# Multipass

Ubuntu VMs on demand for any workstation

Source: https://wheredoirunthis.com/products/multipass · JSON: https://wheredoirunthis.com/api/products/multipass · Read on 2026-10-15

## At a glance

- Type: Persistent environment
- Kind: Open source tool
- Isolation: Virtual machine
- Free tier: Not documented
- Starting price: Not disclosed
- GPU: No
- Regions: Not disclosed
- Coverage: 7 of 61 assessed capabilities supported
- Agent readiness: read 10 of 10 signals, drive 3 of 9 signals

## Links

- Homepage: https://canonical.com/multipass
- Docs: https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/
- Repository: https://github.com/canonical/multipass

## Website design

Desktop public website · assessed 2026-10-15

Partial assessment — some pages could not be captured.

The captured desktop landing page combines a dark two-level corporate navigation bar with a pale, spacious two-column canvas, clear sans-serif hierarchy and orange-accented cloud illustration. Docs coverage is unavailable after two bounded isolated-context navigation attempts; pricing is not applicable to the local OSS tool.

- Styles: Corporate, Swiss-inspired
- Landing page: captured
- Pricing: not applicable
- Docs: unavailable

## Runtime

- **GPU & accelerators**: No — "No GPU passthrough feature documented; Multipass launches CPU/RAM Ubuntu VMs. (GPU is the host hypervisor's concern, not a Multipass feature.)" [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) (confidence: medium)
- **BYOC (Bring your own cloud)**: na — "BYOC (a managed control plane deploying into a customer's cloud) does not apply — Multipass runs on YOUR own workstation; there is no managed control plane." (source: n/a (local desktop tool)) (confidence: high)
- **Secrets management**: No — "No first-class secrets store; configuration/keys are injected at launch via cloud-init user-data (the operator's responsibility), not a managed secrets feature." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) (confidence: medium)
- **Storage options**: Persistent per-instance disk, host-directory mounts and file transfers — "Mounts share host paths; transfer copies files to/from instances. Disk image format depends on driver/version; not universally qcow2." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/how-to-guides/manage-instances/share-data-with-an-instance/) (confidence: high)
- **Supported workloads**: local-development, testing, cloud-simulation, linux-command-line — "Local development/testing and cloud-style VMs; production use explicitly discouraged." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) (confidence: high)
- **Persistence**: Persistent local VM lifecycle — "Disk and configuration persist across stop/start; explicit deletion/purge removes instances." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/snapshot/) (confidence: high)
- **Data jurisdiction**: na — "Data residency / jurisdiction is moot — the VMs run on your own machine, wherever that is." (source: n/a (local desktop tool)) (confidence: high)
- **Resource limits & quotas**: Host-bounded per-instance CPU, memory and disk — "--cpus, --disk and --memory set resources; no managed-service quotas." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/reference/command-line-interface/launch/) (confidence: high)
- **SDK languages**: Not documented — "No official client SDK. The CLI + the gRPC daemon API are the interfaces; community Terraform providers + VS Code extensions consume the daemon, but Canonical ships no client library." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) (confidence: high)
- **Network & egress controls**: Not documented — "No first-party outbound allowlist/firewall documented in fetched command/runtime surface; host/guest firewall remains operator responsibility." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) (confidence: medium)
- **Snapshots & forks**: Yes — "Snapshots capture disk and instance configuration, not live memory/processes; snapshot/restore require stopped instances. clone copies a stopped instance, not necessarily a snapshot." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/snapshot/) (confidence: high)
- **Deployment methods**: cli — "Official CLI and native desktop GUI. cli is the matching controlled deploy-method token; native GUI and cloud-init are described here rather than invented method tokens." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/reference/gui-client/) (confidence: high)
- **Isolation**: Virtual machine — "Conventional full VMs. Stable 1.16 defaults QEMU on Linux/macOS; Windows Hyper-V/VirtualBox. Latest 1.17 RC adds HCS and preview Apple Virtualization; marketing already promotes those newer backends." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/driver/) (confidence: high)

