The VMs Powering Mobile Agents (Instinct, Claude Code)
Summary
The article contrasts how mobile agents run in different VM-based environments: Claude Code operates inside a Firecracker microVM with a sealed PID 1 process and a read-write memory disk, while Instinct uses disposable E2B sandboxes that host a full Ubuntu environment and rely on server-side memory and tool execution. It explains the architectural choices (vsock-driven communication, egress gateway, and host-managed credentials) and shows that the agent's memory and brain live off-Box (Instinct) or inside a tightly controlled guest (Claude Code).