Governance

Sandbox governance covers the policy system that controls what sandboxes can access over the network, on the filesystem, and through MCP. For MCP setup and server registration, see MCP gateway. Governance operates at two layers:

Local policy is configured per machine using the sbx policy CLI. It lets individual developers customize which domains their sandboxes can reach. See Local policy.

Organization policy is configured centrally in Docker Home. Network and filesystem policies can also be managed via the Governance API. Controls defined at the org level apply uniformly across every sandbox in the organization. Organization governance can also include MCP policies for sandbox MCP activity. When organization governance is active, only organization allow rules grant access: local sbx policy allow rules are no longer evaluated, while local deny rules still apply on top. See Organization policies.

Alongside this access-control policy, admins can require developers to sign in as members of their organization before using sandboxes at all. Sign-in enforcement is deployed through endpoint management and ensures developers can't bypass organization policy by using a personal account.

Note

Organization governance is available on a separate paid subscription. Contact Docker Sales to request access.

Learn more

Start with Policy concepts for the resource model, rule syntax, MCP policy basics, evaluation, and precedence.

Access controls

• Local policy: configure network rules on your machine with the sbx policy CLI.
• Organization policies: centrally manage sandbox policies across your organization.
• Network access policies: control outbound network access from sandboxes.
• Filesystem access policies: control which host paths sandboxes can mount as workspaces.
• MCP access policies: control MCP server registration, tool calls, resources, prompts, and approval gates.

Monitor and enforce

• Monitoring policies: inspect active rules and monitor sandbox network traffic with sbx policy ls and sbx policy log.
• Audit logs: view, configure, export, and collect governance audit records.
• Sign-in enforcement: require developers to sign in as organization members, enforced through endpoint management.

Reference

• AI Governance API: manage network and filesystem org policies programmatically.
• MCP policy reference: look up Docker MCP policy actions, resources, attributes, context fields, and approval behavior.