krunvm
A command-line tool that creates lightweight microVMs from OCI container images using libkrun.
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About krunvm
krunvm turns OCI container images into microVMs, using libkrun for the virtual machine and buildah for image handling. It boots quickly, needs no disk image upkeep and requires no network configuration.
Host folders can be mapped into the guest and guest ports exposed to the host. It runs on Linux with KVM on x86_64 and AArch64, and on macOS with the Hypervisor framework. It suits developers who want container-style workflows with virtual machine isolation.
Strengths
- Builds microVMs directly from OCI images
- Fast boot with a small footprint
- Host volume mapping and port exposure
- Runs on Linux and macOS
Limitations
- Command-line only
- Depends on libkrun and buildah being installed
Details
- Pricing
- FreeFree to use from its GitHub repository.
- License
- Proprietary
- Developer
- The libkrun contributors
- Platforms
- macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Best suited for
- Developers who want VM isolation with container images
- Categories
- Virtual machines, Container tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Facts checked against the developer's own pages and store listings, 1 sources on file.
Alternatives to krunvm
Compare allSoftware that can replace krunvm for an important use case, and what changes if you switch.
Firecracker
Run isolated workloads inside lightweight Linux microVMs.
Firecracker runs lightweight Linux microVMs under the Apache-2.0 license, but runs only on Linux hosts and needs low-level configuration instead of building from OCI images.
Lima
Launches Linux virtual machines from the command line on macOS, Linux and Windows, with file sharing and port forwarding set up automatically.
Lima launches Linux VMs from the command line on macOS, Linux and Windows with automatic file sharing and port forwarding, and is open source under Apache-2.0.
Kata Containers
An open-source container runtime that runs each container inside a lightweight virtual machine for stronger isolation.
Kata Containers runs each container in a lightweight VM through containerd and existing container tooling, is open source, and targets Linux operators rather than individual developers.
Cloud Hypervisor
An open source virtual machine monitor written in Rust for running modern cloud workloads on KVM.
Cloud Hypervisor is an open source Rust VMM with fast boot and a REST API, but runs only on Linux KVM hosts and does not build VMs from OCI images.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
crosvm
A hosted virtual machine monitor written in Rust that runs guest operating systems inside sandboxed virtual devices.
Sysbox
A container runtime that lets rootless containers run systemd, Docker and Kubernetes like virtual machines.
Multipass
Canonical's tool for launching a fresh Ubuntu virtual machine with one command, on Windows, macOS or Linux.
Rancher Desktop
Runs Kubernetes and containers locally on Windows, macOS and Linux, as an open-source alternative to Docker Desktop.
