Multipass
By Canonical
Multipass is a command-line tool from Canonical for quickly launching and managing lightweight Ubuntu virtual machines on Windows, macOS, and Linux hosts. It is designed to give developers a fast, disposable Ubuntu environment for testing…
Definition
Multipass is a command-line tool from Canonical for quickly launching and managing lightweight Ubuntu virtual machines on Windows, macOS, and Linux hosts. It is designed to give developers a fast, disposable Ubuntu environment for testing and development without manually configuring a full virtualization setup. It is designed to give developers a fast, disposable Ubuntu environment for testing and development without manually configuring a full virtualization setup, delegating actual virtualization to a platform-appropriate backend such as Hyper-V, Hypervisor.framework, or QEMU while presenting one consistent command-line interface across all three host operating systems.
Overview
Multipass was created by Canonical to lower the friction of spinning up an Ubuntu instance for local development and testing, particularly for developers on macOS or Windows who want an environment matching Ubuntu Server without dual-booting or manually configuring a hypervisor. A single command launches a new VM from a chosen Ubuntu image, and Multipass automatically shares folders, configures networking, and can run cloud-init scripts to customize the instance on first boot. Mechanically, Multipass delegates actual virtualization to a platform-appropriate backend: Hyper-V on Windows, the built-in Hypervisor.framework on macOS, and QEMU or LXD on Linux, presenting a consistent command-line interface regardless of which backend is active underneath. This abstraction lets a developer use the same `multipass launch`, `multipass shell`, and `multipass delete` commands across all three operating systems without learning platform-specific virtualization tools or hypervisor management consoles. Where general-purpose virtualization tools like VirtualBox or Parallels Desktop support many guest operating systems and configuration options, Multipass is scoped specifically to Ubuntu images and lightweight, disposable VM management; it trades flexibility for a faster, more opinionated workflow focused on one distribution. Its use of cloud-init lets instances be provisioned similarly to how cloud providers configure new VMs, so a developer can replicate a cloud server's initial setup locally before deploying to production. In practice, developers use Multipass to test Ubuntu Server behavior locally without a cloud account, validate cloud-init provisioning scripts before running them against real infrastructure, and spin up disposable environments for testing infrastructure-as-code or software compatibility. Companion tooling can also use Multipass instances to set up local Kubernetes clusters for development purposes. Because it is limited to Ubuntu guests and simple lifecycle commands rather than fine-grained VM configuration, developers needing other guest operating systems or advanced virtualization options typically reach for tools like VirtualBox, Parallels Desktop, or a full hypervisor management interface instead. Multipass remains free and open-source, maintained by Canonical, and is designed specifically for fast, disposable development and testing environments rather than long-lived production virtualization. Teams standardizing on a single virtualization tool across a mixed Windows, macOS, and Linux team sometimes choose Multipass specifically because its command set behaves identically regardless of host platform, even though that consistency comes at the cost of being limited to Ubuntu as the only supported guest. This platform-consistency trade-off mirrors similar decisions teams make when picking any tool that prioritizes uniform behavior over guest flexibility. That trade-off is deliberate rather than accidental, reflecting Canonical's choice to prioritize a fast, uniform workflow over broad guest support.
Key Features
- Single-command launching of lightweight Ubuntu virtual machines
- Cross-platform support for Windows, macOS, and Linux hosts
- Automatic use of platform-native virtualization backends
- Cloud-init support for reproducible VM provisioning
- Automatic folder sharing and networking configuration
- Simple command-line interface for launching, stopping, and deleting instances
- Free and open-source, maintained by Canonical
- Designed for fast, disposable development and testing environments