{"slug": "microvm-nix", "name": "microvm.nix", "category": "infra", "category_name": "Infrastructure and DevOps", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 7, "warners": 1, "score": 3.156, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2026-02-04", "latest": "2026-09-29", "why": "I was looking for a way to isolate my agents in a more convenient way, and I really love your idea.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 1, 2, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I was looking for a way to isolate my agents in a more convenient way, and I really love your idea.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://github.com/microvm-nix/microvm.nix", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["microvm.nix", "MicroVM.nix"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 778503856, "item_id": 48656491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48656491", "by": "funcDropShadow", "date": "2026-06-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You could manage those VMs with https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/", "excerpt": "You could manage those VMs with https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/ that helps with mounting the nix store read only from the host into the vm. That should save more space than trying to reduce the dependencies of the system closure of the vm.", "context": "", "use_case": "Managing NixOS VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "I can haz smoller NixOS ISOs?"}, {"id": 759723200, "item_id": 47482700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47482700", "by": "sshine", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I can recommend MicroVM.nix", "excerpt": "I can recommend MicroVM.nix, since it allows for multiple VM runtimes like QEMU, Firecracker, etc. There's also nixos-shell for ad-hoc virtual machines: https://github.com/mic92/nixos-shell", "context": "", "use_case": "NixOS microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why I love NixOS"}, {"id": 759710928, "item_id": 47481933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481933", "by": "whazor", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There is also https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/ if you want increased isolation.", "excerpt": "There is also https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/ if you want increased isolation.", "context": "", "use_case": "NixOS microVM isolation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why I love NixOS"}, {"id": 750218752, "item_id": 46888672, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46888672", "by": "0xcb0", "date": "2026-02-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I was looking for a way to isolate my agents in a more convenient way, and I really love your idea.", "excerpt": "I was looking for a way to isolate my agents in a more convenient way, and I really love your idea. I'm going to give this a try over the weekend and will report back. But the one-time setup seems like a really fair investment for having a more secure development. Of course, what concerns the problem of getting malicious code to production, this will not help. But this will, with a little overhead, I think, really ma", "context": "", "use_case": "isolating coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Coding Agent VMs on NixOS with Microvm.nix"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 777887872, "item_id": 48617992, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48617992", "by": "wereHamster", "date": "2026-06-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "microvm.nix isn't really well suited for that task.", "excerpt": "I was just looking into microvm (via microvm.nix) to isolate coding agents. While the machine starts quickly, as in the article, the userspace (nixos) takes much longer. I'd probably need to spend some time to strip the system of all non-essential services. I also briefly considered running the agent harness as PID 0. That would speed things up, but also mean a lot of responsibility on my end. My biggest struggle is ", "context": "", "use_case": "Imperative agent microVMs on NixOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running MicroVMs in Proxmox VE, the Easy Way"}]}], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["isolating services on nixos", "vm sandboxes", "managing nixos vms", "imperative agent microvms on nixos", "nixos microvms", "nixos microvm isolation"], "compared": [{"slug": "nixos", "name": "NixOS", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47479751", "title": "Why I love NixOS", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49891550", "title": "US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48892859", "title": "Show HN: Clawk \u2013 Give coding agents a disposable Linux VM, not your laptop", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48613610", "title": "I can haz smoller NixOS ISOs?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48599555", "title": "Running MicroVMs in Proxmox VE, the Easy Way", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46844410", "title": "Coding Agent VMs on NixOS with Microvm.nix", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 798325506, "item_id": 49895344, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49895344", "by": "erikw", "date": "2026-09-29", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'm currently experimenting with microvm.nix to see if that will be cleaner", "excerpt": "I think it depends on what they want it for. I can imagine NixOS being perfect for user workstations for example, as an alternative to Windows workstations managed with Active Directory. I imagine you have a lot more experience than I do packaging for NixOS and other distros given your product, but in the few cases that I've needed to run a binary, I just wrap it with a flake and it's done. I also stay on NixOS stabl", "context": "", "use_case": "isolating services on NixOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "US sanctions force The Netherlands off Microsoft and toward alternative NixOS"}, {"id": 782336753, "item_id": 48896047, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896047", "by": "cdata", "date": "2026-07-13", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "based on microvm.nix", "excerpt": "If you are a Nix flake enjoyer, I whipped up something similar to this (Claude Code-only right now) based on microvm.nix: https://github.com/cdata/katsuobushi/tree/main/lib/sandbox Some highlights: - Drives Claude Code as a quasi-subagent via \"Channels,\" which supports multi-turn interaction with the host and suspend / resume - Declarative configuration in the flake of exactly what is copied into the VM (besides the ", "context": "", "use_case": "VM sandboxes", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Clawk \u2013 Give coding agents a disposable Linux VM, not your laptop"}, {"id": 778503856, "item_id": 48656491, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48656491", "by": "funcDropShadow", "date": "2026-06-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "You could manage those VMs with https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/", "excerpt": "You could manage those VMs with https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/ that helps with mounting the nix store read only from the host into the vm. That should save more space than trying to reduce the dependencies of the system closure of the vm.", "context": "", "use_case": "Managing NixOS VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "I can haz smoller NixOS ISOs?"}, {"id": 777887872, "item_id": 48617992, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48617992", "by": "wereHamster", "date": "2026-06-21", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "microvm.nix isn't really well suited for that task.", "excerpt": "I was just looking into microvm (via microvm.nix) to isolate coding agents. While the machine starts quickly, as in the article, the userspace (nixos) takes much longer. I'd probably need to spend some time to strip the system of all non-essential services. I also briefly considered running the agent harness as PID 0. That would speed things up, but also mean a lot of responsibility on my end. My biggest struggle is ", "context": "", "use_case": "Imperative agent microVMs on NixOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running MicroVMs in Proxmox VE, the Easy Way"}, {"id": 759723200, "item_id": 47482700, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47482700", "by": "sshine", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I can recommend MicroVM.nix", "excerpt": "I can recommend MicroVM.nix, since it allows for multiple VM runtimes like QEMU, Firecracker, etc. There's also nixos-shell for ad-hoc virtual machines: https://github.com/mic92/nixos-shell", "context": "", "use_case": "NixOS microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why I love NixOS"}, {"id": 759710928, "item_id": 47481933, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47481933", "by": "whazor", "date": "2026-03-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "There is also https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/ if you want increased isolation.", "excerpt": "There is also https://microvm-nix.github.io/microvm.nix/ if you want increased isolation.", "context": "", "use_case": "NixOS microVM isolation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why I love NixOS"}, {"id": 750218752, "item_id": 46888672, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46888672", "by": "0xcb0", "date": "2026-02-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I was looking for a way to isolate my agents in a more convenient way, and I really love your idea.", "excerpt": "I was looking for a way to isolate my agents in a more convenient way, and I really love your idea. I'm going to give this a try over the weekend and will report back. But the one-time setup seems like a really fair investment for having a more secure development. Of course, what concerns the problem of getting malicious code to production, this will not help. But this will, with a little overhead, I think, really ma", "context": "", "use_case": "isolating coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Coding Agent VMs on NixOS with Microvm.nix"}]}