Server-Side Code Execution Tools for AI Agents, Compared

OpenRouter's shell and bash tools, along with those from OpenAI and Anthropic, run an agent's commands in provider-managed sandboxes during the same API request, so developers don't provision or patch containers.

OpenRouter's tools are in beta, with sandbox time billed at $0.0001 per second and a 30-second minimum for a new or sleeping container.

The article compares the four providers and notes that self-run sandboxes remain better for custom base images, GPU work, or multi-hour sessions.