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mvm

Examples

CI/CD ephemeral builder

Use mvm in CI without preserving accidental runtime state.

CI should prefer disposable runtime guests and explicit build artifacts.

Basic CI shape

Section titled “Basic CI shape”
Terminal window
export MVM_HOME="$PWD/.mvm-ci"


mvmctl doctor --json
mvmctl machine build ./ci-worker --json
mvmctl run --timeout 600 --receipt /tmp/mvm-run-receipt.json -- ./scripts/test.sh

Keep generated receipts as build artifacts when they are useful for audit or debugging. Do not persist the full runtime state unless the job explicitly needs a cache.

Cache policy

Section titled “Cache policy”

It is reasonable to cache:

  • Nix store/substituter state in the builder environment;
  • downloaded release artifacts after verification;
  • manifest build slots for trusted branches.

Avoid caching:

  • guest runtime directories from untrusted jobs;
  • snapshots that may contain secrets or source code;
  • broad host directories mounted read-write into the guest.

Cleanup

Section titled “Cleanup”
Terminal window
mvmctl machine stop --all
mvmctl manifest prune --orphans --dry-run
mvmctl cache prune --orphan-builds

Use dry-run first on shared runners.