## Capabilities

### AI & agents

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Agent skills | Not supported | "No agent-skills system." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| AI app builder | Not supported | "No prompt-to-app builder." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Autonomous QA agent | Not supported | "No first-party autonomous-qa-agent capability advertised in fetched landing, runtime docs, CLI/GUI reference or README; arbitrary software installable inside a VM is not a shipped capability." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Built-in coding agent | Not supported | "Ships no coding agent." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| BYOK for LLMs | Not applicable | "Not an LLM product." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Credential-injection proxy | Not supported | "No first-party credential-injection-proxy capability advertised in fetched landing, runtime docs, CLI/GUI reference or README; arbitrary software installable inside a VM is not a shipped capability." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| LLM gateway | Not applicable | "Not an LLM product." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| MCP client | Not supported | "No MCP client." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| MCP-server hosting | Not supported | "No MCP-hosting feature (you could run any server, incl. an MCP server, inside a VM, but that's generic VM usage)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| MCP server | Not supported | "No FIRST-PARTY MCP server. The README lists a COMMUNITY integration (WangYihang/multipass-mcp), which is third-party, not Canonical-provided." [source](https://github.com/canonical/multipass) |
| Model inference API (first-party) | Not applicable | "Local VM manager, not an inference service or vendor-software customer-cloud deployment platform." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Preinstalled coding agent | Not supported | "No first-party preinstalled-coding-agent capability advertised in fetched landing, runtime docs, CLI/GUI reference or README; arbitrary software installable inside a VM is not a shipped capability." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |

### Networking & delivery

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Automatic HTTPS | Not applicable | "Not a web host — VMs get local bridged/NAT IPs; no per-workload TLS provisioning." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | "No domain mapping (local VMs)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Direct public IPv6 | Not applicable | "Local bridged/NAT networking (e.g. 192.168.x); no per-instance public IPv6 (a local desktop networking model)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Edge KV store | Not applicable | "Not an edge-runtime KV store." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Egress controls | Not supported | "VMs get bridged/NAT networking (`multipass networks`); no configurable outbound egress allowlist/firewall feature (host firewall is the operator's concern)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Email send / receive | Not applicable | "Not an email product." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Public preview URLs | Not applicable | "Not a deploy host — no shareable preview URLs." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Private networking | Partially supported | "Local VM private networking and optional bridged interfaces; 1.17 RC adds isolated subnets per simulated availability zone. This is local networking, not a managed cross-host VPC/service mesh." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/latest/how-to-guides/manage-instances/set-up-custom-networking/) |
| Built-in reverse proxy | Not applicable | "No ingress/routing layer; local VMs reach the network directly." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |

### Organisation & security

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Built-in auth | Partially supported | "Client/daemon x509 certificate authentication and passphrase enrollment exist. This controls service access, not per-workload end-user IAM; authenticated users share instance control." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/authentication/) |
| BYOC | Not applicable | "Local desktop tool — the operator owns the machine; managed-control-plane BYOC does not apply." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Deploy into customers' VPCs | Not applicable | "Local VM manager, not an inference service or vendor-software customer-cloud deployment platform." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Secrets management | Not supported | "No first-class secrets store; config/keys are injected at launch via cloud-init user-data (operator's responsibility)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Self-host / OSS core | Supported | "GPL-3.0; runs entirely on your own machine (Snap/installer) — self-host is the only deployment." [source](https://github.com/canonical/multipass) |
| Sharing | Not applicable | "Single-user local tool — no share-a-resource-by-link primitive." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| SSO / SAML | Not applicable | "Single-user local tool — no SSO/SAML." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Teams | Not applicable | "Single-user local tool — no team accounts." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Workload identity | Not supported | "No first-party workload-identity capability advertised in fetched landing, runtime docs, CLI/GUI reference or README; arbitrary software installable inside a VM is not a shipped capability." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |

