The Design & Implementation of Sprites

Fly.io has introduced Sprites, a new platform that offers disposable, ball-point virtual machines characterized by their swift creation time, persistent storage, and low inactive cost. Sprites are designed to be instant-use Linux VMs with root access, capable of spinning up in just a second or two, creating a seamless experience akin to connecting to an existing machine. They feature a 100GB durable root filesystem, leveraging S3-compatible object storage for enhanced reliability and ease of migration. This design decision allows Sprites to bypass the complexities and delays associated with traditional container-based systems by eliminating user-facing containers, thus simplifying orchestration and scaling. The orchestration model employed by Sprites inverts traditional cloud hosting norms by centralizing management within the VM itself, allowing for rapid deployment and operational flexibility. This innovative approach is underpinned by a new orchestration stack that deviates from Fly.io's previous Fly Machines architecture, offering a unique solution optimized for interactive computing environments. Users are encouraged to explore Sprites' capabilities, as they offer a new paradigm in cloud computing with applications ranging from rapid prototyping to potentially broader deployment scenarios.