firecracker

An open source virtualization technology from AWS that runs container and function workloads in lightweight microVMs, trading features for a smaller attack surface.

Firecracker is an open source virtualization technology built for creating and managing secure, multi tenant, container and function based services. Its mission, per the README, is secure, multi tenant, minimal overhead execution of container and function workloads. Workloads run in lightweight virtual machines called microVMs, which combine the security and isolation of hardware virtualization with the speed and flexibility of containers. The main component is a virtual machine monitor built on the Linux Kernel Virtual Machine. The mission statement appears in the README nearly word for word, which is unusual for a project of this size. Rust is the primary language and the license is Apache-2.0.

The design is deliberately minimalist. Unnecessary devices and guest facing functionality are excluded to reduce memory footprint and attack surface, which improves security, shortens startup time, and raises hardware utilization. The README frames those exclusions as deliberate choices rather than missing work, and that trade off is the whole point of the project. Firecracker has been integrated into container runtimes such as Kata Containers and Flintlock.

Firecracker was developed at Amazon Web Services to accelerate the speed and efficiency of services like AWS Lambda and AWS Fargate, and it is open sourced under Apache 2.0. Getting started means downloading the latest release binaries or building from source, and the homepage is firecracker-microvm.io. The Lambda and Fargate connection explains why the project exists in the first place. The README's framing stays focused on serverless operational models throughout, and the microVM design is presented as the answer to the tension between isolation and startup speed.

• Source 1 · Project repository
• Source 2 · README