### Developer access

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| CLI | Supported | "The `multipass` CLI is THE interface — find/launch/list/info/shell/exec/stop/delete/purge/snapshot/restore/clone/mount/transfer/networks/set/alias. Comprehensive." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/reference/command-line-interface/) |
| E2B-compatible API | Not supported | "No first-party e2b-compatible-api capability advertised in fetched landing, runtime docs, CLI/GUI reference or README; arbitrary software installable inside a VM is not a shipped capability." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Filesystem API | Partially supported | "`multipass mount` (share host directories into a VM) + `multipass transfer` (copy files in/out) — file operations exist, but via the CLI, not a programmatic remote file API." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/reference/command-line-interface/) |
| Git deploy | Not supported | "No git push-to-deploy — it's a VM launcher; you'd set up git inside the VM yourself." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| HTTP data API | Not applicable | "Data-layer primitive — not applicable." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| OpenAPI spec | Not supported | "gRPC daemon API; no OpenAPI/Swagger spec published." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Private container registry | Not supported | "No hosted private image registry; Multipass fetches Ubuntu images from Canonical's image server (a local image cache, not a user registry)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Public API | Partially supported | "A gRPC daemon API exists (the CLI is a client over it; community Terraform providers consume it), but it is a LOCAL daemon socket, not a documented remote public API." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/reference/) |
| SDK | Not supported | "No official client SDK — CLI + gRPC daemon API only (community wrappers exist)." [source](https://github.com/canonical/multipass) |
| SSH access | Supported | "`multipass shell <name>` opens an interactive shell into the VM; Multipass provisions an SSH key via cloud-init and you can SSH directly into the Ubuntu instance. (This is why might-work harnesses derive.)" [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |

### Compute & storage

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Cloud-init / ignition config | Supported | "Launch customized instances with a cloud-init YAML file; official examples supply --cloud-init URLs." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/how-to-guides/manage-instances/launch-customized-instances-with-multipass-and-cloud-init/) |
| Desktop / computer-use sandbox | Partially supported | "Official guide documents installing ubuntu-desktop and xrdp or X11 forwarding; images do not include a graphical desktop. No turnkey computer-use automation or noVNC service." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/how-to-guides/customise-multipass/set-up-a-graphical-interface/) |
| GPU compute | Not supported | "No GPU passthrough feature; Multipass launches CPU/RAM Ubuntu VMs." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Live-state (memory) snapshots | Not supported | "Snapshot records disk/configuration and requires stopped instance; does not retain running processes or memory." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/snapshot/) |
| Multi-region | Not applicable | "Local single-machine tool — no regions (the VM runs on your own workstation)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Object storage | Not supported | "Disk, host mounts and transfers only; no supplied S3-compatible object store." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/how-to-guides/manage-instances/share-data-with-an-instance/) |
| Persistent disk | Supported | "Persistent instance disk/configuration with stop/start, snapshots and explicit delete/purge." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/snapshot/) |
| Sandbox templates / custom images | Supported | "Reusable custom VM images built with Packer are documented; custom images supported on Linux. Blueprints/appliances deprecated in stable 1.16 and removed in 1.17 RC; do not rely on that obsolete catalogue." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/how-to-guides/customise-multipass/build-multipass-images-with-packer/) |
| Scale to zero | Partially supported | "`multipass stop`/`suspend` frees host resources when an instance is idle, but it's MANUAL — there is no automatic idle scale-to-zero primitive (and no billing, being a local tool)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Selectable isolation runtime | Not supported | "Drivers selectable globally via local.driver, one active driver at a time. No per-workload selection between VM/container/gVisor isolation modes." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/driver/) |
| Snapshots / forking | Supported | "Disk/configuration snapshots and stopped-instance clones; snapshot/restore and clone require stopped instances. No live-memory snapshot guarantee." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/snapshot/) |

### Data

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Database branching | Not applicable | "Data-layer primitive — not applicable to a VM launcher." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Ephemeral instant DB (no-signup) | Not applicable | "Data-layer primitive — not applicable." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| First-party database | Not supported | "Offers no managed database (you'd run one inside a VM); the daemon keeps its own local state." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Vector search | Not applicable | "Data-layer RAG primitive — not applicable." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |

### Platform & operations

| Capability | Status | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Managed CI/CD runners | Not supported | "No first-party managed-ci-runners capability advertised in fetched landing, runtime docs, CLI/GUI reference or README; arbitrary software installable inside a VM is not a shipped capability." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Built-in observability | Partially supported | "multipass info reports CPU load, disk and memory usage with JSON output; basic first-party metrics only, no tracing/APM or managed log stack." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/reference/command-line-interface/info/) |
| Preview environments | Not applicable | "Not a PaaS — no per-PR ephemeral environment primitive." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Scheduled tasks | Not supported | "No cron/scheduled-task primitive (you'd run cron inside a VM)." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |
| Project template marketplace | Not supported | "No first-party template-marketplace capability advertised in fetched landing, runtime docs, CLI/GUI reference or README; arbitrary software installable inside a VM is not a shipped capability." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/) |
| Durable workflows | Not applicable | "Not a durable-execution / workflow engine — a VM launcher." [source](https://canonical.com/multipass) |

