecycle lines carrying the reqId, redacted key, duration, and calledEndpoints count. Use LOG_FORMAT=pretty locally. Credentials are never logged.

• GET /debug/endpoints — a no-auth JSON listing of every route (method, path, auth, description), the tool names, and a small status block (version, pid, uptime, log level). No secrets; disable with MCP_DEBUG_ENDPOINT=false.

  curl -s localhost:3000/debug/endpoints | jq
  

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Testing

pnpm test

• test/server.test.ts — the MCP surface via an in-memory client/server pair (tool list, annotations, error shapes). No key.
• test/http.test.ts — the express app over a real ephemeral port: stateless JSON shape, the bearer-auth gate, non-Bearer rejection, token→handler plumbing, 405s, DNS-rebinding enforcement, and the /debug/endpoints manifest. No key.
• test/live.test.ts — end-to-end against real e2b: spec search, execute_read GET plus non-GET rejection, trailing-comment tolerance, error/SyntaxError surfacing inside the boundary, the credential/admin guard (including encoded bypasses), an execute_write create+delete round-trip, egress denial, and the stdout size cap. Runs only when E2B_API_KEY is set.