# ministackorg/ministack

Ministack: Free, open-source local AWS emulator - 60+ services, Terraform compatible, real databases. Free forever. MIT   licensed.

Repository: https://github.com/ministackorg/ministack
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/ministack
Homepage: https://ministack.org
Language: Python
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: aws, docker, emulator, localstack, python, ministack, dynamodb, lambda, s3, aws-local, aws-emulator, localstack-alternative, aws-sdk, devtools, ec2, mock-aws, open-source, sqs, terraform
Last push: 2026-08-26T18:40:57+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 77/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 87, longevity 11
- inputs: {"age_days": 162, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 7, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 190}
- flags: young
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 4140, forks 401 (observed 2026-08-28T04:08:36.145345+00:00)

## What it is
MiniStack is a free, MIT-licensed local AWS emulator that mimics 60+ AWS services (S3, SQS, SNS, DynamoDB, Lambda, EC2, RDS, ElastiCache, ECS, Athena, Bedrock, and more) on a single port (4566). It is a drop-in replacement for LocalStack Community that works with any AWS SDK, CLI, or IaC tool (boto3, AWS CLI, Terraform, CDK, Pulumi) without configuration changes, and can spin up real infrastructure such as actual Postgres/MySQL containers, real Redis/Valkey, and real Docker containers for ECS.

## Use cases
- run AWS services locally for free without a paid LocalStack license
- test S3, DynamoDB, SQS, and Lambda code offline without touching real AWS or incurring costs
- integrate AWS emulation into CI/CD pipelines with a lightweight, fast-starting container
- spin up real Postgres and Redis containers via RDS and ElastiCache APIs for integration testing
- use Terraform, CDK, or Pulumi against a local fake AWS cloud
- simulate multi-account and multi-region AWS environments on a single endpoint
- test Amazon Bedrock LLM calls locally by proxying to Ollama, llama.cpp, or vLLM
- learn AWS concepts safely on a laptop with a disposable fake cloud

## When to choose
- you need a free, MIT-licensed alternative after LocalStack moved core services behind a paywall
- you want a tiny footprint (~280MB image, ~30MB RAM idle) and sub-2-second startup for local dev or CI
- you need drop-in compatibility with existing AWS SDKs, CLIs, and Terraform without config changes
- you want real backing infrastructure (actual Postgres, Redis, Docker containers) rather than pure mocks
- you need multi-account and multi-region isolation on a single local endpoint

## When to avoid
- you need production-grade fidelity to real AWS behavior for critical pre-production validation
- you depend on a specific AWS service or edge-case API behavior not among the 60+ emulated services
- you require LocalStack Pro features or vendor support contracts
- you need persistent, durable storage that survives restarts without extra configuration (state persistence is opt-in via environment variables)

## Facets
- artifact type: service
- maturity: active
- function: testing, mock-api, http-server, developer-tools, self-hosted, container-runtime, llm-inference, database, caching, message-queue, object-storage, infrastructure-as-code, deployment, cloud
- domain: cloud-computing, testing, developer-tools, self-hosted, infrastructure-as-code, databases, apis
- platform: python, cli, self-hosted, cross-platform
- tags: aws-emulator, localstack-alternative, mock-aws, local-development, terraform-compatible, boto3, aws-cli, cloudformation, testcontainers, multi-account, multi-region, single-port, ephemeral-state, ci-cd-testing, bedrock-proxy, duckdb, real-databases, mit-licensed, asgi, sigv4, devops, containers, automation, docker, web-server

## Member repositories
- ministackorg/ministack (main) score 77

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.145345+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:22:59.353123+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/ministackorg/ministack (fetched 2026-08-28T04:08:36.145345+00:00, sha a2316be10bed)
  - homepage: https://ministack.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:14:01.849405+00:00, sha d73abe4363f8)
  - site_page: https://ministack.org/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T09:14:01.853613+00:00, sha 6de68a3456e5)
  - site_page: https://ministack.org/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-29T09:14:01.855815+00:00, sha 016c532e6f61)
  - registry_pypi: https://pypi.org/pypi/ministack/json (fetched 2026-08-29T09:14:01.857872+00:00, sha 53b40d3b4caf)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.