This guide explains how to install, configure, and operate Polythene. The project wraps a pair of command line tools that automate the workflow of exporting Podman images into disposable root filesystems and running commands inside those filesystems without a dedicated container runtime.
Polythene exists to bridge very different execution environments. In OpenAI's Codex sandbox you run as root without access to container engines, while GitHub runners expose Podman to an unprivileged user. Polythene exposes the same commands in both scenarios so package installation tests, filesystem mutation checks, and other system-level automation run identically across local development and continuous integration (CI).