# Sandbox

A sandbox is an interactive environment you can use to interact with queries before persisting them into a [streaming query](https://docs.deltastream.io/overview/core-concepts/queries#streaming_or_continuous_query).

Start a sandbox environment using the [`START SANDBOX`](https://docs.deltastream.io/reference/sql-syntax/sandbox/start-sandbox) command. This command starts a new temporary cluster in your organization. Once started, the sandbox bootstraps the appropriate resources until it reaches the `RUNNING` state. At this state, you can run any [`SELECT`](https://docs.deltastream.io/reference/sql-syntax/query/select) query against the environment without being persisted.

Sandboxes stop automatically after 10 minutes if not used. You can also stop them using the [`STOP SANDBOX`](https://docs.deltastream.io/reference/sql-syntax/sandbox/stop-sandbox) command.