# Nanos

ops - build and run nanos unikernels

Repository: https://github.com/nanovms/ops
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/nanos
Homepage: https://ops.city
Language: Go
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: unikernels, devops, microservice, serverless, edge-computing, virtualization, operating-systems, minimalist, sandbox, orchestrator, imagebuilder, unikernel
Last push: 2026-08-23T21:05:57+00:00
Link (homepage): https://ops.city
Link (site_page): https://docs.ops.city/

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 82/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 51, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2914, "days_push": 10, "days_rel": 164, "gap_med": 93, "n_releases_24m": 4}
- flags: prerelease_only
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1512, forks 146 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:56.081046+00:00)

## What it is
Nanos is a unikernel written in C that runs exactly one application in a virtualized environment, with no users, ssh, or multi-process support, dramatically reducing attack surface and footprint. It is typically built and deployed via the companion OPS tool, which packages ELF binaries and deploys images to hypervisors and public clouds.

## Use cases
- package a node.js server as a minimal secure VM image
- deploy single-purpose microservices to AWS, GCE, or Azure as unikernels
- run a static Go binary in a tiny fast-booting VM
- reduce attack surface for edge services
- sandbox an application with hypervisor-level isolation
- build minimal VM images instead of using containers

## When to choose
- you want minimal, secure, single-application VM images for cloud or edge deployment
- you need fast boot times and small footprints compared to containers or full VMs
- you run one static binary or interpreted-language service per instance

## When to avoid
- you need a general-purpose OS with multiple processes, users, or ssh access
- you need to run many heterogeneous services on one host
- your workload requires kernel features or drivers Nanos does not support

## Facets
- artifact type: infra-config
- maturity: active
- function: container-runtime, security, deployment, cloud
- domain: operating-systems, cloud-computing, security, self-hosted
- platform: cloud, self-hosted
- tags: unikernel, kernel, virtualization, microvm, sandbox, edge-computing, single-process-os, ops-tool, devops, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- nanovms/ops (main) score 82
- nanovms/nanos (backend) score 82

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:56.081046+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 2026-08-30T07:24:59.432449+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/nanovms/ops (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:56.081046+00:00, sha 0f6e5271ade9)
  - homepage: https://ops.city (fetched 2026-08-29T09:38:54.337530+00:00, sha 84a144c5ccef)
  - site_page: https://docs.ops.city/ (fetched 2026-08-29T09:38:54.458991+00:00, sha 28cfe8e91ad1)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.