openclaw - 💡(How to fix) Fix Add default container resource limits for sandbox [1 participants]

Description

Sandbox containers created by OpenClaw have no CPU or memory limits by default. On a resource-constrained host (e.g., 8GB Mac mini running 6+ sandboxed agents), a single runaway agent can consume all host RAM and crash the gateway, other agents, and host services.

Current Behavior

New sandbox containers have no CPU or memory limits unless the operator explicitly configures per-agent overrides in openclaw.json. Per-agent overrides work today:

"sandbox": {
  "docker": {
    "memory": "512m",
    "cpus": 0.5,
    "pidsLimit": 256
  }
}

However, the global sandbox defaults (sandbox.defaults.docker) do not include resource limits. Any new agent added to a deployment starts with unlimited resources unless the operator knows to add overrides.

New deployments and new agents are wide open by default, even though the rest of the hardening (readonly rootfs, cap-drop ALL, no-new-privileges) is applied automatically.

Proposed Behavior

Add resource limits to the global sandbox defaults so new agents get sane limits out of the box:

{
  "sandbox": {
    "defaults": {
      "docker": {
        "memory": "512m",
        "cpus": 0.5,
        "pidsLimit": 256
      }
    }
  }
}

Per-agent overrides already work for operators who need to customize. The ask is for the defaults to be secure, so new deployments don't start wide open.

Rationale

The existing container hardening (readonly rootfs, dropped caps, no-new-privileges, non-root user) is excellent for privilege containment. But without resource limits, the blast radius of a bug or adversarial prompt that triggers infinite loops, large allocations, or fork bombs is the entire host.

This matters especially for:

• Multi-agent deployments with many concurrent containers
• Hosts with limited RAM (Mac mini, Raspberry Pi, small VPS)
• Cron jobs running unattended — a stuck job can OOM the host overnight

Suggested Defaults

These should be overridable at the agent level for power users.

Labels

enhancement, security, sandboxing