diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9f62875..861ecf9 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -2,6 +2,13 @@
 
 Prototype server for creating interactive "try SPARK / try Ada" webpages
 
+## Requirements
+
+In addition to Python, this system relies on LXC to sandbox
+the run of executables. To do this, you need
+  - a container named "safecontainer"
+  - this container should have a non-admin user 'ubuntu'
+
 ## Getting started
 
 To setup, do this:
diff --git a/compile_server/app/checker.py b/compile_server/app/checker.py
index f6abfcb..53fe248 100644
--- a/compile_server/app/checker.py
+++ b/compile_server/app/checker.py
@@ -214,11 +214,16 @@ def run_program(request):
 
     # Run the command(s) to check the program
     commands = [
+                # Build the program
                 ["gprbuild", "-q", "-P", "main"],
-                # TODO: implement a safe execute in a container
-                [os.path.join(tempd, main[:-4])],
+                # Launch the program via "safe_run", to sandbox it
+                ["python",
+                 os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), 'safe_run.py'),
+                 os.path.join(tempd, main[:-4])],
                ]
 
+    print commands
+
     try:
         p = process_handling.SeparateProcess(commands, tempd)
         message = "running gnatprove"
diff --git a/compile_server/app/safe_run.py b/compile_server/app/safe_run.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6165680
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compile_server/app/safe_run.py
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+""" This is a standalone Python script that runs its argument
+    safely in a container.
+
+    At the moment it assumes that the container "safecontainer"
+    exists and is running.
+"""
+
+import os
+import time
+import sys
+import subprocess
+
+CONT = 'safecontainer'
+DEBUG = False
+
+
+def run(command):
+    if DEBUG:
+        print ">", " ".join(command)
+    output = subprocess.check_output(["lxc", "exec", CONT, "--"] + command)
+    if output:
+        output = output.rstrip()
+    if DEBUG:
+        print "<", output
+    return output
+
+
+def safe_run(main):
+    # Make a temporary directory on the container
+    tmpdir = run(["mktemp", "-d"])
+
+    try:
+        run(["chown", "ubuntu", tmpdir])
+
+        # Push the executable to the container
+        subprocess.check_call(["lxc", "file", "push", main,
+                               # This requires the dir to end with /
+                               CONT + tmpdir + os.sep])
+
+        # TODO: rlimit?
+
+        # Run it, printint output to stdout as we go along
+        subprocess.call(["lxc", "exec", CONT, "--",
+                         "su", "ubuntu", "-c",
+                         os.path.join(tmpdir, os.path.basename(main))],
+                        stdout=sys.stdout)
+    except E:
+        print sys.exc_info()
+
+    finally:
+        if tmpdir and tmpdir.startswith("/tmp"):
+            time.sleep(0.2)  # Time for the filesystem to sync
+            run(["rm", "-rf", tmpdir])
+
+
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    # Do not perform any sanity checking on args - this is not meant to
+    # be launched interactively
+    main = sys.argv[1]
+    safe_run(main)