WebVM

This repository hosts the source code for https://webvm.io, a Linux virtual machine that runs in your browser.

WebVM is a server-less virtual environment running fully client-side in HTML5/WebAssembly. It's designed to be Linux ABI-compatible. It runs an unmodified Debian distribution including many native development toolchains.

WebVM is powered by the CheerpX virtualization engine, and enables safe, sandboxed client-side execution of x86 binaries on any browser. CheerpX includes an x86-to-WebAssembly JIT compiler, a virtual block-based file system, and a Linux syscall emulator.

Enable networking

Click "Connect via Tailscale" in the page header.
Log in to Tailscale (create an account if you don't have one).
If you are unfamiliar with Tailscale or would like additional information see WebVM and Tailscale.

Fork, deploy, customize

Fork the repository.
Enable Github pages in settings.
- Click on Settings.
- Go to the Pages section.
- Select Github Actions as the source.
Run the workflow.
- Click on `Actions.
- Accept the prompt. This is required only once to enable Actions for your fork.
- Click on the workflow named Deploy.
- Click Run workflow and then once more Run workflow in the menu.
Customize dockerfiles/debian_mini to suits your needs.
You can also make a new Dockerfile from scratch. Use the "Path to Dockerfile" workflow parameter to select it.

After the workflow completes, which takes a few minutes, it will show the URL below the deploy_to_github_pages job.

Local deployment

From a local git clone

Download the debian_mini Ext2 image from https://github.com/leaningtech/webvm/releases/
- You can also build your own by selecting the "Upload GitHub release" workflow option.
- Place the image in the repository root folder.
Edit index.html
- Replace DEVICE_TYPE with "bytes"
- Replace IMAGE_URL with the name of the Ext2 image. For example "debian_mini_20230519_5022088024.ext2"
Start a local HTTP server
Enjoy your local WebVM.

Bugs and Issues

Please use Issues to report any bug. Or come to say hello / share your feedback on Discord.

Thanks to...

This project depends on:

CheerpX, made by Leaning Technologies for x86 virtualization and Linux emulation
xterm.js, https://xtermjs.org/, for providing the Web-based terminal emulator
Tailscale for the networking component
lwIP for the TCP/IP stack, compiled for the Web via Cheerp

MirkoFerrati/webvm