cix

Source-defined delivery

Source in.
System out.

Cix treats compilation, packaging, image assembly, host updates, and installer publication as one inspectable supply chain. Prebuilt bytes are a shortcut through the work—not a replacement for its source record.

The delivery loop

Every byte has a place in the path.

Self-hosting

Cix builds Cix.A running Cix host can rebuild the control plane, kernel, root filesystem, installer, and the Cix Build System's own native dependencies without a separate development machine.Read the complete build guide ↗
  1. 01SourceRecipe · snapshot · checksum
  2. 02BuildDeclared tools · isolated container
  3. 03PackageManifest · dependencies · artefact
  4. 04ImageImmutable rootfs version
  5. 05DeployReadiness · rolling convergence
  6. 06HostVerified A/B slot or installer
01

Recipes

Source is a declared input.

A recipe names the source URL or snapshot, checksum, version, dependencies, and build image. The daemon validates the metadata before the build starts. Build logic runs inside an isolated, network-less container; the host fetches and verifies inputs first.

source checksumdeclared dependenciesTCCnetwork-less build
02

Artefacts

Cache bytes, keep source truth.

Cix Cache can provide a prebuilt artefact whose architecture, recipe identity, and SHA-256 match what Git declares. A cache miss, unavailable server, or failed fetch falls back to the ordinary source build. Release artefacts are independently signed and the release selftest now performs a real minisign sign/verify round trip.

recipeartefactSHA-256minisignsource fallback
03

Self-hosting

Rebuild the platform from the platform.

The hostbuild path uses ordinary Cix images and recipes to compile cixd, cixctl, the web dashboard, the kernel, boot-root tooling, and the Cix Build System with its zstd and libarchive dependencies. The resulting control-plane root can be assembled into an update, and the same source path can produce a fresh signed installer ISO. CBS is built and parsed on-box today; daemon integration remains a separate boundary.

hostbuildkernelrootfsISO assemblySecure BootCBS

Trust model

Fast paths remain checkable.

01Cix Cache

Prebuilt bytes with an API-driven registry and verified artefact identity.

↗02Recipe guide

The complete recipe format, build contract, and dependency model.

↗03Build guide

Dev-machine and self-hosted rebuild paths, including hostbuild and ISO publication.

↗04Roadmap

What shipped, how it was verified, and which delivery boundaries remain.

↗

Start here

Build one useful thing.

The quickstart gets a source-defined package into an image; the build guide takes you through rebuilding Cix itself.

Open the quickstart Build Cix itself