How do I use Sandbox Studio MCP Server?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@Sandbox Studio MCP Server Create a template for my students with a $50 budget and EC2 access only" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

Sandbox Studio MCP Server

Official

by sandboxstudiosoftware

Overview Schema Related Servers Score Discussions

TypeScript

Remote

Sandbox Studio MCP Server

A local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects AI assistants to the Sandbox Studio API. This lets you manage AWS sandbox accounts, leases, templates, events, and settings through natural language conversations.

Install

Install in VS Code Install in VS Code Insiders Install in Cursor

After installing, run npx sandbox-studio-mcp init to configure your credentials.

Related MCP server: AWS SSO MCP Server

What is this?

Sandbox Studio is a platform for managing temporary AWS accounts — useful for training, labs, hackathons, and development sandboxes. This MCP server exposes the full Sandbox Studio API as tools that AI assistants (Claude, Kiro, Cursor, etc.) can call on your behalf.

Example conversations:

"Create a template for my students with a $50 budget and EC2 access only"

"Request a lease for the VS Code Server template and tell me when it's ready"

"Show me all pending approvals and deny Emma's requests"

"Terminate all my leases except the GPU one"

How it works

┌─────────────────┐      stdio       ┌──────────────────┐      HTTPS      ┌─────────────────────┐
│   AI Assistant  │◄────────────────►│   MCP Server     │◄───────────────►│   Sandbox Studio    │
│ (Kiro/Claude/   │                  │   (this project) │     OAuth2      │   API               │
│  Cursor)        │                  │                  │                 │                     │
└─────────────────┘                  └──────────────────┘                 └─────────────────────┘

The AI assistant spawns the MCP server as a local subprocess
When you ask a question, the AI decides which tools to call
The MCP server authenticates with Sandbox Studio using OAuth2 client credentials
API responses are returned to the AI, which formats them for you

Prerequisites

Node.js >= 18
pnpm (or npm)
A Sandbox Studio instance with API access
OAuth client credentials — create these in the Sandbox Studio admin panel

Quick Start

1. Configure credentials

npx sandbox-studio-mcp init

This will prompt you for:

Instance URL — your Sandbox Studio base URL (e.g. https://sandbox.example.com)
Client ID — from your OAuth client in the Sandbox Studio admin panel
Client Secret — from your OAuth client

To create OAuth credentials, go to your Sandbox Studio admin panel → API Clients → Create new client.

2. Connect to your AI assistant

Kiro

Add to ~/.kiro/settings/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sandbox-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "sandbox-studio-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

claude mcp add sandbox-studio -- npx -y sandbox-studio-mcp

Cursor / VS Code (manual)

Add to your MCP settings (or use the one-click badges above):

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "sandbox-studio": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "sandbox-studio-mcp"]
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex

Add to ~/.codex/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sandbox-studio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "sandbox-studio-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

AI Behaviour Guidance

The MCP server includes guidance in tool descriptions that shapes how the AI interacts with you. This is one of the key design patterns of this project:

Safety guardrails

Lease termination — When terminating multiple leases, the AI will list them clearly, distinguish between your own and others' leases, and ask for confirmation before proceeding.
Bulk operations — The AI won't batch-terminate or batch-deny without explicit confirmation.

Template creation prompts

When creating templates, the AI is guided to ask about:

Tags for categorisation
Custom icon and colour
Manager/approver configuration

Launch script convention

When the AI writes launch scripts for templates, it uses set-sandbox-output instead of echo to expose variables to the lease owner in the Sandbox Studio UI:

set-sandbox-output --name "Public IP" --value "$PUBLIC_IP"
set-sandbox-output --name "Admin Password" --value "$PASSWORD" --is-secret

The --is-secret flag masks the value in the UI.

Response enrichment

When templates or leases are created, the response includes a _link field with a direct URL to the resource in the Sandbox Studio UI.

OAuth2 Authentication

The server uses the OAuth2 client credentials grant flow:

On first API call, it requests a token from {instanceUrl}/api/oauth/token
The token is cached in memory with a 60-second refresh buffer
On 401 responses, it automatically clears the cache and retries
HTML responses (login page redirects) are detected and trigger a token refresh

To create OAuth credentials, go to your Sandbox Studio admin panel → API Clients → Create new client.

Available Tools (65+)

Leases

Tool	Description
`list_leases`	List leases with filtering by status, user, date
`get_lease`	Get lease details by ID
`request_lease`	Request a new lease from a template
`update_lease`	Update lease budget/duration/expiration
`suspend_lease`	Suspend an active lease
`resume_lease`	Resume a suspended lease
`review_lease`	Approve or deny a lease request
`terminate_lease`	Terminate a lease (irreversible)
`withdraw_lease`	Withdraw a pending request
`get_lease_team_members`	List shared users
`share_lease`	Share with additional users
`unshare_lease`	Remove shared users
`get_lease_logs`	Get setup/activity logs
`get_lease_secrets`	Get build output secrets

