On: Fast CI with MicroVMs

[ignoramous]

Sounds similar to webapp.io (layerci) that has been discussed quite a few times here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31062301

> Friction starts when the 7GB of RAM and 2 cores allocated causes issues for us

Well, I just create a 20GB swap. There's ample disk space but swap is slow for sure.

> MicroVM

Coincidentally, QEMU now sports a firecracker-inspired microvm: https://github.com/qemu/qemu/blob/a082fab9d25/docs/system/i3... / https://mergeboard.com/blog/2-qemu-microvm-docker/

[alexellisuk → ignoramous]

Hi, I'd not heard of webapp.io before so thanks for mentioning it. Actuated is not a preview branch product, that's an interesting area but not the problem we're trying to solve.

actuated is not trying to be a CI system or a replacement for one like webapp.

It's a direct integration with GitHub Actions, and as we get interest from pilot customer for GitLab etc, we'll consider adding support for those platforms too.

Unopinionated, without lock-in. We want to create the hosted experience, with safety and speed built in.

[colinchartier → ignoramous]

Hey, yeah this looks somewhat similar to what we're building at https://webapp.io (nee LayerCI, YC S20)

We migrated to a fork of firecracker, but we're a fully hosted product that doesn't directly interact with GHA at all (similar to how CircleCI works), so there's some positioning difference between us and OP at the very least.

Always happy to see innovation in the space :)

[dblooman → colinchartier]

What do you use to orchestrate firecracker?

[synergy20 → ignoramous]

did not know qemu has its own firecraker machine now, thanks for the info! going to test how fast it boots.