# flintlock

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking MicroVMs — a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of Firecracker / Cloud-Hypervisor microVMs on a host machine, backed by containerd.

Source: https://wheredoirunthis.com/products/flintlock · JSON: https://wheredoirunthis.com/api/products/flintlock · Read on 2026-10-14

## At a glance

- Type: IaaS
- Kind: Open source tool
- Isolation: Firecracker microVM
- Free tier: Not documented
- Starting price: Not disclosed
- GPU: No
- Regions: Not disclosed
- Coverage: 5 of 61 assessed capabilities supported
- Agent readiness: read 5 of 10 signals, drive 4 of 8 signals

## Links

- Homepage: https://www.liquidmetal.dev/
- Docs: https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/
- Repository: https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock

## Website design

Desktop public website · assessed 2026-10-14

Complete assessment.

Matching Docusaurus-style public entry pages use slate-blue heroes, white two-column illustrated feature sections and dark footers. Pricing is not applicable to this self-host-only tool.

- Landing page: captured
- Pricing: not applicable
- Docs: captured

## Runtime

- **GPU & accelerators**: No — "No GPU passthrough feature; microVMs are CPU/RAM (Firecracker/CH). GPU is not a flintlock facet." (source: docs) (confidence: medium)
- **BYOC (Bring your own cloud)**: na — "BYOC (a managed control plane deploying into a customer's cloud) does not apply — flintlock IS the daemon you run on your own bare-metal host." (source: n/a (self-host daemon)) (confidence: high)
- **Secrets management**: No — "No first-class secrets store; configuration/keys are injected into the microVM at boot via cloud-init / ignition user-data (the operator's responsibility)." (source: docs) (confidence: medium)
- **Storage options**: OCI-image-backed microVM volumes (kernel/initrd/rootfs as container images via containerd); build-your-own image flow documented — "Kernel/initrd/rootfs delivered as OCI images (ghcr.io/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock-kernel, capmvm-kubernetes) pulled by containerd; build-your-own flow (Ubuntu cloud image → import → push)." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) (confidence: high)
- **Supported workloads**: k8s-nodes-on-bare-metal, isolated-workloads, ci-pipelines, microvm-lifecycle — "Original use case: microVMs as nodes in a virtualized Kubernetes cluster on bare metal (Liquid Metal / CAPI Provider for MicroVM). README also names isolated workloads + CI pipelines where lightweight virtualization is required." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) (confidence: high)
- **Persistence**: OCI-backed microVM root and additional volumes; lifecycle managed on one host — "Use OCI images for microVM volumes, kernel and initrd. Persistence/backup/durability are operator-managed. No inferred guarantee across arbitrary host failure." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) (confidence: medium)
- **Data jurisdiction**: na — "Placement is the operator's host; data residency is moot for a self-hosted daemon." (source: n/a (self-host daemon)) (confidence: high)
- **Resource limits & quotas**: per-microVM resources set at create-time via the API; bounded by the host; namespaced (UUID or {namespace,name}); single-host daemon — "microVM specs (CPU/memory/volumes) are set per CreateMicroVM call; VMs are namespaced; all capacity is one host's (run a daemon per host)." [source](https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/docs/getting-started/usage) (confidence: high)
- **SDK languages**: Not documented — "Docs recommend hammertime, fl, grpcurl or BloomRPC; generated Go protobuf bindings exist, but no documented product SDK package was established." [source](https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/docs/guides/client/) (confidence: medium)
- **Network & egress controls**: Not documented — "macvtap/bridge networking documented; no product outbound allowlist found. Host firewall remains operator-owned." [source](https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/docs/getting-started/network/) (confidence: medium)
- **Snapshots & forks**: No — "Current MicroVM service has CreateMicroVM, DeleteMicroVM, ListMicroVMs, GetMicroVM and ServerInfo, not snapshot/restore. A snapshot/restore requirements proposal is not shipping support." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock/blob/main/api/services/microvm/v1alpha1/microvms.proto) (confidence: medium)
- **Deployment methods**: grpc, api, cli — "Using API requests (via gRPC or HTTP); documented hammertime/fl/grpcurl/BloomRPC client options." [source](https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/docs/getting-started/usage) (confidence: high)
- **Isolation**: Firecracker microVM — "'We support the Cloud Hypervisor and Firecracker VMMs.' Firecracker is the default; Cloud Hypervisor is the alternative (and the recommended one for macvtap since the Weaveworks FC-macvtap fork was dropped). Both are KVM-backed microVMs; recorded primary firecracker-microvm with CH noted (mixed-isolation rule)." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) (confidence: high)

## Capabilities

### AI & agents

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Agent skills | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| AI app builder | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Autonomous QA agent | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Built-in coding agent | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| BYOK for LLMs | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Credential-injection proxy | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| LLM gateway | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| MCP client | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| MCP-server hosting | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| MCP server | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Model inference API (first-party) | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Preinstalled coding agent | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |

### Networking & delivery

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Automatic HTTPS | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Direct public IPv6 | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Edge KV store | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Egress controls | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Email send / receive | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Public preview URLs | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Private networking | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Built-in reverse proxy | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |

### Organisation & security

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Built-in auth | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| BYOC | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Deploy into customers' VPCs | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Secrets management | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Self-host / OSS core | Supported | "MPL-2.0 License" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Sharing | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| SSO / SAML | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Teams | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Workload identity | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |

