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nix-mariner

NixOS microVM modules for creating development environments that isolated untrusted code from your host.

Built on microvm.nix.

What it does

  • Provides NixOS modules importable as a flake input.
  • Creates persistent microVM environments to isolate untrusted code away from the host.
  • Preconfigured: SSH, Docker, direnv, shared /nix/store, persistent storage, bridge networking, etc.

Imperative and Declarative workflows

The documentation covers both imperative and declarative workflows. Before either, set up the host once: Host setup.

Imperative

Creates VM with microvm -c. The only host NixOS changes are the one-time Host setup.

See Imperative Virtual Machines.

Declarative

VMs defined inside the host’s NixOS configurations with microvm.vms.<name>.

See Declarative Virtual Machines.

Per-VM Customizations

You can change and override microvm.nix and nixos module configurations for each VM. Overrides work the same in both imperative and declarative modes.

See Customizing VMs.