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Show HN: Microterm runs Linux VM in any browser tab via WASM, RISCV64 emulation (microterm.dev)
6 points by Xlab 120 days ago
Microterm is a fully compliant Linux virtual machine that runs in any browser tab. It is designed for real development and operations workflows, not demo-only terminal output. You can use it on desktop, tablets, and phones, including iOS home-screen PWA installs.

Under the hood, Microterm combines Restty (libghostty + WebGPU) web terminal rendering and a TinyEMU-backed Alpine Linux guest on RISC-V64. The VM image is chunk-loaded in the browser and booted locally.

I successfully used it to run Codex directly without leaving an in-app preview inside X app or Telegram :) Can be used to SSH to any server, play with Kubernetes and Tailscale.

Let me know what you guys think!!
2 comments
pacifika 119 days ago
This is very cool and replaces a whole class of applications on iOS in terms of networking tools and web development.

Saw the docs are still minimal so understanding high level usecases is still a challenge for me.

The docs should at least evidence that I can use this securely. Can I verify the customisations to the base alpine Linux somewhere? Tech is great just wonder about the trust issue.

link
jwrallie 119 days ago
Many potential applications, specially on iOS. It’s Alpine so I assume the image should be customized before loading it instead of having local persistence. I wonder if this could be bootstrapped locally somehow on iOS.

Any comparisons in terms of performance with iSH?

link