How Quora uses Modal to run thousands of Python sandboxes simultaneously

Quora uses Modal Sandboxes to power secure execution of LLM-generated code within Poe, its AI chatbot platform, allowing users to run code directly in conversations without exposing Quora’s infrastructure or other users’ sessions. After launching Poe in 2023 and expanding it to millions of active users, Quora needed a solution that combined strong isolation, low latency, and reliability at scale, requirements that would have taken months and substantial ongoing effort to build internally. Modal provided a production-ready system built on gVisor-based container isolation, scalable sandbox creation that Quora tested at up to 1,000 sandboxes per second, and networking controls including tunnels and IP allowlisting. Quora’s familiarity with Modal from its use as Poe’s recommended bot deployment platform helped support the decision, and the company estimates that outsourcing sandbox infrastructure saves the ongoing work of approximately two engineers while enabling future Poe products to use the same technology.

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