System Requirements
Miren needs a Linux server with enough memory and disk space to run its components and build your applications.
| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Operating System | Linux (kernel 5.10+) | |
| Architecture | x86_64 or arm64 | |
| Memory | 4 GB | 8 GB |
| Storage | 50 GB | 100 GB |
Why these numbers?
Memory
Miren runs several components — containerd, etcd, buildkit, metrics, and logging — that together use around 600 MB of memory at idle. During builds, memory usage spikes as buildkit compiles your application. A single Rails app with Postgres can push total usage past 1.3 GB during deployment, which is why we set the minimum at 4 GB.
With 8 GB, you'll have comfortable headroom for running multiple apps and handling concurrent builds without things getting tight.
Storage
Container images and build caches add up quickly. Base images for languages like Ruby or Python are 50-80 MB compressed but expand on disk, and BuildKit caches intermediate build layers aggressively — keeping up to 10 GB by default. A single Rails deployment can use 15-20 GB between base images, build cache, and the container registry. With multiple apps and their version history, usage grows from there.
Starting with 50 GB gives you enough room to get going. With 100 GB you'll have space to grow without worrying about "no space left on device" errors during builds.
What happens if my system is too small?
The miren server install command checks your system against these requirements before installing. If your machine doesn't meet the minimums, the installer will let you know what's short and point you here.
If you're below the recommended thresholds but above the minimums, you'll see a heads-up but installation will proceed normally.
If you know what you're doing and want to install anyway (say, for testing), you can bypass the check:
sudo miren server install --skip-system-check
We'd love to hear from you
We're still learning about system requirements as more people deploy Miren in different contexts. If you have an interesting deployment scenario or resource constraints you'd like to discuss, come chat with us on Discord!