Golden image library
Pin a configured machine as a golden and linked-clone a fleet from it. Every clone shares the original's blocks until it writes.
Why it matters
The expensive part of a VM is not the disk — it is the hour you spent installing and configuring it. A golden makes that hour a one-time cost that every future machine inherits.
What changes
Without it
- Every new machine starts from an ISO, and you redo the same setup.
- Or you copy a configured machine, which costs its full size on disk each time.
- Fleets are expensive enough that you keep one machine and mutate it.
With 1VMTool
- `1vm template pin` marks a machine as a golden and freezes it.
- `1vm create --from <golden>` produces a linked clone in about a millisecond.
- Ten clones of a 64 GiB golden cost almost nothing until they diverge.
How it works
Pin it
`1vm template pin` records the machine as a golden. `1vm golden capture` additionally records firmware, drivers and first-boot state into golden.json — for Windows this needs a ready guest agent.
Clone from it
`1vm create --from <golden>` takes an APFS linked clone. Add `--full` when you want an independent copy instead.
Rekey where it matters
`1vm clone --rekey-ssh` regenerates the guest's SSH host keys, so a fleet of clones does not share one identity.
What it covers
- `1vm template pin|unpin|list` for the library
- `1vm golden capture` for firmware and first-boot state
- Linked-clone fleets at APFS-clone cost
- `--full` for an independent copy
- `--rekey-ssh` so clones get their own host keys
What you get out of it
- Pay the setup cost once, not once per machine
- Stand up a fleet without paying for it in disk
- Start every experiment from the same known state
Try it on your own Mac
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