diff --git a/src/agent/coreBackend.js b/src/agent/coreBackend.js
index d2b3f30..4400acf 100644
--- a/src/agent/coreBackend.js
+++ b/src/agent/coreBackend.js
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 import { FilesystemBackend } from "deepagents";
 
 /**
- * Create a FilesystemBackend rooted at the filesystem root.
+ * Create a FilesystemBackend sandboxed to the current working directory.
  * @returns {FilesystemBackend}
  */
 export function createCoreBackend() {
-	const baseDir = '/';
 	return new FilesystemBackend({
-		rootDir: baseDir,
-		virtualMode: false,
+		rootDir: process.cwd(),
+		virtualMode: true,
 	});
 }
diff --git a/src/agent/deepAgents.js b/src/agent/deepAgents.js
index ea78586..9621a06 100644
--- a/src/agent/deepAgents.js
+++ b/src/agent/deepAgents.js
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { createChatModel } from "../provider/openai.js";
 import { buildToolConfig } from "../tools/index.js";
 import { createCoreBackend } from "./coreBackend.js";
 import { createContextBackend } from "./contextBackend.js";
+import { createDmzBackend } from "./dmzBackend.js";
 // Skill classification map — classifies each skill by agent type.
 // Skills are discovered dynamically; this map provides the classification
 // for filtering. Initially, all skills are classified as "subagent" since
@@ -96,8 +97,8 @@ export async function createDeepAgentsOrchestrator(checkpointer = null) {
 	});
 
 	const coreBackend = createCoreBackend();
+	const dmzBackend = createDmzBackend();
 	const contextBackend = createContextBackend();
-
 	const contextRoute = "/" + config.memory.contextDir.replace(/^\.?\//, "");
 
 	// Filter skill paths by agent type
@@ -111,6 +112,7 @@ export async function createDeepAgentsOrchestrator(checkpointer = null) {
 		store: new InMemoryStore(),
 		backend: new CompositeBackend(coreBackend, {
 			[contextRoute]: contextBackend,
+			"/": dmzBackend,
 		}),
 		subagents: [
 			{
diff --git a/src/agent/dmzBackend.js b/src/agent/dmzBackend.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0ce92d5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/agent/dmzBackend.js
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+import { FilesystemBackend } from "deepagents";
+
+/**
+ * Create a FilesystemBackend sandboxed to /tmp.
+ * Used as a fallback backend for operations that don't fit other routes.
+ * @returns {FilesystemBackend}
+ */
+export function createDmzBackend() {
+	return new FilesystemBackend({
+		rootDir: '/tmp',
+		virtualMode: false,
+	});
+}