On-box programmability allows networking devices to run scripts and programs directly on the device to enable event-driven automation and monitoring. The document discusses how Cisco, Juniper, Arista, and now Catalyst devices support various scripting languages like Python, Tcl, and Lua through mechanisms like Cisco's Embedded Event Manager (EEM). It provides an example of using EEM and a Python script on a Catalyst 3850 to detect routing table changes and post a message to Cisco Spark, demonstrating how on-box programmability can integrate with external systems.