Is there a way to keep the residents of Sanctuary within the confines of the walls I've built... I've boarded up all the doors to the houses but Codsworth finds a way to glitch through a wall, (as there is no rear exit) then glitch his way into a house... I've spent at least four days constructing a really tight base and it annoys me that all the residents want to spend all their time out of it...

Don't worry, the raiders will magically teleport into your base anyway.

Besides, half of my settlers seem to run away during the day and then come back to sit in the back garden of the house where the workbench is during the night. Living the settler life like a boss!

That annoys me too. Though I just keep everyone I can assigned to something inside my settlement. Also they all seem to congregate around a bar I made in the afternoon. That keeps them from wandering too far.

Ya this is why I gave up on Sanctuary. Defending the whole place is impossible, but you can't convince settlers to stay in a cordoned off area. Just usethw Castle- those walls make the place much less of a headache.

The key I found to Sanctuary is not to build on the whole site... I kept it really quite small and built up... But I haven't assigned everyone yet... It's just [censored] Codsworth, he does what ever he pleases...

I found Curie and sent her to Santuary as well. So Codsworth got a friend and they goes all over the place!

I closed off about half the area too, plugging the gaps in the big hedge that runs around the back and one side. I left two gaps that Codsworth and Preston patrol through, and covered those with a couple of turrets.

I haven't had anyone attack it since I finished the defences.

Keeping your settlement tightly organized is definitely key for maintaining any sort of control over your settlers.

Try to place your crops, and the beds needed for farmers close, and be sure to assign each settler to a bed. Same for merchants, scrappers and guards. Build any shops and gathering spots centrally located relative to your workstations. I've found that so long as a settler has an assigned bed and job, and access to shopping and relaxation, they rarely stray far.

As already noted, walls aren't really much good for overall defense, as enemies will spawn inside your boundaries, but they can be useful for channeling attackers into killing grounds, and also for dividing up work/living areas.

With Sanctuary, I built a single floor 10 bed barracks for scrappers and farmers to one side of the workshop house, and on the other side a 2 story building with a large lounge/bar on the first floor, and beds for the merchants and companions on the second floor. HMGs on the rooftop of both buildings, one per corner.

Crops and scrapper benches are built directly behind their barracks(36 points of food and 4 benches), merchants line the sidewalk in front of the workshop, with a few more turrets covering the doorways.

I only have 2 full time guards assigned, they man a pair of elevated posts facing the bridge, supported by 6 HMGs, with a small barracks nearby; this lets them slaughter random beasties chasing Provisioners and traveling merchants on the road from Red Rocket.

Using this basic setup seems to work well for keeping settlers somewhat confined, they'll typically be at work, at play or in bed; note that I also use clothing and renamed weapons to ensure at a glance folks are where they should be.