Youki

youki is an open source container runtime written in Rust that implements the OCI runtime specification as a memory-safe alternative to runc, with rootless container support, cgroups v1 and v2, seccomp filtering, and systemd integration. Maintained as a CNCF sandbox project under the youki-dev organization, youki is adopted by container engines such as containerd, Podman, and Docker for executing OCI-compliant workloads.

2 APIs 9 Features

ContainersContainer RuntimeOCIRustCNCFCloud NativeKubernetes

APIs

Youki Container Runtime

youki is a container runtime written in Rust that implements the OCI runtime specification, providing a memory-safe and high-performance alternative to runc. It supports rootles...

OCI Spec for Rust

oci-spec-rs is a Rust implementation of the OCI Runtime, Image, and Distribution Specifications, providing the data structures and types consumed by youki and other Rust-based c...

Pricing Plans

Youki Plans Pricing

3 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits

Youki Rate Limits

5 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps

Youki Finops

FINOPS

Features

OCI Runtime Spec Compliance

Implements the Open Container Initiative (OCI) runtime specification, allowing youki to run any OCI-compliant container alongside or in place of runc.

Memory-Safe Rust Implementation

Written entirely in Rust to deliver memory safety and stronger isolation guarantees than C-based container runtimes.

Rootless Containers

Enables running containers without root privileges to reduce host attack surface for development and multi-tenant scenarios.

Cgroups v1 and v2 Support

Supports both legacy cgroups v1 and modern cgroups v2 hierarchies for resource management on Linux.

Seccomp Filtering

Applies seccomp BPF filters to restrict syscalls available to containers and harden the runtime surface.

Systemd Integration

Integrates with systemd as a cgroup manager and supports systemd-managed container processes.

Linux Namespaces and Capabilities

Manages mount, UTS, IPC, user, PID, network, and cgroup namespaces and supports capabilities such as CAP_BPF, CAP_PERFMON, and CAP_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE.

Performance

Benchmarks show youki performing roughly twice as fast as runc for container create-to-delete cycles.

CNCF Sandbox Project

Maintained as a Cloud Native Computing Foundation sandbox project with open governance, public roadmap, and community contributors.

Use Cases

Drop-In runc Replacement

Use youki as a drop-in replacement for runc in container engines to gain memory safety and performance benefits with no workload changes.

Rootless Container Workflows

Run containers as a non-root user for development, CI, or multi-tenant environments where elevated privileges are not desirable.

Kubernetes Workloads via containerd

Use youki under containerd to execute Kubernetes pods and workloads in production clusters.

Podman and Docker Container Execution

Configure Podman or Docker to invoke youki as the low-level OCI runtime for image execution.

Container Runtime Research and Education

Explore and prototype container runtime features in a memory-safe codebase suitable for systems research, security analysis, and teaching.

Integrations

containerd

containerd has passed end-to-end testing against youki, enabling its use as the OCI runtime for Kubernetes and other workloads orchestrated by containerd.

Podman

Podman can be configured to use youki as its OCI runtime for both rootless and rootful container execution.

Docker

Docker can call youki as the low-level OCI runtime in place of runc for compatible workloads via daemon.json configuration.

Kubernetes

Kubernetes clusters can run youki indirectly through container runtimes such as containerd or CRI-O.

crun

youki sits alongside crun as a modern alternative to runc, focused on memory-safe systems programming in Rust.

systemd

Integrates with systemd for cgroup management and lifecycle control of container processes.

oci-spec-rs

Built on oci-spec-rs, the Rust implementation of the OCI Runtime, Image, and Distribution specifications maintained by the same organization.

Solutions

Cloud Native Container Platforms

Provides a CNCF sandbox container runtime for cloud-native platforms looking to adopt a memory-safe OCI runtime under containerd or CRI-O.

Secure Multi-Tenant Hosts

Pairs rootless containers, seccomp filtering, and Rust memory safety to harden multi-tenant container hosts against runtime exploits.

Edge and Embedded Workloads

A lightweight, high-performance runtime suitable for edge and embedded deployments where resource use and predictable performance matter.

