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canonical/multipass

Multipass orchestrates virtual Ubuntu instances observed · 2026-08-28

github.com/canonical/multipass · homepage · C++ · GPL-3.0 (copyleft) observed · 2026-08-28

Health v2 · maintenance only

90/100

  • Activity 99
  • Release rhythm 74
  • Longevity 100
How is this computed?

round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.

  • gap_med: 66.0
  • age_days: 3185
  • days_rel: 99
  • days_push: 7
  • n_releases_24m: 7

Full methodology

Adoption not part of the score

9219 stars · 825 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

Multipass is a lightweight VM manager from Canonical that orchestrates Ubuntu virtual machines on Linux, Windows, and macOS using native hypervisors (KVM, Hyper-V, QEMU, or VirtualBox). It lets developers launch fresh, cloud-init-configured Ubuntu instances with a single command, simulating a small cloud deployment locally.

Use cases

  • spin up an Ubuntu VM with a single command
  • simulate cloud deployments locally with cloud-init
  • test software on different Ubuntu releases
  • run MicroK8s or other services in a disposable VM
  • get a clean Linux development environment on Windows or macOS
  • prototype cloud instance configuration before deploying to AWS or Azure

When to choose

  • you need quick, disposable Ubuntu environments on any workstation
  • you want cloud-init-based provisioning like a public cloud
  • you want minimal-overhead VMs using native hypervisors
  • you want automatic Ubuntu image fetching and updates

When to avoid

  • you need to run non-Ubuntu guest operating systems
  • you need full-featured VM management like snapshots, complex networking, or GUI guests
  • you want container-style lightweight isolation rather than full VMs

Facets

cli-tool · maturity active

cli deployment developer-tools configuration-management developer-tools cloud-computing self-hosted windows cli virtualization ubuntu vm-manager cloud-init qemu hyper-v kvm virtualbox devops linux macos

8 sources

Member repositories

RepositoryRoleHealth v2
canonical/multipassmain90

For agents

markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="canonical/multipass")

Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem