{"slug": "smolvm", "name": "smolvm", "category": "infra", "category_name": "Infrastructure and DevOps", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 6, "warners": 0, "score": 4.203, "rising": 2.67, "first": "2026-04-17", "latest": "2026-10-01", "why": "has \"smolvm\" microvms with better performance and ergonomics and security than docker, you might want to give it a try. (No affiliation, I just like what they're doing.)", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 2, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "has \"smolvm\" microvms with better performance and ergonomics and security than docker, you might want to give it a try. (No affiliation, I just like what they're doing.)", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "official_url": "https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["smolvm", "SmolVM"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 798730832, "item_id": 49920677, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49920677", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I tried to use smolvm[0] on macOS and although its really great but then it was still a bit of an hassle", "excerpt": "At first, I had thought what is its point, but this post made me wonder about the fact that I myself don't use sandboxes (even though I very much think that they are a good option and recommend it to other people!) I tried to use smolvm[0] on macOS and although its really great but then it was still a bit of an hassle to install maki.sh and It wasn't an entirely smooth sailing process in the start and I can see why t", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing agents on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Autobox \u2013 Make your agents sandbox themselves"}, {"id": 797156721, "item_id": 49822295, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49822295", "by": "dbmikus", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Use your favorite VMM / hypervisor (likbrun, smolvm, microsandbox, etc).", "excerpt": "You don't need to do this on a cloud, you can get the same type of VM and network jail running on your own computer. The important parts are: 1. a VMM hypervisor 2. a network proxy / gateway Use your favorite VMM / hypervisor (likbrun, smolvm, microsandbox, etc). They give you control over the network interface or let you inject your own network layer. The network proxy can handle all the ingress/egress rules, creden", "context": "builds open core tools for sandboxed agents", "use_case": "sandboxing agents in VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloud Agents Are Inevitable AI Prisons"}, {"id": 789538192, "item_id": 49346137, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49346137", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "smolvm or microsandbox are great options", "excerpt": "If you want something cross-platform, smolvm or microsandbox are great options(built on top of libkrun vmm)! If you are looking for linux-only, the typical choices are firecracker-based solutions.", "context": "", "use_case": "cross-platform microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub"}, {"id": 789395600, "item_id": 49337225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337225", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use an awesome project called smolvm that builds on libkrun", "excerpt": "Agree. I'm always surprised Github still uses huge fat VMs. I imagine this is one of the things that make it much painful at scale. The tricky part with microvms are getting them to run cross-platform. We use an awesome project called smolvm that builds on libkrun and makes this alot easier. As an aside, how have forgejo actions worked for you in practice?", "context": "", "use_case": "cross-platform microVMs for CI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub"}, {"id": 782319920, "item_id": 48894995, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48894995", "by": "chrisweekly", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "has \"smolvm\" microvms with better performance and ergonomics and security than docker, you might want to give it a try. (No affiliation, I just like what they're doing.)", "excerpt": "https://smolmachines.com has \"smolvm\" microvms with better performance and ergonomics and security than docker, you might want to give it a try. (No affiliation, I just like what they're doing.)", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Grok uploaded my user directory to xAI's servers"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "dbmikus", "context": "builds open core tools for sandboxed agents", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49822295", "date": "2026-09-23"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["sandboxing coding agents", "sandboxing agents on macos", "sandboxing agents in vms", "cross-platform microvms", "cross-platform microvms for ci", "microvm isolation"], "compared": [{"slug": "firecracker", "name": "Firecracker", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "libkrun", "name": "libkrun", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "microsandbox", "name": "microsandbox", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 799190112, "item_id": 49949382, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49949382", "by": "binsquare", "date": "2026-10-04", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I focus on being the batteries-included approach for microVMs.", "excerpt": "thanks! author of smolvm here. I focus on being the batteries-included approach for microVMs. So network is off by default, and you can allow specific hosts (DNS is filtered too), so an agent can reach its model API and nothing else. And then I also put a lot of work in the jailer-style hardening around the VMM process itself: seccomp allowlist, Landlock, separate unprivileged uid per VM, and cgroup limits. So that u", "context": "author of smolvm", "use_case": "sandboxing agents in microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Pi pod \u2013 Run your pi coding agent in sandboxes on your own server"}, {"id": 795247456, "item_id": 49702966, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49702966", "by": "binsquare", "date": "2026-09-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a new sandboxing primitive that works locally/remotely to introduce \"branchable compute\"", "excerpt": "I'm building smol machines, a new sandboxing primitive that works locally/remotely to introduce \"branchable compute\". It's an idea I had to basically makes it possible to checkpoint, branch, rollback the entire vm kind of like git but on the entire computer. https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "context": "", "use_case": "checkpoint, branch, rollback VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (September 2026)"}, {"id": 787786768, "item_id": 49236673, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49236673", "by": "binsquare", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "A lightweight ,portable virtual machine that simplifies/replaces need for containers.", "excerpt": "A lightweight ,portable virtual machine that simplifies/replaces need for containers. https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "context": "", "use_case": "lightweight VM replacing containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)"}, {"id": 782190608, "item_id": 48886913, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48886913", "by": "binsquare", "date": "2026-07-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a hybrid that combines isolation of VM with speed and flexibility of containers", "excerpt": "smol machines: just in time cloud infrastructure https://www.smolmachines.com I am building it on top of a new primitive called smolvm: a hybrid that combines isolation of VM with speed and flexibility of containers. https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "context": "", "use_case": "lightweight VM isolation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2026)"}, {"id": 780022048, "item_id": 48751378, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751378", "by": "binsquare", "date": "2026-07-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I build a local, cross platform virtual machine for this purpose", "excerpt": "I build a local, cross