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Tutorial: Create, use, and destroy your first AWS sandbox

In this tutorial, we will sign in to Whizlabs, create an AWS sandbox, run one command inside it, and destroy it when we are done. By the end, you will have used the main whzbox flow from start to finish.

Prerequisites​

  • A Whizlabs account
  • A real interactive terminal
  • The whzbox binary on your PATH
  • The AWS CLI installed if you want to run the exec example exactly as shown

If you already have an active sandbox that you want to clear first, use How to destroy a sandbox without prompts.

What We Are Building​

We will create one temporary AWS sandbox, use its credentials through whzbox exec, confirm that whzbox cached it locally, and then destroy it.

Step 1: Sign in​

Run:

whzbox login

You should see an interactive prompt for your email and password. When it succeeds, the command returns to the shell without printing an error.

Step 2: Create an AWS sandbox​

Run:

whzbox create aws

You should see a rendered sandbox summary that includes:

  • an AWS account number
  • an IAM user or user ID
  • console login details
  • AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
  • AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
  • an expiration timestamp

The output ends with:

Destroy with:  whzbox destroy

Step 3: Confirm that the sandbox is cached locally​

Run:

whzbox list

You should see one row for aws with a status of active.

Step 4: Run one command inside the sandbox​

Run:

whzbox exec aws -- aws sts get-caller-identity

You should see AWS STS output from the child command. The exact JSON varies, but it includes fields such as Account, Arn, and UserId.

Step 5: Destroy the sandbox​

Run:

whzbox destroy

You should see a confirmation prompt. Confirm the action.

When the command completes, run:

whzbox list

You should see:

(no sandboxes cached)

What We Learned​

  • How to sign in with whzbox login
  • How to provision an AWS sandbox with whzbox create aws
  • How to confirm cached local state with whzbox list
  • How to run a command with sandbox credentials through whzbox exec
  • How to clean up with whzbox destroy

Next Steps​