sdme

Lightweight systemd-nspawn container manager with overlayfs. A single static binary that creates and manages Linux containers -- each boots full systemd over a copy-on-write layer, keeping the base rootfs untouched. No daemon, no runtime dependency beyond systemd.

What you can do

1. Clone your machine for experimentation

Create an overlayfs clone of your running system, boot systemd inside it, and land in your own shell with your $HOME and configs. Install packages, change configs, break things -- the host is untouched.

sudo sdme new

When you are done, manage containers with:

sudo sdme ps              # list containers and their status
sudo sdme join <name>     # re-enter a running container
sudo sdme stop <name>     # stop a container
sudo sdme rm <name>       # remove a container

2. Import a root filesystem from virtually any source

Import from OCI registries, local directories, tarballs, URLs, or QCOW2 cloud images. Each imported rootfs is a reusable template -- spin up as many containers as you want from it. Supported distros: Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, CentOS, AlmaLinux, Arch Linux, CachyOS, openSUSE, and NixOS.

sudo sdme fs import ubuntu docker.io/ubuntu:24.04
sudo sdme fs import fedora quay.io/fedora/fedora
sudo sdme fs import archlinux docker.io/archlinux

# Create containers from imported rootfs
sudo sdme new -r ubuntu
sudo sdme new -r fedora
sudo sdme new -r archlinux

See docs/usage.md for the full list of import sources.

3. Import OCI applications into your nspawn container

Any OCI image (nginx, redis, postgresql, anything on Docker Hub or any registry) runs as a systemd service inside a booted container. No Docker or Podman required.

sudo sdme fs import ubuntu docker.io/ubuntu:24.04 -v --install-packages=yes
sudo sdme fs import redis docker.io/redis --base-fs=ubuntu -v
sudo sdme new -r redis

Inside the container, the app is a managed systemd service. From outside, use sdme logs and sdme exec:

sudo sdme logs --oci <name>
sudo sdme exec --oci <name> redis-cli ping

See OCI integration for the full story.

4. Run a Kubernetes pod in your nspawn container

Run Kubernetes Pod YAML directly as nspawn containers. Multi-container pods, shared volumes, init containers, secrets, and configmaps are all supported.

apiVersion: v1
kind: Pod
metadata:
  name: myapp
spec:
  containers:
  - name: nginx
    image: docker.io/nginx:latest
    ports:
    - containerPort: 80
  - name: redis
    image: docker.io/redis:latest
  - name: mysql
    image: docker.io/mysql:latest
    env:
    - name: MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD
      value: secret

sudo sdme kube apply -f pod.yaml --base-fs ubuntu

See Kubernetes pod support for the full spec.