E2B Desktop

Control E2B Desktop sandboxes (virtual Linux desktops) for computer-use agents. Use when you need to create/manage sandboxed desktop environments, take screenshots, perform mouse/keyboard actions, run commands, stream VNC output, or build computer-use agent loops with E2B Desktop SDK.

E2B Desktop Skill

Control a headless Linux desktop (Ubuntu + XFCE) via the e2b-desktop Python SDK. All scripts live in scripts/ and wrap the SDK in bash for easy agent use.

Prerequisites

bash

pip install e2b-desktop
export E2B_API_KEY=e2b_***

State Management

• start_sandbox.sh saves the sandbox ID to ~/.e2b_state
• All other scripts auto-load it from there
• Override anytime with export E2B_SANDBOX_ID=<id>
• Sandboxes survive script exit — reconnect with Sandbox.connect(sandbox_id)

Scripts

Script	Usage	Description
start_sandbox.sh	[--resolution 1280x800] [--timeout 300] [--stream]	Create sandbox; optionally start VNC stream
kill_sandbox.sh	[SANDBOX_ID]	Kill sandbox and remove state
screenshot.sh	[OUTPUT_FILE]	Take screenshot → PNG (default: /tmp/e2b_screenshot.png)
click.sh	X Y	Left click at coordinates
right_click.sh	X Y	Right click
double_click.sh	X Y	Double click
middle_click.sh	X Y	Middle click
move_mouse.sh	X Y	Move cursor (no click)
drag.sh	X1 Y1 X2 Y2	Click-drag between two points
scroll.sh	AMOUNT	Scroll (positive=up, negative=down)
type_text.sh	"text"	Type text at current cursor
press_key.sh	KEY [KEY2...]	Press key or combo (e.g. ctrl c)
run_command.sh	"cmd"	Run shell command inside sandbox
open_url.sh	URL_OR_PATH	Open URL or file in default app
launch_app.sh	APP_NAME	Launch app (e.g. firefox, vscode)
stream_start.sh	[--auth]	Start VNC stream; --auth for password-protected
stream_stop.sh	(none)	Stop VNC stream
get_cursor.sh	(none)	Print CURSOR_X and CURSOR_Y
get_screen_size.sh	(none)	Print SCREEN_WIDTH and SCREEN_HEIGHT
list_windows.sh	[APP_NAME]	List app windows or show active window
wait.sh	MILLISECONDS	Wait N ms (sandbox-side)

Computer-Use Agent Loop Pattern

bash

SCRIPTS="skills/e2b-desktop/scripts"

# 1. Start sandbox
source <($SCRIPTS/start_sandbox.sh --resolution 1280x800 --stream)
echo "Sandbox: $SANDBOX_ID"
echo "View at: $STREAM_URL"

# 2. Agent loop
while true; do
  # Capture screen
  $SCRIPTS/screenshot.sh /tmp/screen.png

  # Send to LLM, parse action... (your code)
  ACTION=$(llm_decide /tmp/screen.png)

  case "$ACTION" in
    click:*)   IFS=: read -r _ x y <<< "$ACTION"; $SCRIPTS/click.sh $x $y ;;
    type:*)    $SCRIPTS/type_text.sh "${ACTION#type:}" ;;
    key:*)     $SCRIPTS/press_key.sh ${ACTION#key:} ;;
    done)      break ;;
  esac
done

# 3. Clean up
$SCRIPTS/kill_sandbox.sh

Key Notes

• scroll.sh AMOUNT: positive = scroll up, negative = scroll down (matches desktop.scroll(amount) API)
• press_key.sh ctrl c: multiple args become a key combo via desktop.press(["ctrl", "c"])
• run_command.sh exits with the sandbox command's exit code
• All mouse coordinate scripts accept integer pixel coordinates matching sandbox resolution
• VNC stream: only one active stream at a time; stop before switching windows