# Firejail

30 Hacker News commenters recommended Firejail and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Linux sandbox that isolates applications with fine-grained permissions and pre-made profiles for common programs. Critics say it is not bulletproof and needs root or SUID privilege.

## Why people recommend it

- Isolates desktop apps and agents (5 comments): "Firejail seems like the right tool for a somewhat complicated desktop application that you want isolation for" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47183820)) "just running the agent CLI in something like firejail would get you very far if you know what you're doing" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47400682)) "you can run AI agents in Firejail to limit access to certain folders/files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46594878))
- Easy to configure and use (5 comments): "sandboxing with Firejail and bwrap is quite easy to configure and allows fine-grained permissions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47813135)) "It seems simple enough to me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45867821)) "They are really easy to use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46699993))
- Works well in practice (4 comments): "After a bit of tinkering I was able to get it to all run fine in Firejail" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46400839)) "in firejail I never experienced a crash" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49713348)) "Fore Linux firejail works well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47307628))
- Pre-made profiles for common apps (2 comments): "I think firejail is a much more flexible security sandbox than bwrap. It also comes with pre-defined profiles" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47584015)) "which comes with a number of pre made profiles for common applications" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48702819))

## What people warn about

- Shares kernel; not bulletproof (3 comments): "Sandboxes like firejail and bubblewrap share a kernel: attacker is one exploit away from root." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49308460)) "Firejail is most likely not bullet-proof, although not soft by any stretch of the imagination" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45873029)) "the general linux landscape lacks strong sandboxing, even if you use bwrap, firejail, etc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45867539))
- Needs root or SUID privilege (2 comments): "firejail needs root privilege, so there are arguments that it may actually reduce the security" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45866951)) "Firejail requires SUID, LandLock does not." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46091451))
- Feels hacky and awkward (2 comments): "it seemed to me it is very hacky and feels amateur-ish and doesn't make me trust it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50038157)) "it's a bit awkward really" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47592837))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Bubblewrap (bwrap)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bubblewrap.md): 109 recommend
- [Agent Safehouse](https://hackerapproved.com/p/agent-safehouse.md): 43 recommend
- [nono](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nono.md): 34 recommend
- [sandbox-exec](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sandbox-exec.md): 25 recommend
- [Bubblewrap (bwrap)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bwrap.md): 11 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Firejail", https://hackerapproved.com/p/firejail/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).