MiniBox is a lightweight container engine for Linux. It builds images from MiniBox files using a DAG-based parallel build system, stores them in an OCI-like blob store, and runs containers with full namespace isolation, cgroups v2 resource limits, and iptables-based networking — all driven by a root daemon and a simple CLI.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/chaitu426/minibox/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Quickstart
Build and run your first container in under five minutes.
Installation
Install the
minibox CLI and miniboxd daemon on Linux.MiniBox File
Learn the MiniBox file format and its DAG-based build directives.
CLI Reference
Full reference for every CLI command, flag, and environment variable.
What MiniBox Provides
MiniBox implements the core of a container engine from scratch, making it excellent for understanding how containers work and for lightweight local container workloads.DAG Builds
Parallel block-based builds with content-addressed caching.
OCI Storage
Blob store with
index.json for image management and portability.Namespace Isolation
PID, UTS, MNT, and NET namespace isolation per container.
Cgroups v2
Memory, CPU, and IO limits enforced via Linux cgroups v2.
Compose
Multi-container orchestration with service discovery.
HTTP API
Daemon REST API for programmatic container lifecycle control.
How It Works
Write a MiniBox file
Define your image using
BASE, BLOCK, and START directives. Blocks run in parallel waves based on their NEED dependencies.Start the daemon
Run
sudo -E miniboxd to start the HTTP API and container runtime backend on 127.0.0.1:8080.Build your image
Run
minibox build -t myapp . to parse your MiniBox file, execute DAG build blocks, and store the result as an OCI-like image.MiniBox requires Linux and a root daemon for networking and overlayfs mounts. It is designed for testing and learning. Always test in a VM before deploying to shared systems.