# oracle/railcar

RailCar: Rust implementation of the Open Containers Initiative oci-runtime

Repository: https://github.com/oracle/railcar
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/railcar
Language: Rust
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: docker, containers
Archived: true
Last push: 2019-10-15T03:08:17+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3355, "days_push": 2514, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1120, forks 101 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:39.564845+00:00)

## What it is
RailCar is a Rust implementation of the OCI container runtime specification, similar to runc, built for memory safety without garbage collection. It can run OCI bundles directly or serve as a Docker runtime backend.

## Use cases
- run OCI container bundles without runc
- use a memory-safe container runtime with Docker
- experiment with container runtime internals in Rust
- replace runc as a Docker runtime backend
- run containers with a single-threaded low-overhead runtime

## When to choose
- you want an OCI runtime written in Rust for memory safety
- you need a minimal runc-like runtime for Linux containers
- you're studying or extending container runtime implementations

## When to avoid
- you need full runc feature parity such as checkpoint/restore
- you need an actively maintained runtime for production
- you need support for non-Linux platforms

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: abandoned
- function: container-runtime, cli
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: rust
- tags: oci-runtime, runc-alternative, memory-safety, low-level-container-runtime, containers, devops, linux, docker

## Member repositories
- oracle/railcar (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:39.564845+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 2026-08-30T06:41:07.006360+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/oracle/railcar (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:39.564845+00:00, sha ebe8179c9776)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/railcar (fetched 2026-08-29T12:44:52.823583+00:00, sha d40560af54b9)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.