mulgadc/spinifex

What is it?

Key features

• 01Serves AWS-compatible APIs for EC2, EBS, S3, VPC, IAM, EKS and RDS.
• 02Launches real QEMU/KVM guests, with GPU passthrough and spot instances.
• 03Stores EBS volumes on replicated Viperblock storage and S3 objects on erasure-coded Predastore.
• 04Authenticates every request with SigV4 at a gateway over a NATS message bus.
• 05Includes a built-in web console for instances, volumes, buckets, networks and IAM.

Use cases

• Moving AWS workloads onto servers you own while keeping existing tooling.
• Running private or sovereign cloud infrastructure in an on-premise data centre.
• Deploying compute and storage at air-gapped or disconnected edge sites.
• Testing AWS-style infrastructure code against a real backend rather than a mock.

Quick start

1. 1

   Run the official install script from the README

2. 2

   Configure OVN networking for the management node

   sudo /usr/local/share/spinifex/setup-ovn.sh --management
3. 3

   Initialise the single-node cluster

   sudo spx admin init --node node1 --nodes 1
4. 4

   Start the Spinifex services

   sudo systemctl start spinifex.target

Things to know

• !Supported only on Ubuntu 26.04 or Debian 13, per the README.
• !Requires a Linux bridge configured on the host for VM networking.
• !Licensed under AGPL-3.0, a copyleft license that requires sharing modifications when offered as a network service.

In collections

Topics

FAQ

What is spinifex?

Open-source, AWS-compatible cloud you run on your own servers, serving EC2, EBS, S3, VPC, IAM, EKS and RDS APIs. Spinifex is an open-source cloud that implements AWS-compatible APIs on bare-metal, on-premise, or edge hardware. Existing AWS CLI, SDK and Terraform workflows can point at a Spinifex endpoint and call EC2, EBS, S3, VPC, IAM, EKS, RDS and other services, so software written for AWS can run without code changes.

Is spinifex free to use? What license does it have?

spinifex is open source under the AGPL-3.0 license. Check the license terms before using it in commercial products.

Is spinifex still maintained?

Actively maintained. The last commit to spinifex was on Nov 6, 2026.

What can I use spinifex for?

Moving AWS workloads onto servers you own while keeping existing tooling. Running private or sovereign cloud infrastructure in an on-premise data centre. Deploying compute and storage at air-gapped or disconnected edge sites. Testing AWS-style infrastructure code against a real backend rather than a mock.

How do I install spinifex?

Run the official install script from the README Configure OVN networking for the management node: sudo /usr/local/share/spinifex/setup-ovn.sh --management Initialise the single-node cluster: sudo spx admin init --node node1 --nodes 1 Start the Spinifex services: sudo systemctl start spinifex.target

Where can I get spinifex?

The source code and installation instructions are on GitHub: https://github.com/mulgadc/spinifex