platform virtual machine for this purpose: https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Secure Wrapper for Coding Agents"}, {"id": 777928704, "item_id": 48620544, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48620544", "by": "binsquare", "date": "2026-06-21", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Author of a free open source alternative to slicer, based on a fork of libkrun", "excerpt": "Author of a free open source alternative to slicer, based on a fork of libkrun (not firecracker based) that runs locally across wsl, macOS, and Linux natively. https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "context": "author", "use_case": "local microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Running MicroVMs in Proxmox VE, the Easy Way"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49331033", "title": "Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49233423", "title": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48892512", "title": "Grok uploaded my user directory to xAI's servers", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49937304", "title": "Show HN: Pi pod \u2013 Run your pi coding agent in sandboxes on your own server", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49920001", "title": "Show HN: Autobox \u2013 Make your agents sandbox themselves", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49820267", "title": "Cloud Agents Are Inevitable AI Prisons", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"compare": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"compare": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 798730832, "item_id": 49920677, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49920677", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-10-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I tried to use smolvm[0] on macOS and although its really great but then it was still a bit of an hassle", "excerpt": "At first, I had thought what is its point, but this post made me wonder about the fact that I myself don't use sandboxes (even though I very much think that they are a good option and recommend it to other people!) I tried to use smolvm[0] on macOS and although its really great but then it was still a bit of an hassle to install maki.sh and It wasn't an entirely smooth sailing process in the start and I can see why t", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing agents on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Autobox \u2013 Make your agents sandbox themselves"}, {"id": 797156721, "item_id": 49822295, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49822295", "by": "dbmikus", "date": "2026-09-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Use your favorite VMM / hypervisor (likbrun, smolvm, microsandbox, etc).", "excerpt": "You don't need to do this on a cloud, you can get the same type of VM and network jail running on your own computer. The important parts are: 1. a VMM hypervisor 2. a network proxy / gateway Use your favorite VMM / hypervisor (likbrun, smolvm, microsandbox, etc). They give you control over the network interface or let you inject your own network layer. The network proxy can handle all the ingress/egress rules, creden", "context": "builds open core tools for sandboxed agents", "use_case": "sandboxing agents in VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Cloud Agents Are Inevitable AI Prisons"}, {"id": 789538192, "item_id": 49346137, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49346137", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-08-18", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "smolvm or microsandbox are great options", "excerpt": "If you want something cross-platform, smolvm or microsandbox are great options(built on top of libkrun vmm)! If you are looking for linux-only, the typical choices are firecracker-based solutions.", "context": "", "use_case": "cross-platform microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub"}, {"id": 789395600, "item_id": 49337225, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49337225", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We use an awesome project called smolvm that builds on libkrun", "excerpt": "Agree. I'm always surprised Github still uses huge fat VMs. I imagine this is one of the things that make it much painful at scale. The tricky part with microvms are getting them to run cross-platform. We use an awesome project called smolvm that builds on libkrun and makes this alot easier. As an aside, how have forgejo actions worked for you in practice?", "context": "", "use_case": "cross-platform microVMs for CI", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Alternatives to GitHub"}, {"id": 787754786, "item_id": 49234674, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234674", "by": "Bnjoroge", "date": "2026-08-09", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "uses smolvm which uses libkrun vmm", "excerpt": "Lots of fun projects being listed. I'm working on Preloop(https://preloop.dev), a way to run your unmodified Github Actions locally or self-hosted in isolated cross-platform microvms(uses smolvm which uses libkrun vmm).I got frustrated with Github Actions reliability and inability to run or test my workflows locally so i re-wrote the runner and reverse-engineered the control plane so it follows the exact runner proto", "context": "", "use_case": "microVM isolation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)"}, {"id": 782319920, "item_id": 48894995, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48894995", "by": "chrisweekly", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "has \"smolvm\" microvms with better performance and ergonomics and security than docker, you might want to give it a try. (No affiliation, I just like what they're doing.)", "excerpt": "https://smolmachines.com has \"smolvm\" microvms with better performance and ergonomics and security than docker, you might want to give it a try. (No affiliation, I just like what they're doing.)", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Grok uploaded my user directory to xAI's servers"}, {"id": 782313232, "item_id": 48894577, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48894577", "by": "theaniketmaurya", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "that's why you need to use a sandbox.", "excerpt": "that's why you need to use a sandbox. SmolVM can easily run Pi, codex and claude https://github.com/CelestoAI/smolVM", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Grok uploaded my user directory to xAI's servers"}, {"id": 774954450, "item_id": 48434653, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48434653", "by": "mathstuf", "date": "2026-06-07", "stance": "compare", "quote": "smolvm: https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm", "excerpt": "There are a number of utilities for this. I use jai: https://jai.scs.stanford.edu/ but also have seen nono: https://github.com/always-further/nono smolvm: https://github.com/smol-machines/smolvm zerobox https://github.com/afshinm/zerobox and matchlock https://github.com/jingkaihe/matchlock They all have pros and cons. Pick the one that suits you best. Then you're also agent harness flexible (I use opencode).", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing AI agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Anthropic, please ship an official Claude Desktop for Linux"}, {"id": 765018352, "item_id": 47813647, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47813647", "by": "tkocmathla", "date": "2026-04-17", "stance": "compare", "quote": "How does smolvm's pack compare to something like dockerc [0] in terms of speed and size?", "excerpt": "How \"fat\" are the packed machines? In other words, how much bloat is inevitable, or is that entirely controlled by the base image + the user's smolvm machine spec? How does smolvm's pack compare to something like dockerc [0] in terms of speed and size? Disclaimer: I just learned about dockerc! I can't actually create and test a pack right now because of [1], but I love the idea of using this to distribute application", "context": "", "use_case": "distributing applications as packed VMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Smol machines \u2013 subsecond coldstart, portable virtual machines"}]}