Version 0.0.10 · GPL-3.0

Keep your bots and servers running, each in its own sandbox.

Pythonator starts the programs that should not stop, restarts them when they fail, and keeps each one to its own folder and the ports you list. It has a fast code editor built in, and plugins add the rest. One small desktop app, the same on Windows, macOS and Linux.

Download Getting started

From source with Python 3.12 or later: pip install -e . and run pythonator. No Docker, WSL or administrator rights needed.

Pythonator: a sandboxed web API running, with its files, code, console and the Guard plugin panel — A sandboxed web API, its live console, and two official plugin panels.

Python
Node.js
Bun
Deno
Go
Java
.NET
Ruby
PHP
Rust
Shell and PowerShell
Any command

01 · Supervision

Start it once. It keeps running.

A service is a file to run or a command. Pythonator runs it in a background service that keeps going after you close the window, and decides after every exit whether to start it again.

Restarts that back off

On failure or always, waiting 1 s, 2 s, 4 s and up to a minute. Too many restarts in ten minutes and it stops trying and tells you, instead of looping forever.

Restarts

Schedules and limits

every 15m, @daily or any cron line. A memory limit for the whole process tree: a kernel limit on Windows and in containers, a watchdog elsewhere.

Schedules

A console that keeps up

Colours, input, and hundreds of thousands of lines without freezing the window. Tokens and passwords from the environment are masked before anything is shown or written to the log.

Console and logs

Code from Git

Clone a repository as a service and pull before a start. Fast-forward only, hooks off, and only https and ssh addresses.

Git

An editor beside it

QScintilla, the engine behind Notepad++: highlighting for every language here, folding, multiple carets, find and replace, and big files that open instantly.

Shortcuts

Packages stay with the project

Install packages makes a .venv for Python, node_modules for Node and Bun, vendor for PHP and Ruby, inside the service's own isolation. Nothing goes into your account.

Languages

02 · Isolation

Three modes. Sandbox is the default.

Every operating system has containment built in. Pythonator puts a simple switch on it. If a protection can't be applied, the service doesn't start: it never quietly runs with less.

Mode	What it can reach	Built on
Sandbox	Its own folder, its language, and the ports you list. Not your home folder, keys, other projects or Pythonator's data.	Landlock, seccomp and bubblewrap on Linux, Seatbelt on macOS, AppContainer on Windows
Container	Only the project folder, mounted at `/app`. Can join a container network to reach a database.	Docker or Podman with every capability dropped, a read-only image and no new privileges
Full access	Everything your account can. Asks you once, and shows in red.	A normal process, still in a job or process group so stopping ends all of it

Isolation modes · Ports and APIs · The security model

03 · Ports and APIs

Reachable when you say so, and only there

List the ports a service serves. In Sandbox mode it may listen on those and no others. Choose This computer for an API only your own programs call, or Other computers too for a server on your network. Windows needs one administrator prompt for it, which Make reachable does for you, and Undo takes back.

Ports and APIs

The Isolation tab of a service: Sandbox, Container and Full access, and what the sandbox enforces on this computer — Each mode says what it allows, and the computer says what it enforces.

04 · Plugins

Official plugins are verified. Others are contained.

Plugins run in processes of their own, in the same sandbox as services, and talk to Pythonator only through a small message protocol. An official plugin is one whose files match a SHA-256 catalog reviewed with every change. Any other plugin starts in test mode with nothing granted: what it tries is only recorded until you grant permissions.

Webhooks: Discord, Slack, Telegram, Teams, ntfy or any URL when a service crashes, gives up or recovers
Guard: rules for modes and ports before a start, and a watchdog for memory and CPU
Health checks: a live panel of which web servers answer, and how fast

Plugins · Write one in 20 lines · Plugin API

The Plugins window: Guard is official and verified, with its permissions and settings form — Permissions and a settings form, generated from the plugin's manifest.

05 · Install

From a release or from source

Source installs need Python 3.12 or later. Dependencies are few, pinned with hashes in requirements.lock, and audited for known vulnerabilities on every change.

Latest release Documentation FAQ

$ git clone https://github.com/cfunkz/Pythonator.git
$ cd Pythonator
$ python -m venv .venv && . .venv/bin/activate
$ pip install --require-hashes -r requirements.lock
$ pip install --no-deps -e .
$ pythonator