## Agent readiness

### Read: 10 of 10 signals present

10/10 signals (7 full, 3 partial)

- Llms txt: pass — "https://canonical.com/llms.txt: substantive site index links Multipass product markdown and stable docs."
- Llms full txt: partial — "https://canonical.com/llms-full.txt: comprehensive Canonical site text includes Multipass but not complete Multipass CLI/runtime docs; oversized source retained as pointer plus scoped excerpt."
- Robots AI policy: pass — "https://canonical.com/robots.txt explicitly allows Multipass/llms and markdown for GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended and other AI UAs."
- JSON LD: pass — "https://canonical.com/multipass: SoftwareApplication/Product with name, description, OS, application category and URL; also Organization."
- Sitemap: pass — "https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/latest/sitemap.xml: substantial XML sitemap; old docs URL redirects to canonical docs."
- Meta quality: pass — "https://canonical.com/multipass: descriptive title, description, OG title/description/image and Twitter metadata."
- Markdown negotiation: partial — "https://canonical.com/multipass?format=md serves clean product markdown linked by HTML; GET landing remains HTML, no proof of Accept-based negotiation."
- Content efficiency: partial — "https://canonical.com/multipass: 3,024 visible text characters after removing scripts/styles/svg/nav and explicitly hidden content, 209,520 HTML bytes (~1.44%)."
- Docs discoverable: pass — "https://canonical.com/multipass: first-class documentation links in navigation and product menu; docs relocate to canonical.com/multipass/docs/."
- Pricing machine readable: na — "oss-tool — free under GPL-3.0, no hosted pricing surface to be machine-readable"
- Anti bot: pass — "Landing, docs and well-known GETs returned ordinary content without challenge; expected 404s are not anti-bot blocking."

### Drive: 3 of 9 signals present

3/9 signals (2 full, 1 partial)

- Public API: partial — "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/canonical/multipass/main/src/rpc/multipass.proto: inspectable gRPC daemon protocol; CLI and GUI clients, not a hosted REST service."
- Openapi spec: fail — "gRPC protobuf source and CLI/GUI references, no OpenAPI spec advertised."
- MCP server: fail — "README explicitly places Multipass MCP Server under Community-led integrations, not first-party."
- SDK packages: fail — "No official SDK advertised in fresh README and architecture docs; CLI/GUI are clients."
- Auth docs: pass — "https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/explanation/authentication/: x509 client certificates, trust-on-first-use, passphrase enrollment and platform socket access documented. This is a local-service protocol, not hosted API signup."
- Agent self serve creds: na — "No hosted signup — it's a local tool; nothing to self-serve credentials for"
- Webhooks: fail — "No webhook facility in fetched CLI/GUI/runtime documentation."
- CLI tool: pass — "The `multipass` CLI IS the product — comprehensive and official"
- Error model: fail — "No documented JSON API error contract; daemon uses gRPC."
- Rate limit docs: na — "Local tool — no hosted API rate limits"
- Agent config: fail — "No first-party agent config or skills surface advertised in fetched docs/README."

## Coding harnesses

Plausible compatibility (derived, not stored):

- Aider
- Amp
- Antigravity
- Claude Code
- Codex CLI
- Devin
- Droid
- Gemini CLI
- Goose
- Hermes Agent
- Kilo Code
- Kiro CLI
- OpenCode
- Pi
- Qwen Code

## Open source

- Repository: https://github.com/canonical/multipass
- License: GPL-3.0
- Stars: 9275
- Forks: 831
- Self-host methods: package-manager, binary, source-build

## Company & presence

- Founded: 2004
- Privacy policy: https://canonical.com/legal/data-privacy
- Terms of service: https://canonical.com/legal
- GitHub: https://github.com/canonical/multipass
- Docs: https://canonical.com/multipass/docs/stable/
- Product page: https://canonical.com/multipass
- Discourse forum: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/c/project/multipass/21/
- Matrix: https://app.element.io/#/room/#Multipass:matrix.org

## Nearby in the atlas

- [Catnip](/products/catnip.md)
- [Docker Offload](/products/docker-offload.md)
- [exe.dev](/products/exe.dev.md)
- [machine](/products/machine.md)
- [machine0](/products/machine0.md)
- [ShellBox](/products/shellbox.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.