--- title: Drives product: vercel url: /docs/sandbox/concepts/drives canonical_url: "https://vercel.com/docs/sandbox/concepts/drives" last_updated: 2026-07-15 type: conceptual prerequisites: - /docs/sandbox/concepts - /docs/sandbox related: - /docs/sandbox/concepts/snapshots - /docs/sandbox/concepts/regions - /docs/sandbox/concepts/persistent-sandboxes - /docs/sandbox/cli-reference - /docs/sandbox/sdk-reference summary: Persistent storage that can be mounted into sandboxes and shared across runs. install_vercel_plugin: npx plugins add vercel/vercel-plugin --- # Drives > **🔒 Permissions Required**: Drives ## Related pages > **For AI agents:** Follow these links to understand how this page connects to the rest of the Vercel ecosystem. For the full cross-link map (inbound, outbound, prerequisites, and semantic neighbors), see the .graph.md link below. - [The Complete Guide to Vercel Drives](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/vercel-drives?from=related) — Learn how Vercel Drives provide persistent storage for Vercel Sandboxes, and how to create, mount, list, and delete a dr - [How Vercel Sandbox duration and persistence work](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/vercel-sandbox-duration-and-persistence?from=related) — Session duration and persistence are two separate controls in Vercel Sandbox. The timeout option keeps a single run aliv - [How to use snapshots for faster sandbox startup](https://vercel.com/kb/guide/how-to-use-snapshots-for-faster-sandbox-startup?from=related) — Learn how to save sandbox state with snapshots and skip installation on future runs. - [List drives](https://vercel.com/docs/rest-api/sandboxes/list-drives?from=related) - [Get or create a drive](https://vercel.com/docs/rest-api/sandboxes/get-or-create-a-drive?from=related) - [Delete a drive](https://vercel.com/docs/rest-api/sandboxes/delete-a-drive?from=related) - [sitemap.md](https://vercel.com/docs/sitemap.md?from=related) — Learn about sitemap.md on Vercel. Full cross-link map for this page: [/docs/sandbox/concepts/drives.graph.md](/docs/sandbox/concepts/drives.graph.md) Drives provide persistent storage that can be mounted into sandboxes. Your agent runs in a sandbox, generates code, downloads dependencies, builds up context. Drives let your agent persist that context across sessions. You can mount up to 4 drives into a sandbox, with up to 1 TiB of storage per drive. ## When to use drives vs snapshots Depending on your use case, you may want to use a drive or a [snapshot](/docs/sandbox/concepts/snapshots) to persist and restore state in a sandbox. You can also use a combination of both to store separate types of data. Drives are ideal for caching purposes and storing large amounts of data. Snapshots represent a full sandbox filesystem and provide consistent NVMe read/write performance. | Aspect | Drive | Snapshot | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------- | | Storage type | Single directory mounted on a sandbox | Full sandbox filesystem | | Read/Write performance | NVMe speed writes and cache hit reads, slower cache miss reads | NVMe speed reads and writes | | Storage size | Up to 1 TiB per drive | 32 GB (filesystem size) | | Expiration | Persists until manually deleted | Expires after 30 days by default, can be extended to infinity | | Use cases | Agent output, caching, shared data | Agent state, temporary data, base filesystem | | Price | Free during private beta | $0.08/GB-month | ## Common patterns - Agent workspace: store an agent workspace that persists across sandbox runs, building context over time. - Shared cache: cache dependencies, build artifacts, or other large data. - Pre-seeding data: pre-seed a drive with data, then spin up compute on demand when needed. ## Usage Once you are added to the [private beta](https://vercel.com/changelog/drives-for-vercel-sandbox-in-private-beta), install the beta version of the `@vercel/sandbox` SDK: ```bash pnpm i @vercel/sandbox@beta ``` ```bash yarn i @vercel/sandbox@beta ``` ```bash npm i @vercel/sandbox@beta ``` ```bash bun i @vercel/sandbox@beta ``` ### Creating or retrieving a drive Create a drive before mounting it into a sandbox. Drive names are unique within a Vercel project. A drive's region can't change after creation. Requesting an existing drive with a different region or maximum size than it was created with fails with a `conflict` error. ### Mounting a drive in a sandbox Mount a drive by passing the drive name and mount path when creating a sandbox. The sandbox must run in the same [region](/docs/sandbox/concepts/regions#regions-and-drives) as the drive. Mount paths must be absolute and cannot overlap with each other. Drives can be mounted in `read-write` or `read-only` mode. By default, drives are mounted in `read-write` mode. > **💡 Note:** Drives are currently single reader, single writer. Support for multiple readers is coming soon. ### Listing drives List drives to view the currently attached sandboxes (if any) and metadata such as creation date and size. ### Deleting a drive Deleting a drive permanently removes all data stored in the drive. A drive cannot be deleted if it is currently attached to a running sandbox. ## Limits - A sandbox can mount up to 4 drives per run - A drive has a maximum storage size of 100 GiB by default, and can be configured up to 1 TiB - A drive is stored in a single [region](/docs/sandbox/concepts/regions). A sandbox that mounts a drive must run in the same region, and can't have [failover regions](/docs/sandbox/concepts/regions#failover-regions) - Drives are single reader, single writer. Support for multiple readers is coming soon - We recommend using drives for caching and other non-critical use cases during the private beta period. ## Pricing While in private beta, drives are free to use. ## Next steps - [Persistent sandboxes](/docs/sandbox/concepts/persistent-sandboxes): Learn how persistent sandboxes automatically save and restore state. - [Snapshots](/docs/sandbox/concepts/snapshots): Save and restore a full sandbox filesystem. - [CLI Reference](/docs/sandbox/cli-reference): Command reference for the Sandbox CLI. - [JS SDK Reference](/docs/sandbox/sdk-reference): Full API documentation for the JavaScript SDK. --- [View full sitemap](/docs/sitemap)