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> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://e2b.manicule.dev/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
> For every page in one file, fetch https://e2b.manicule.dev/llms-full.txt (large).
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# Running commands in background (/docs/commands/background)

<!-- agent-signals: reading_time_min: 1 · est_tokens: 300 · updated: 2026-07-30 -->
Related: [Streaming command output](/docs/commands/streaming.md), [Upload data to volume](/docs/volumes/upload.md)

To run commands in background, pass the `background` option to the `commands.run()` method. This will return immediately and the command will continue to run in the sandbox.
You can then later kill the command using the `commands.kill()` method.

<CodeGroup>
```js title="JavaScript & TypeScript" highlight={7}
import { Sandbox } from 'e2b'

const sandbox = await Sandbox.create()

// Start the command in the background
const command = await sandbox.commands.run('echo hello; sleep 10; echo world', {
  background: true,
  onStdout: (data) => {
    console.log(data)
  },
})

// Kill the command
await command.kill()
```

```python title="Python" highlight={6}
from e2b import Sandbox

sandbox = Sandbox.create()

# Start the command in the background
command = sandbox.commands.run('echo hello; sleep 10; echo world', background=True)

# Get stdout and stderr from the command running in the background.
# You can run this code in a separate thread or use command.wait() to wait for the command to finish.
for stdout, stderr, _ in command:
    if stdout:
        print(stdout)
    if stderr:
        print(stderr)

# Kill the command
command.kill()
```
</CodeGroup>