smolvm smolvm
smolvm is an embeddable, portable, branchable microVM built to run coding agents and untrusted code safely on a local machine. It boots OCI container images inside a hardware-isolated VM in under 200ms and exposes a sandboxed shell, filesystem, and networking that agents such as Claude Code, Codex, and Pi can use as their execution environment.
Released v1.17.0 on September 21, 2026 with near-daily releases; the project passed 6,200 GitHub stars in September 2026 and has been discussed on r/ClaudeCode as a container alternative for agent sandboxes.
As of
- Sub-200ms boot of OCI images inside a hardware-isolated microVM
- Snapshot and branch VM state to fork agent runs or roll back
- Sandboxed shell for untrusted programs and agent tool calls
- Runs on Linux (KVM) and macOS (Hypervisor.framework) with a single binary
- Integrations for Claude Code, Codex, and Pi coding agents
- Embeddable library and CLI for scripting VM lifecycles
Developers who want stronger-than-container isolation for coding agents running on their laptop, or who need to fork and replay agent execution state.
Users on Windows hosts, environments without hardware virtualization, or teams that need a managed cloud sandbox service rather than a local runtime.
smolvm is free and Apache-2.0 licensed. It runs entirely on your own hardware (Linux KVM or macOS Hypervisor.framework) with no hosted service or paid tier.
smolvm is a practical answer to "containers are not a security boundary" for local agent workloads, with fast boot and branching that containers cannot match; it is still early and platform support is limited to Linux and macOS.
Is smolvm free?
Yes - smolvm is Open Source. smolvm is free and Apache-2.0 licensed. It runs entirely on your own hardware (Linux KVM or macOS Hypervisor.framework) with no hosted service or paid tier.
Is smolvm open source?
Yes - smolvm is open source. smolvm is free and Apache-2.0 licensed. It runs entirely on your own hardware (Linux KVM or macOS Hypervisor.framework) with no hosted service or paid tier.
Who is smolvm best for?
Developers who want stronger-than-container isolation for coding agents running on their laptop, or who need to fork and replay agent execution state.
Who is smolvm not ideal for?
Users on Windows hosts, environments without hardware virtualization, or teams that need a managed cloud sandbox service rather than a local runtime.
What are the best smolvm alternatives?
The closest smolvm alternatives on ai.dosa.dev are Pieces for Developers, agenttrace, Vibe Kanban - all listed under Developer Productivity & Workflow.
Who makes smolvm?
smolvm is developed by smol machines. It is listed in the Developer Productivity & Workflow category on ai.dosa.dev.
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