### Developer access

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CLI | Partially supported | "We recommend using one of the following tools to send requests to the Flintlock server." [source](https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/docs/guides/client/) |
| E2B-compatible API | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Filesystem API | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Git deploy | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| HTTP data API | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| OpenAPI spec | Supported | "Download OpenAPI specification:" [source](https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/flintlock-api/) |
| Private container registry | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Public API | Supported | "Using API requests (via gRPC or HTTP):" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| SDK | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| SSH access | Partially supported | "rpc SSHProxy(stream SSHProxyRequest) returns (stream SSHProxyResponse);" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock/blob/main/api/services/microvmsshproxy/v1alpha1/microvmsshproxy.proto) |

### Compute & storage

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cloud-init / ignition config | Supported | "Configure microVM metadata via cloud-init, ignition etc" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Desktop / computer-use sandbox | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| GPU compute | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Live-state (memory) snapshots | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Multi-region | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Object storage | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Persistent disk | Supported | "Use OCI images for microVM volumes, kernel and initrd" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Sandbox templates / custom images | Partially supported | "Use OCI images for microVM volumes, kernel and initrd" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Scale to zero | Not supported | "Create and delete microVMs" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Selectable isolation runtime | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Snapshots / forking | Not supported | "rpc CreateMicroVM(CreateMicroVMRequest) returns (CreateMicroVMResponse)" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock/blob/main/api/services/microvm/v1alpha1/microvms.proto) |

### Data

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Database branching | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Ephemeral instant DB (no-signup) | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| First-party database | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Vector search | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |

### Platform & operations

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Managed CI/CD runners | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Built-in observability | Partially supported | "Expose microVM metrics for collection by Prometheus" [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Preview environments | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Scheduled tasks | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Project template marketplace | Not supported | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |
| Durable workflows | Not applicable | "Flintlock is a service for creating and managing the lifecycle of microVMs on a host machine." [source](https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock) |

## Agent readiness

### Read: 5 of 10 signals present

5/10 signals (4 full, 1 partial)

- Llms txt: fail — "flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/llms.txt 404 (Docusaurus docs)"
- Llms full txt: fail — "No /llms-full.txt"
- Robots AI policy: partial — "flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/robots.txt 404 = default-allow (nothing disallowed) — half per rubric v3"
- JSON LD: fail — "0 application/ld+json on the Liquid Metal landing (www.liquidmetal.dev)"
- Sitemap: pass — "Docs sitemap.xml HTTP 200 with nontrivial URL list, retained."
- Meta quality: pass — "Landing head title Liquid Metal | Liquid Metal; description Declarative, lightweight, fast.; og:title/description/url retained. Embedded SVG title is not the document title."
- Markdown negotiation: fail — "Fresh Accept: text/markdown homepage/docs requests returned HTML; usage.md returns HTML 404."
- Content efficiency: fail — "Readable text 569 bytes / 57512 HTML bytes = 0.989%; homepage falls below rubric 1% threshold (SVG-heavy, not assumed absent content)."
- Docs discoverable: pass — "First-class Docusaurus docs at flintlock.liquidmetal.dev (getting-started/setup/usage/images/network/metrics)"
- Pricing machine readable: na — "Self-host-only MPL-2.0; no hosted pricing page/tier."
- Anti bot: pass — "Fresh official landing and docs public requests HTTP 200 without challenge."

### Drive: 4 of 8 signals present

4/8 signals (3 full, 1 partial)

- Public API: pass — "gRPC + HTTP API; published proto (microvms.proto) — the primary contract"
- Openapi spec: pass — "Official rendered HTTP API Download links retained valid Swagger 2.0 JSON in api/services/microvm/v1alpha1/microvms.swagger.json."
- MCP server: fail — "No MCP server"
- SDK packages: fail — "Generated protobuf Go code is not evidence of documented standalone SDK packages; client guide lists community tools."
- Auth docs: na — "Self-host-only daemon; no hosted credential issuance or hosted API service. Operator TLS/basic-auth documented in source and setup."
- Agent self serve creds: na — "Self-host-only daemon; no hosted credential issuance or hosted API service. Operator TLS/basic-auth documented in source and setup."
- Webhooks: fail — "No webhooks"
- CLI tool: partial — "Multiple client CLIs (fl, hammertime, grpcurl, BloomRPC) but 'none clearly first-class'"
- Error model: pass — "Fetchable Swagger default error schema defines code, message, details; standard documented JSON error object."
- Rate limit docs: na — "Self-host-only daemon; no hosted credential issuance or hosted API service. Operator TLS/basic-auth documented in source and setup."
- Agent config: fail — "No agents.md / /.well-known/agent / skills listing"

## Open source

- Repository: https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock
- License: MPL-2.0
- Stars: 1514
- Forks: 78
- Self-host methods: binary, source-build
- Self-host dependencies: containerd

## Company & presence

- Founded: 2021 (Weaveworks); community-owned since Weaveworks wound down
- GitHub: https://github.com/liquidmetal-dev/flintlock
- Docs: https://flintlock.liquidmetal.dev/
- Liquid Metal site: https://www.liquidmetal.dev/
- CNCF Slack (#liquidmetal): https://cloud-native.slack.com/archives/C07B5R5BLBZ
- Blog: https://www.liquidmetal.dev/blog/

## Nearby in the atlas

- [Appbox](/products/appbox.md)
- [Namespace](/products/namespace.md)
- [Scaleway](/products/scaleway.md)
- [Ubicloud](/products/ubicloud.md)
- [AWS Lambda MicroVMs](/products/lambda-microvms.md)
- [Cloudflare Sandboxes](/products/cloudflare-sandboxes.md)

## Method

Facts come from the product's own public pages. Each claim carries its evidence: a quote and the page it came from. We count capabilities rather than grade products, and "Not assessed" means we have not checked, never that the product lacks it.