IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Code and Let Live

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Persistent, fast-scaling VM sandboxes for dev and AI agents

Users praise instant creation, checkpoints, scale-to-zero, and durability for safe AI experimentation like Claude Code.
"Developer environment sandboxes. This is a cheap and convenient way to run Claude Code / Codex CLI / etc in YOLO mode in a persistent sandboxed VM" (simonw).
"With sprites.dev you can create an additional checkpoint and then turn Claude Code... loose to do anything. Even if it burns down the sandbox you can just restore a checkpoint in about a second" (HumanOstrich).

2. Superiority over containers, VPS, and alternatives like exe.dev

Full VM isolation, no kernel sharing, and elastic "disposable computers" beat Docker/LXD/EC2 for security and convenience.
"Containers are that, and fast, in part because they share kernels, so there's no serious rebooting happening. But the consequence... is you share a kernel with untrusted cotenants" (tptacek).
"One of the primary features of sprites.dev that I don't see anywhere on exe.dev is a fast way to create and restore checkpoints" (HumanOstrich).

3. Requests for features like cloning, regions, and local support

Demand for snapshot/clone, multi-region, GPU, OIDC, better docs/pricing transparency, and open-source local version.
"Is there a way to fork/clone a sprite...? set up my preferred env in one sprite and use that as a template for others" (senko).
"Jerome has been working for a couple months on a local, open-source Rust version of Sprites" (tptacek).

🚀 Project Ideas

LocalSprite: Purely Local VM Sandboxes

Summary

  • A thin, open-source CLI wrapper for Firecracker or Incus that provides the "Sprite" developer experience (fast boot, snapshots, and auto-pause) on local hardware.
  • Solves the need for users who want the "ephemeral, disposable sandbox" workflow without the cost, latency, or dependency on a cloud provider.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Developers who hoard environments; security-conscious devs who won't put keys in the cloud.
Core Feature Snapshot/Restore CLI that manages local KVM/Firecracker micro-VMs with CoW storage.
Tech Stack Rust/Go, Firecracker, or Incus/LXC, Btrfs/ZFS (for CoW).
Difficulty High
Monetization Hobby (Open Source) with potential "Revenue-ready: Pro CLI/Desktop GUI ($49/year)".

Notes

  • This addresses direct feedback from users like mwcampbell ("I want something like this, but running on my own box") and yoavsha1 ("I was really hoping this is some local solution... not self-hosted, but just local").
  • It bridges the gap between manual libvirt setups (noted by Spivak) and the polished DX of Fly.io.

Attenuator Proxy for Agentic APIs

Summary

  • A transparent MITM security proxy that converts sensitive API keys (Stripe, GitHub, AWS) into time-limited, capability-restricted "tokens" (using Macaroons or similar technology).
  • Solves the "prompt injection" and "key leak" fears when letting AI agents (like Claude Code) execute commands in a sandbox.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Companies deploying AI agents that need to touch real production data/services.
Core Feature Transparent outbound proxy that mints and swaps restricted tokens for real API keys.
Tech Stack Envoy, Go, Macaroons (libmacaroons), Flycast/OIDC.
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Usage-based (per-request) or Team License ($20/seat/mo).

Notes

  • This is a direct implementation of the pattern described by dtkav, who uses Envoy to inject credentials after verifying a macaroon to avoid leaking keys to models.
  • tptacek confirmed this is a "major differentiator" for secure sandboxes.

SpriteSync: Persistent CI/CD Environment Manager

Summary

  • A managed service or GitHub Action that uses persistent VM snapshots (not containers) to handle stateful CI/CD tasks like expensive builds, database migrations, or agentic testing.
  • Solves the "not having persistent disk" pain point in modern CI and the "slow create/fast start" problem noted by tptacek.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience DevOps engineers and teams with slow Build/Test cycles or agent-driven CI workflows.
Core Feature A "Resume VM from Step X" GitHub Action that uses Sprite-style snapshots for instant warm starts.
Tech Stack GitHub Actions, Sprites.dev API / exe.dev API, JuiceFS (for state).
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: SaaS ($0.10 per build-resume or fixed monthly tier).

Notes

  • Directly addresses cyberax who is already "trying it for our CI/CD" and therealwardo who was "thinking about playing with some CI/CD stuff using sprites."
  • Capitalizes on the frustration expressed by memset ("I really hate that modern development means not having persistent disk").

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