Cloudflare launches agent runtime @cloudflare/computer: agents need computers, not containers
irvinebroque · x · 2026-11-12
Cloudflare introduced an early preview of @cloudflare/computer, an agent runtime where the platform decides whether code runs in an isolate, container sandbox, or browser — each agent gets its own "computer" with efficiency and scalability handled for you. Thesis: the most capable agents share one trait — their own filesystem, shell, and code execution — but one-container-per-agent doesn't scale because compute is scarce.
Alongside, larsencc publicly revised his earlier architecture take:
- He previously moved his whole agent inside a VM (pattern 2); at real multi-tenant scale he'd now pick pattern 1 — agent loop on shared, scalable infra
- Spin up a sandbox only when running untrusted code; sandboxes start in seconds and die right after
- Zero state on the machine; everything lives outside it
- Full-VM isolation remains a fine default for personal agents and small projects
Rationale: there will be more agents than humans, and billions of 24/7 VMs would be CPU-hungry machines we can't afford.
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