SmolVM: CLI Tool for Portable, Lightweight Virtual Machines
By
binsquare
If you only eat one bagel today, this is the bagel.
Summary
SmolVM is a CLI tool for building and running portable, lightweight, self-contained virtual machines. It enables users to manage custom Linux VMs with sub-second cold starts, cross-platform support (macOS, Linux), and elastic memory usage. The tool allows packing stateful virtual machines into single files (.smolmachine) that can be rehydrated on any supported platform, making it useful for sandboxing untrusted code in hardware-isolated environments and creating portable executables.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledShip and run software with isolation by default.
Manage and run custom Linux virtual machines locally with: sub-second cold start, cross-platform (macOS, Linux), elastic memory usage.
Pack a stateful virtual machine into a single file (.smolmachine) to rehydrate on any supported platform.
Sandbox untrusted code — run untrusted programs in a hardware-isolated VM. Host filesystem, network, and credentials are separated by a hypervisor boundary.
Pack into portable executables
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