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Multi-Agent Sandbox & Tools Configuration

Each agent in a multi-agent setup can override the global sandbox and tool policy. This page covers per-agent configuration, precedence rules, and examples. Auth is per-agent: each agent reads from its own agentDir auth store at ~/.pllan/agents/<agentId>/agent/auth-profiles.json. Credentials are not shared between agents. Never reuse agentDir across agents. If you want to share creds, copy auth-profiles.json into the other agent’s agentDir.

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Configuration Examples

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Example 1: Personal + Restricted Family Agent

{
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "main",
        "default": true,
        "name": "Personal Assistant",
        "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "off" }
      },
      {
        "id": "family",
        "name": "Family Bot",
        "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace-family",
        "sandbox": {
          "mode": "all",
          "scope": "agent"
        },
        "tools": {
          "allow": ["read"],
          "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch", "process", "browser"]
        }
      }
    ]
  },
  "bindings": [
    {
      "agentId": "family",
      "match": {
        "provider": "whatsapp",
        "accountId": "*",
        "peer": {
          "kind": "group",
          "id": "120363424282127706@g.us"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}
Result:
  • main agent: Runs on host, full tool access
  • family agent: Runs in Docker (one container per agent), only read tool

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Example 2: Work Agent with Shared Sandbox

{
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "personal",
        "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace-personal",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "off" }
      },
      {
        "id": "work",
        "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace-work",
        "sandbox": {
          "mode": "all",
          "scope": "shared",
          "workspaceRoot": "/tmp/work-sandboxes"
        },
        "tools": {
          "allow": ["read", "write", "apply_patch", "exec"],
          "deny": ["browser", "gateway", "discord"]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

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Example 2b: Global coding profile + messaging-only agent

{
  "tools": { "profile": "coding" },
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "support",
        "tools": { "profile": "messaging", "allow": ["slack"] }
      }
    ]
  }
}
Result:
  • default agents get coding tools
  • support agent is messaging-only (+ Slack tool)

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Example 3: Different Sandbox Modes per Agent

{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "sandbox": {
        "mode": "non-main", // Global default
        "scope": "session"
      }
    },
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "main",
        "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace",
        "sandbox": {
          "mode": "off" // Override: main never sandboxed
        }
      },
      {
        "id": "public",
        "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace-public",
        "sandbox": {
          "mode": "all", // Override: public always sandboxed
          "scope": "agent"
        },
        "tools": {
          "allow": ["read"],
          "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch"]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

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Configuration Precedence

When both global (agents.defaults.*) and agent-specific (agents.list[].*) configs exist:

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Sandbox Config

Agent-specific settings override global: 
agents.list[].sandbox.mode > agents.defaults.sandbox.mode
agents.list[].sandbox.scope > agents.defaults.sandbox.scope
agents.list[].sandbox.workspaceRoot > agents.defaults.sandbox.workspaceRoot
agents.list[].sandbox.workspaceAccess > agents.defaults.sandbox.workspaceAccess
agents.list[].sandbox.docker.* > agents.defaults.sandbox.docker.*
agents.list[].sandbox.browser.* > agents.defaults.sandbox.browser.*
agents.list[].sandbox.prune.* > agents.defaults.sandbox.prune.*
Notes:
  • agents.list[].sandbox.{docker,browser,prune}.* overrides agents.defaults.sandbox.{docker,browser,prune}.* for that agent (ignored when sandbox scope resolves to "shared").

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Tool Restrictions

The filtering order is:
  1. Tool profile (tools.profile or agents.list[].tools.profile)
  2. Provider tool profile (tools.byProvider[provider].profile or agents.list[].tools.byProvider[provider].profile)
  3. Global tool policy (tools.allow / tools.deny)
  4. Provider tool policy (tools.byProvider[provider].allow/deny)
  5. Agent-specific tool policy (agents.list[].tools.allow/deny)
  6. Agent provider policy (agents.list[].tools.byProvider[provider].allow/deny)
  7. Sandbox tool policy (tools.sandbox.tools or agents.list[].tools.sandbox.tools)
  8. Subagent tool policy (tools.subagents.tools, if applicable)
Each level can further restrict tools, but cannot grant back denied tools from earlier levels. If agents.list[].tools.sandbox.tools is set, it replaces tools.sandbox.tools for that agent. If agents.list[].tools.profile is set, it overrides tools.profile for that agent. Provider tool keys accept either provider (e.g. google-antigravity) or provider/model (e.g. openai/gpt-5.2). Tool policies support group:* shorthands that expand to multiple tools. See Tool groups for the full list. Per-agent elevated overrides (agents.list[].tools.elevated) can further restrict elevated exec for specific agents. See Elevated Mode for details.

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Migration from Single Agent

Before (single agent): 
{
  "agents": {
    "defaults": {
      "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace",
      "sandbox": {
        "mode": "non-main"
      }
    }
  },
  "tools": {
    "sandbox": {
      "tools": {
        "allow": ["read", "write", "apply_patch", "exec"],
        "deny": []
      }
    }
  }
}
After (multi-agent with different profiles): 
{
  "agents": {
    "list": [
      {
        "id": "main",
        "default": true,
        "workspace": "~/.pllan/workspace",
        "sandbox": { "mode": "off" }
      }
    ]
  }
}
Legacy agent.* configs are migrated by pllan doctor; prefer agents.defaults + agents.list going forward.

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Tool Restriction Examples

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Read-only Agent

{
  "tools": {
    "allow": ["read"],
    "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch", "process"]
  }
}

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Safe Execution Agent (no file modifications)

{
  "tools": {
    "allow": ["read", "exec", "process"],
    "deny": ["write", "edit", "apply_patch", "browser", "gateway"]
  }
}

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Communication-only Agent

{
  "tools": {
    "sessions": { "visibility": "tree" },
    "allow": ["sessions_list", "sessions_send", "sessions_history", "session_status"],
    "deny": ["exec", "write", "edit", "apply_patch", "read", "browser"]
  }
}

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Common Pitfall: “non-main”

agents.defaults.sandbox.mode: "non-main" is based on session.mainKey (default "main"), not the agent id. Group/channel sessions always get their own keys, so they are treated as non-main and will be sandboxed. If you want an agent to never sandbox, set agents.list[].sandbox.mode: "off".

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Testing

After configuring multi-agent sandbox and tools:
  1. Check agent resolution: 
    pllan agents list --bindings
  2. Verify sandbox containers: 
    docker ps --filter "name=pllan-sbx-"
  3. Test tool restrictions:
    • Send a message requiring restricted tools
    • Verify the agent cannot use denied tools
  4. Monitor logs: 
    tail -f "${PLLAN_STATE_DIR:-$HOME/.pllan}/logs/gateway.log" | grep -E "routing|sandbox|tools"

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Troubleshooting

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Agent not sandboxed despite mode: "all"

  • Check if there’s a global agents.defaults.sandbox.mode that overrides it
  • Agent-specific config takes precedence, so set agents.list[].sandbox.mode: "all"

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Tools still available despite deny list

  • Check tool filtering order: global → agent → sandbox → subagent
  • Each level can only further restrict, not grant back
  • Verify with logs: [tools] filtering tools for agent:${agentId}

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Container not isolated per agent

  • Set scope: "agent" in agent-specific sandbox config
  • Default is "session" which creates one container per session

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See also