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ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

simonwillison.net

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Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#51

Post by tj800x »

Fernicia wrote: post #30

Has Gemini lost its ability to run javascript and python? I swear it could when it was launched by now its saying it hasn't the ability. Annoying regression when Claude and ChatGPT are so good at it.

This regression seems to have happened in the past few days. I suspected it was hallucinating the run and confirmed it by by asking Gemini to output the current date/time. The UTC it was reported was in the future from my clock. Some challenging mathematics were generating wrong results. Gemini will acknowledge something is wrong if you push it to explain the discrepancies, but can't explain it.

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#52

Post by conception »

kenjackson wrote: post #44
behnamoh wrote: post #5

I wonder if the era of dynamic programming languages is over. Python/JS/Ruby/etc. were good tradeoffs when developer time mattered. But now that most code is written by LLMs, it's as "hard" for the LLM to write Python as it is to write Rust/Go (assuming enough training data on the language ofc; LLMs still can't write Gleam/Janet/CommonLisp/etc.). Esp. with Go's quick compile time, I can see myself using it more and m…

Has anyone tried creating a language that would be good for LLMs? I feel like what would be good for LLMs might not be the same thing that is good for humans (but I have no evidence or data to support this, just a hunch).

I don’t know rust but I use it with llms a lot as unlike python, it has fewer ways to do things, along with all the built in checks to build.

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#53

Post by koolba »

kenjackson wrote: post #44
behnamoh wrote: post #5

I wonder if the era of dynamic programming languages is over. Python/JS/Ruby/etc. were good tradeoffs when developer time mattered. But now that most code is written by LLMs, it's as "hard" for the LLM to write Python as it is to write Rust/Go (assuming enough training data on the language ofc; LLMs still can't write Gleam/Janet/CommonLisp/etc.). Esp. with Go's quick compile time, I can see myself using it more and m…

Has anyone tried creating a language that would be good for LLMs? I feel like what would be good for LLMs might not be the same thing that is good for humans (but I have no evidence or data to support this, just a hunch).

There are two separate needs here. One is a language that can be used for computation where the code will be discarded. Only the output of the program matters. And the other is a language that will be eventually read or validated by humans.

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#54

Post by tintor »

simonw wrote: post #34
xnx wrote: post #29

How much compute do you get in these containers? Could I have it run whisper on an mp3 it downloads?

That might work! You would have to figure out how to get Whisper working in there but I'm sure that's possible with a bit of creativity concerning uploading files and maybe running a build with the available C compiler. It appears to have 4GB of RAM and 56 (!?) CPU cores https://chatgpt.com/share/6977e1f8-0f94-8006-9973-e9fab6d244...

Cores are shared with other containers.

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#55

Post by simonw »

Imustaskforhelp wrote: post #47
simonw wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My $20/month paid account. I used a free account to check if the feature was available there and it tried to get me to upgrade two prompts in (just enough for me to confirm the container worked and could install packages).

Oh thanks for your reply Simon! > I used a free account to check if the feature was available there and it tried to get me to upgrade two prompts in (just enough for me to confirm the container worked and could install packages). Wait it tried... to make you upgrade your chatgpt account from free to paid account? Sorry I didn't get what you meant here (Funnily I asked chatgpt about what it thinks of your text and it…

On my free ChatGPT account I ran a prompt telling it to write and execute hello world in a bunch of languages: https://chatgpt.com/share/6977aa7c-7bd8-8006-8129-8c9e25126f...

It did what I asked - proving that the container feature works even for free accounts - but then displayed a message saying that I was as out of free prompts and would need to upgrade or wait before I could run more.

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#56

Post by esperent »

simonw wrote: post #13
candiddevmike wrote: post #6

Seems like everyone is trying to get ahead of tool calling moving people "off platform" and creating differentiators around what tools are available "locally" to the models etc. This also takes the wind out of the sandboxing folks, as it probably won't be long before the "local" tool calling can effectively do anything you'd need to do on your local machine. I wonder when they'll start offering virtual, persistent de…

Claude Code for the web is kind of a persistent virtual dev environment already. You can start a session there and chat with it to get a bunch of work done, then come back to that session a day later and the virtual filesystem is in the same state as when you left it. I haven't figured out if this has a time limit on it - it's possible they're doing something clever with object storage such that the cost of persistin…

It's so incredibly buggy though. I end up with hung sessions "starting claude code" every second or third time. After a few times of losing work I'm done with it. I'll check back in a few months and see if it's in better shape.

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#57

Post by tintor »

nottorp wrote: post #24

... as root?

No root. `pip` and `npm install` don't require it.

You can not use `sudo apt install` inside it.

They use gVisor, and other container isolation mechanisms: https://ryan.govost.es/2025/openai-code-interpreter/

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#58

Post by mdtusz »

ravenstine wrote: post #10
behnamoh wrote: post #5

I wonder if the era of dynamic programming languages is over. Python/JS/Ruby/etc. were good tradeoffs when developer time mattered. But now that most code is written by LLMs, it's as "hard" for the LLM to write Python as it is to write Rust/Go (assuming enough training data on the language ofc; LLMs still can't write Gleam/Janet/CommonLisp/etc.). Esp. with Go's quick compile time, I can see myself using it more and m…

I'm not sure that LLMs are going to [completely] replace the desire for JIT, even with relatively fast compilers. Frameworks might go the way of the dinosaur. If an LLM can manage a lot of complex code without human-serving abstractions, why even use something like React?

Frameworks aren't just human-serving abstractions - they're structural abstractions that allow for performant code, or even being able to achieve certain behaviours.

Sure, you could write a frontend without something like react, and create a backend without something like django, but the code generated by an LLM will become similarly convoluted and hard to maintain as if a human had written it.

LLM's are still _quite_ bad at writing maintainable code - even for themselves.

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#59

Post by bitwize »

behnamoh wrote: post #5

I wonder if the era of dynamic programming languages is over. Python/JS/Ruby/etc. were good tradeoffs when developer time mattered. But now that most code is written by LLMs, it's as "hard" for the LLM to write Python as it is to write Rust/Go (assuming enough training data on the language ofc; LLMs still can't write Gleam/Janet/CommonLisp/etc.). Esp. with Go's quick compile time, I can see myself using it more and m…

Astronaut 1: You mean... strong static typing is an unmitigated win?

Astronaut 2: Always has been...

Re: ChatGPT Containers can now run bash, pip/npm install packages and download files

#60

Post by jchw »

acedTrex wrote: post #38
zahlman wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that it's within a container on a remote server, does that matter ?

I mean i hope its more hardened than JUST a container given how many container escapes there are.

Apparently, they are using gVisor, which when applied properly, should make a pretty good isolation primitive.
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