sorenericment / kraftkit

Build and use highly customized and ultra-lightweight unikernel VMs.

KraftKit 🚀🐒🧰

KraftKit provides a suite of tools and Go-based framework for building custom, minimal, immutable lightweight unikernel virtual machines based on Unikraft: a fast, secure and open-source library operating system.

With KraftKit, you can easily leverage Unikraft and manage specialized, high-performance applications at every stage of their lifecycle: from construction to production.

• Getting started guide 📖
• Key differences between containers and unikernels 🤔
• Join #kraftkit on Unikraft's Community Discord 👾

There are many benefits in running your application as a unikernel: for more information about the performance of unikernels 🚀, the added security 🔒 and a positive impact on the environment 🌱 please check out Unikraft's documentation and the introductory chapters on these impacts.

Features

• 🔥 Native Firecracker MicroVM support;
• 📚 Pre-built unikernel app catalog;
• 🤹‍♀️ Daemonless unikernel VM instance manager;
• 📦 OCI packaging and distribution support;
• 🚜 ELF binary / POSIX-compatibility support;
• 🧰 Go SDK for building unikernels programmatically; and
• 🚀 much more!

Installation

You can quickly and easily install KraftKit using the interactive installer. Simply run the following command to get started:

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://get.kraftkit.sh | sh

Alternatively, you can download the binaries from the releases pages.

Container build environment

KraftKit ships a container build environment which you can use instead of installing any dependencies directly on your host. It includes the kraft binary as well as all the additional tools and libraries for building Unikraft unikernels. Simply attach a working directory on your host as a mount path volume mapped to /workspace, e.g.:

docker run -it --rm -v $(pwd):/workspace --entrypoint bash kraftkit.sh/base:latest

The above command will drop you into a container shell. Simply type exit or Ctrl+D to quit.

Quickstart

Building a unikernel with KraftKit is designed to be simple.

Add a Kraftfile to your project directory, which specifies the libraries needed for your unikernel:

specification: v0.5

unikraft: stable

libraries:
  musl: stable

targets:
  - name: default
    architecture: x86_64
    platform: qemu

You can also add an additional Makefile.uk which specifies any source files:

$(eval $(call addlib,apphelloworld))

APPHELLOWORLD_SRCS-y += $(APPHELLOWORLD_BASE)/main.c

Then it is a case of running:

cd path/to/workdir

kraft pkg update
kraft build

You can run your unikernel using:

kraft run

Support, Community & Meetings

If you have any further questions or need more information about KraftKit or Unikraft, please refer to the official Unikraft documentation or ask for help on the Unikraft community forum.

A KraftKit Working Group (WG) meets every Wednesday at 12:30 PM (CET) on Discord. Invites and additional details are available on the Unikraft OSS Public calendar.

License

KraftKit is part of the Unikraft OSS Project and licensed under BSD-3-Clause.