Limitations

Sandbox Limitations

Script bots run in a secure, isolated sandbox environment. Here are the technical specifications and constraints:

Execution Environment Specs

• Memory: 1.6 GB (includes file system)
• CPU: 0.5 core
• Timeout: 1 hour maximum execution time
• Python Version: 3.11.14
• Operating System: Linux-based container
• Architecture: x86_64
• Isolation: Full isolation from host system and other containers
• Persistence: No sandbox persistence between runs - each execution starts with a fresh container

Pre-installed Python Libraries

Script bots have access to a wide range of Python libraries out of the box:

• All Python standard library modules (json, re, datetime, math, random, etc.)
• Third-party packages including:
  • Web: aiohttp, httpx, requests, beautifulsoup4, lxml
  • Data science: numpy, pandas, scipy
  • Machine Learning/NLP: spacy, nltk, textblob
  • Image processing: Pillow, opencv-python, pillow_heif, imageio
  • Data visualization: matplotlib, seaborn, plotly
  • File processing: PyPDF2, PyMuPDF, python-docx, python-pptx, openpyxl, xlsxwriter, pdfplumber
  • Audio/video: pydub, librosa, audioread, soundfile
  • Other utilities: arrow, bcrypt, cryptography, faker, pydantic, pyyaml, regex, rich, tabulate, wordcloud
  • And many more - you can ask Script Bot Creator for a complete, updated list of available libraries.

If you need a library that isn't pre-installed, you can request it via the Poe Discord community or feedback channels.

Network Access and Privacy Shields

Full-shield and half-shield are existing privacy modes on Poe that apply to all bots, not just script bots. Here's what they mean specifically for script bots:

Full Shield (default)

Most script bots should use full-shield mode, which provides strong privacy protections:

• No direct external network access: The bot cannot make requests to external websites or APIs directly
• Communication via Poe bot calls only: Can interact with the internet by calling other bots on Poe
• Poe CDN is allowlisted: Can download attachments from Poe's CDN without restrictions

Calling half-shield bots: If a full-shield script bot calls another half-shield bot, the user will be prompted to approve permissions.

However, if a full-shield bot attempts to make a direct external network call, it will fail without prompting the user. The bot must be declared as half-shield upfront to make direct network calls.

Half Shield

Half-shield mode enables direct external network access:

• Direct external network access: Can make HTTP requests, scrape websites, call external APIs, etc.
• Enable with code comment: Add # poe: privacy_shield=half at the top of your bot's code
• Useful for upfront permission: If your bot always calls other half-shield bots, declaring it as half-shield lets Poe request permission upfront instead of interrupting mid-execution

For more details on privacy modes and how they work across Poe, visit the Poe Privacy Center.

If you have specific use cases that are blocked by current limitations, we'd love to hear about them in the Poe Discord community!