{ "updated": "2026-10-24", "machine": "Apple Silicon Mac, macOS 27.0.1", "note": "status 'measured' = measured on this machine; 'target' = design budget not yet measured end to end. Container lifecycle = create from alpine, run `true`, exit, remove; p50 of 30 runs after 5 warm-up runs.", "orbstack": { "version_note": "OrbStack, Linux 7.2.9-orbstack, Docker CLI", "rows": [ { "metric": "docker run --rm alpine true", "value_ms": 325, "range": "300-350", "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "docker run -d (alpine/redis/python/nginx)", "value_ms": 205, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "docker start (pre-created)", "value_ms": 88, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "docker unpause", "value_ms": 23, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "Docker CLI round trip floor", "value_ms": 19, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "dockerd + containerd resident memory", "value_mb": 216, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "per-container shim memory", "value_mb": 7.9, "status": "measured", "detail": "143 shims = 1133 MB" } ] }, "kiri": { "rows": [ { "metric": "run --rm alpine true (Docker API, network none)", "value_ms": 1.33, "status": "measured", "detail": "p50 of 30 through the kiri daemon; 13.4 ms through the docker CLI" }, { "metric": "kiri run -d", "value_ms": 6, "status": "target" }, { "metric": "start pre-created", "value_ms": 4, "status": "target" }, { "metric": "resume paused (cgroup freezer)", "value_ms": 1, "status": "target" }, { "metric": "per-container shim memory", "value_mb": 0, "status": "measured", "detail": "no shim process exists; the guest agent supervises every container" }, { "metric": "engine daemon resident memory", "value_mb": 9.7, "status": "measured", "detail": "kiri daemon on the Mac (9.0 MB footprint) plus the guest agent inside the VM (0.69 MB resident); compare OrbStack dockerd + containerd" }, { "metric": "guest init binary size", "value_kb": 650, "status": "measured", "detail": "PID 1, guest agent and container runtime, with gzip/zstd/tar for layers" }, { "metric": "kiri host binary size", "value_kb": 2165, "status": "measured", "detail": "includes TLS for pulls, the Docker API server and the window" }, { "metric": "VM cold boot to agent ready (total)", "value_ms": 112, "status": "measured", "detail": "median of 5; was 810 ms with a stock defconfig kernel" }, { "metric": "Virtualization.framework configure + start", "value_ms": 95, "status": "measured", "detail": "Apple's helper process start; outside Kiri" }, { "metric": "guest kernel boot to PID 1", "value_ms": 8, "status": "measured", "detail": "was 680 ms (defconfig) -> 40 ms (allnoconfig) -> 8 ms (virtio reset patch)" }, { "metric": "PID 1 to agent ready", "value_ms": 0.4, "status": "measured", "detail": "was 15 ms before rcu_expedited" }, { "metric": "clean guest shutdown", "value_ms": 2.2, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "host <-> guest vsock round trip p50", "value_us": 31, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "host <-> guest vsock round trip p99", "value_us": 62, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "guest kernel image size", "value_kb": 10264, "status": "measured", "detail": "was 32 MB" }, { "metric": "daemon idle CPU", "value_pct": 0.0, "status": "measured" }, { "metric": "VM helper process footprint (Virtualization.framework)", "value_mb": 69, "status": "measured" } ] }, "kernel_primitives": { "note": "Measured inside a Linux 7.2 VM; the building blocks of a container start", "rows": [ { "metric": "fork + exec", "value_ms": 0.54 }, { "metric": "mnt+uts+ipc+pid namespaces + exec", "value_ms": 0.78 }, { "metric": "+ network namespace", "value_ms": 1.15 }, { "metric": "cgroup v2 create + limit + remove", "value_ms": 1.23 }, { "metric": "overlay mount + unmount", "value_ms": 0.36 }, { "metric": "veth create + attach to bridge", "value_ms": 2.2 }, { "metric": "veth delete (Docker does this before --rm returns)", "value_ms": 18.9 } ] }, "boot_journey": [ { "step": "stock arm64 defconfig kernel", "boot_ms": 810 }, { "step": "allnoconfig + only what the VM has", "boot_ms": 175 }, { "step": "expedited RCU (cgroup2 mount 23 ms -> 0.1 ms)", "boot_ms": 140 }, { "step": "virtio-pci reset poll patch", "boot_ms": 112 } ], "lifecycle": { "test": "alpine:latest \u2192 true \u2192 exit \u2192 removed", "runs": 30, "rows": [ { "engine": "Kiri", "path": "Docker Engine API (kiri daemon)", "network": "none", "p50_ms": 1.33, "p99_ms": 1.67, "status": "measured" }, { "engine": "Kiri", "path": "docker CLI (context kiri)", "network": "none", "p50_ms": 13.35, "p99_ms": 14.57, "status": "measured" }, { "engine": "OrbStack", "path": "Docker Engine API", "network": "none", "p50_ms": 270.3, "p99_ms": 324.7, "status": "measured" }, { "engine": "OrbStack", "path": "docker CLI", "network": "none", "p50_ms": 281.7, "p99_ms": 402.8, "status": "measured" }, { "engine": "Docker Desktop", "path": "Docker Engine API", "network": "none", "p50_ms": 119.1, "p99_ms": 155.0, "status": "measured" }, { "engine": "Docker Desktop", "path": "docker CLI", "network": "none", "p50_ms": 115.8, "p99_ms": 143.0, "status": "measured" }, { "engine": "OrbStack", "path": "docker CLI", "network": "bridge", "p50_ms": 355.0, "p99_ms": 404.0, "status": "measured" }, { "engine": "Docker Desktop", "path": "docker CLI", "network": "bridge", "p50_ms": 151.4, "p99_ms": 209.4, "status": "measured" } ], "kiri_guest_breakdown": { "namespaces_mounts_cgroup_ms": 0.24, "process_lifetime_ms": 0.26 }, "caveats": [ "All three engines were driven by the same docker CLI (29.7.2) and the same Docker Engine API calls on the same Mac.", "OrbStack had 86 containers and a Kubernetes cluster running during the test; Docker Desktop and Kiri had none, so OrbStack's numbers are pessimistic.", "Kiri has no container networking yet, so it is only compared with --network none.", "Kiri reports a --rm container's exit once its record is removed, and deletes its files in the guest just after; measured with the deletion inside the timing, Kiri's engine time was about 3 ms.", "Of Kiri's 13.4 ms through the docker CLI, most is the docker CLI itself starting up; the engine part is the 1.3 ms API figure." ] } }