Built on Pure FreeBSD Kernel Primitives

Run OCI containers,
the FreeBSD way.

ocifbsd runs Docker and OCI images as native FreeBSD jails — leveraging ZFS-backed image layers, VNET networking, and RCTL resource limits.

Read the docs

jail(8) Isolation

ZFS Datasets & Snapshots

VNET Dual-Stack Networking

RCTL Caps & MAC Policies

FreeBSD Native Architecture

Combining standard OCI container specifications with the performance, safety, and battle-tested reliability of FreeBSD.

Native Jails

Every container runs inside a lightweight, kernel-level jail(8) — not a virtual machine. Benefit from zero virtualization overhead and native host performance.

ZFS Image Store

Content-addressed OCI image layers stored using ZFS datasets, snapshots, and clones. Instant container provisioning with Copy-on-Write storage efficiency.

OCI Images

Seamlessly pull from any OCI registry (Docker Hub, GHCR) or load local OCI tar archives, including official FreeBSD release base images.

VNET Networking

Per-container virtualized network stacks via VNET and bridge devices. Full isolation for loopback, epair interfaces, firewalls, and custom IP routing.

RCTL Limits + MAC

Enforce fine-grained CPU, memory, and process count limits using FreeBSD rctl(8) alongside Mandatory Access Control security policies.

Orchestration

WIP

Native multi-container pods, service declarations, and a Kubernetes-inspired scheduler engineered specifically for FreeBSD clusters.

Quickstart Terminal

Get up and running with ocifbsd in seconds on any FreeBSD 15+ host with ZFS.

root@freebsd:~ # ocifbsd demo

Requires root

# Import the official FreeBSD 15.1 base image archive
ocifbsd load --name freebsd:15.1 FreeBSD-15.1-RELEASE-amd64-container-image-runtime.txz

# Run container as a native jail and execute inside
ocifbsd run --name web --image freebsd:15.1
ocifbsd exec web /bin/sh -c 'freebsd-version; hostname'

# Or pull directly from any OCI container registry
ocifbsd pull alpine:3.20

Browse command examples for every manual page →

Built on FreeBSD

Unifying container convenience with proven FreeBSD OS technologies. ocifbsd directly interfaces with kernel subsystems to provide secure, robust, native containerization.

jail(8) ZFS VNET RCTL MAC

Run OCI containers,the FreeBSD way.