In simple English
This tool creates tiny virtual machines to run software safely. It is built for AI agents that need to execute code without breaking your computer. Each virtual machine has its own operating system kernel for isolation. You can save a running machine, pause it, or branch it into multiple copies. The software is free and open-source, and you can run it on your own laptop or server.
What it is
A branchable microVM runtime written in Rust that boots OCI container images as hardware-isolated virtual machines without a Docker daemon. It uses libkrun and the host hypervisor to provide fast boot times and elastic memory.
What it is good for
Solo builders who need a safe sandbox to let AI agents run generated code or test scripts without risking the host system.
- Boots in under a second with elastic memory allocation.
- Can pause, resume, and branch running machines instantly.
- Includes software development kits for Node, Python, Rust, and Go.
- Requires hardware virtualization support enabled in your operating system.
- GPU acceleration is not supported on Windows.
- Needs familiarity with command-line tools to configure networks and mounts.
Heavy Docker setups and manual QEMU virtual machine configurations.
Docker container images and Node.js backend scripts.
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curl -sSL https://smolmachines.com/install.sh | bash