Templates

Tool	Description
`list_public_templates`	List templates available for lease requests
`list_managed_templates`	List templates you manage
`create_template`	Create a new template
`get_template`	Get full template details
`delete_template`	Delete a template
`get_template_info`	Get basic info (name, description, icon)
`update_template_info`	Update basic info
`get_template_leases`	List leases for a template
`get_template_permissions`	Get IAM permission config
`update_template_permissions`	Update IAM permissions
`get_template_launch_settings`	Get launch/setup scripts
`update_template_launch_settings`	Update launch/setup scripts
`update_template_budget`	Update budget settings
`update_template_duration`	Update duration settings
`update_template_managers`	Update managers/approvers
`update_template_sharing`	Update sharing settings
`update_template_tags`	Update tags

Accounts

Tool	Description
`list_accounts`	List sandbox accounts
`list_unregistered_accounts`	List available unregistered accounts
`get_account`	Get account details
`import_accounts`	Import AWS accounts into the pool
`eject_accounts`	Eject accounts from the pool
`get_account_lease_history`	Get lease history for an account
`retry_account_cleanup`	Retry failed cleanup
`get_account_cleanup_logs`	Get cleanup logs
`get_account_failed_resources`	Get failed cleanup resources

Events

Tool	Description
`list_events`	List events with status filtering
`create_event`	Create a new event
`get_event`	Get event details
`update_event`	Update an event
`get_event_teams`	Get event teams
`add_event_teams`	Add teams to an event
`assign_event_team_owner`	Assign a team owner
`provision_event`	Provision event accounts
`start_event`	Start a provisioned event
`terminate_event`	Terminate an event

Approvals & Reporting

Tool	Description
`list_approvals`	List pending approval requests
`get_lease_costs`	Get cost reporting data

Admin Jobs

Tool	Description
`trigger_drift_detection`	Run drift detection
`trigger_lease_monitoring`	Run lease monitoring

Settings

Tool	Description
`get_global_config`	Get global platform config
`update_global_config`	Update global config
`get_runtime_config`	Get runtime config
`get_cleanup_settings`	Get nuke config
`update_cleanup_settings`	Update nuke config
`get_cleanup_hook`	Get cleanup hook script
`update_cleanup_hook`	Update cleanup hook
`get_email_settings`	Get email templates
`update_email_settings`	Update email templates
`send_test_email`	Send test email
`get_smtp_settings`	Get SMTP config
`update_smtp_settings`	Update SMTP config

Users & Identity

Tool	Description
`list_users`	List users from identity provider
`list_groups`	List groups from identity provider
`validate_users`	Validate user IDs exist
`update_preferences`	Update user preferences
`list_all_oauth_clients`	List all OAuth clients (admin)
`list_my_oauth_clients`	List your OAuth clients
`create_oauth_client`	Create an OAuth client
`update_oauth_client`	Update an OAuth client
`delete_oauth_client`	Delete an OAuth client
`get_terms_of_service`	Get current terms of service
`list_terms_versions`	List ToS versions
`get_terms_version`	Get specific ToS version
`publish_terms_of_service`	Publish new ToS
`get_tags`	Get all template tags
`validate_s3_path`	Validate an S3 path

Project Structure

src/
├── index.ts          # Entry point — registers all tools, connects via stdio
├── config.ts         # Config file management (~/.sandbox-studio-mcp/config.json)
├── auth.ts           # OAuth2 client_credentials token management
├── client.ts         # HTTP client with auth, retry, and HTML detection
├── init-config.ts    # Interactive config setup CLI
└── tools/
    ├── leases.ts     # Lease lifecycle tools
    ├── accounts.ts   # Account pool management
    ├── templates.ts  # Template configuration (with AI guidance)
    ├── events.ts     # Events, approvals, reporting, admin jobs
    ├── settings.ts   # Cleanup, email, SMTP, global config
    └── users.ts      # Users, groups, OAuth clients, ToS, tags

Development

# Build
pnpm build

# Watch mode (rebuild on change)
pnpm dev

# Run directly
node dist/index.js

Extending

Adding a new tool

Choose the appropriate file in src/tools/
Register the tool with server.registerTool(name, schema, handler)
Use apiRequest(config, options) to call the Sandbox Studio API

Adding AI guidance

Use the tool's description field to influence AI behaviour:

server.registerTool("my_tool", {
  description: `Do something.

IMPORTANT: Always ask the user about X before calling this tool.
Never do Y without explicit confirmation.`,
  inputSchema: { ... }
}, handler);

This is the primary mechanism for shaping how AI assistants use your tools.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
HTML responses instead of JSON	Check that `instanceUrl` in config is correct (e.g. `https://sandbox.example.com` without a trailing path)
401 errors	Verify client credentials are valid and the OAuth client is active
Token refresh loops	The OAuth client may have been deleted — recreate in admin panel
Tools not appearing	Rebuild (`pnpm build`) and restart the MCP server

License

MIT

This server cannot be installed

license - not found

quality - not tested

maintenance

How are these scores calculated?

Maintenance

–Maintainers

–Response time

–Release cycle

–Releases (12mo)

Commit activity

Resources

GitHub Repository

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