Build your software with end-to-end provenance across the org for developers and agents.
Complete and total isolation.
Sandbox in restrained microVMs to keep your day moving.
Total control over workflows.
A personalized workspace that keeps environment parity.
Scale across every machine.
Run your workload anywhere, from anything. We mean it.
Receipts for every environment.
Verified provenance and CVE for all env dependencies.
➜ webapp git:(feat/485-terminaldemo-sessions) ✗$ mip run test
[ What is Minimal? ]
Minimal provides reproducible environments that run isolated in libkrun microVMs. Declare your packages and dependencies once, in a configuration that lives with your code and travels across branches, forks, and worktrees.
Minimal is proudly open source.
| Docker | Nix | Minimal | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rapid Invocation | no | no | yes |
| Environmental parity | partial | yes | yes |
| Stateful | partial | no | yes |
| Durable | yes | no | yes |
| Supply chain visibility | partial | yes | yes |
| Local-First | yes | yes | yes |
| Isolation boundary | container | filepath | microVM |
[ Why Minimal? ]
A Trusted, Observable Supply Chain
Components in Minimal environments are built from source, in compliance with SLSA L3.
Infinitely Scalable Environments
Machine agnostic daemons build your code within reproducible, isolated sandboxes on your machine of choice.
[ Packages ]
Minimal's package repository supports an expanding library of open source software and languages. All packages are defined by Nickel-based build specs, compiled from source, and built in a hermetically sealed environment.
Minimal ensures that every package has extensive provenance and regular security reviews. Everything comes with:
[ Session management ]
Minimal operates in sessions: dynamic environments that you control across various machines. Sessions provide isolation for agents, allowing for parallel workflows without process and dependency pollution.
Sessions are stateful and built with a native understanding of your Git worktree context, file patches, and tool configurations. All sessions are booted with the dependencies required and a loadout–your preferences for editors, terminals, and more.
[ Agentic AI ]
Minimal was built by security experts who understand that AI brings real value… with a lot of risk. To build safely at the speed that agents operate, Minimal has specific security features including:
Managed hermetic builds, org-wide policy enforcement, audit-ready attestation, and more!
[upstream]
repo = "https://github.com/gominimal/pkgs"
branch = "main"
[stack]
use = "rust"
[defaults]
state_key = "dev"
[session]
packages = ["base", "vim", "git"][ Install ]
Minimal is currently in public beta and available now for local download on Linux and macOS.
Download Minimal v0.5.0:
curl --proto "=https" --tlsv1.2 -fsSL https://go.minimal.dev/stable | shpress 'c' to copy
Read the DocsHave more questions? Ask us on Discord.
Because developers, managers, and infosec teams deserve better. Every tool on the market demands a tradeoff. You can have isolation OR speed, reproducibility OR simplicity, usability OR supply chain security. Minimal was created to provide a consistent foundation for software development, from safe dependency ingestion to secure deployable artifact.
Minimal supports x86-64 and ARM64 on Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or later, and ARM64 on macOS 26.3 or later.
Minimal supports most modern languages, such as C, C++, Rust, Python, Java, Go, and JavaScript.
Minimal uses microVMs on endpoints that are likely to contain sensitive information. On Linux, Minimal has lightweight controls focused on balancing isolation and performance through traditional process sandboxing.