Semantic Vocabularies

Youki Oci Image Context

7 classes · 38 properties

JSON-LD

Youki Oci Runtime Context

20 classes · 106 properties

Documentation

👥

GitHubOrganization

Sources

aid: youki
name: Youki
description: youki is an open source container runtime written in Rust that implements the OCI runtime specification as a
  memory-safe alternative to runc, with rootless container support, cgroups v1 and v2, seccomp filtering, and systemd integration.
  Maintained as a CNCF sandbox project under the youki-dev organization, youki is adopted by container engines such as containerd,
  Podman, and Docker for executing OCI-compliant workloads.
type: Index
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
tags:
- Containers
- Container Runtime
- OCI
- Rust
- CNCF
- Cloud Native
- Kubernetes
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/youki/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2026-03-26'
modified: '2026-05-03'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
- aid: youki:youki
  name: Youki Container Runtime
  description: youki is a container runtime written in Rust that implements the OCI runtime specification, providing a memory-safe
    and high-performance alternative to runc. It supports rootless containers, cgroups v1 and v2, seccomp filtering, capabilities,
    and Linux namespaces, and integrates with container engines including containerd, Podman, Docker, and Kubernetes.
  humanURL: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki
  tags:
  - Container Runtime
  - OCI
  - Rust
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://youki-dev.github.io/youki/
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://youki-dev.github.io/youki/user/basic_usage.html
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki
  - type: ReleaseNotes
    url: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki/releases
  - type: ChangeLog
    url: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
  - type: CLI
    url: https://crates.io/crates/youki
    title: youki CLI
  - type: SDKs
    url: https://crates.io/crates/libcontainer
    title: libcontainer (Rust)
  - type: SDKs
    url: https://crates.io/crates/libcgroups
    title: libcgroups (Rust)
  - type: SDKs
    url: https://crates.io/crates/liboci-cli
    title: liboci-cli (Rust)
  - type: CodeExamples
    url: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki/tree/main/tools/wasm-sample
    title: WebAssembly Sample
  - type: Tutorials
    url: https://youki-dev.github.io/youki/user/webassembly.html
    title: Running WebAssembly Workloads
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-schema.json
    title: OCI Runtime Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-state-schema.json
    title: OCI Runtime State Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-features-schema.json
    title: OCI Runtime Features Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-linux.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-windows.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-solaris.json
    title: OCI Runtime Solaris Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-freebsd.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-zos.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-vm.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-features-linux.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Features Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-defs.json
    title: OCI Runtime Common Definitions
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-defs-linux.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Definitions
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-defs-windows.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Definitions
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-defs-vm.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Definitions
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-defs-zos.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Definitions
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-defs-freebsd.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Definitions
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-state-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime State Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-features-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Features Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-linux-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-windows-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-solaris-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Solaris Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-freebsd-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-zos-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-vm-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-features-linux-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Features Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Common Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-linux-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-windows-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-vm-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-zos-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-freebsd-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Definitions Structure
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-state-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime State Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-features-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Features Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-linux-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-windows-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-solaris-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Solaris Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-freebsd-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-zos-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-vm-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-features-linux-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Features Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Common Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-linux-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-windows-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-vm-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-zos-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-freebsd-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Definitions Example
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/youki-oci-runtime-context.jsonld
    title: OCI Runtime JSON-LD Context
- aid: youki:oci-spec-rs
  name: OCI Spec for Rust
  description: oci-spec-rs is a Rust implementation of the OCI Runtime, Image, and Distribution Specifications, providing
    the data structures and types consumed by youki and other Rust-based container tooling.
  humanURL: https://github.com/youki-dev/oci-spec-rs
  tags:
  - OCI
  - Rust
  - Specification
  properties:
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/youki-dev/oci-spec-rs
  - type: SDKs
    url: https://crates.io/crates/oci-spec
    title: oci-spec (Rust)
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://docs.rs/oci-spec
    title: oci-spec API Docs
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-config-schema.json
    title: OCI Runtime Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-state-schema.json
    title: OCI Runtime State Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-runtime-features-schema.json
    title: OCI Runtime Features Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-image-config-schema.json
    title: OCI Image Config Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-image-manifest-schema.json
    title: OCI Image Manifest Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-image-index-schema.json
    title: OCI Image Index Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-image-layout-schema.json
    title: OCI Image Layout Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-image-content-descriptor.json
    title: OCI Image Content Descriptor Schema
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-image-defs.json
    title: OCI Image Common Definitions
  - type: JSONSchema
    url: json-schema/oci-image-defs-descriptor.json
    title: OCI Image Descriptor Definitions
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-state-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime State Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-features-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Features Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-linux-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-windows-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-solaris-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Solaris Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-freebsd-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-zos-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-config-vm-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-features-linux-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Features Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Common Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-linux-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-windows-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-vm-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-zos-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-runtime-defs-freebsd-structure.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-image-config-structure.json
    title: OCI Image Config Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-image-manifest-structure.json
    title: OCI Image Manifest Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-image-index-structure.json
    title: OCI Image Index Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-image-layout-structure.json
    title: OCI Image Layout Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-image-content-descriptor-structure.json
    title: OCI Image Content Descriptor Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-image-defs-structure.json
    title: OCI Image Common Definitions Structure
  - type: JSONStructure
    url: json-structure/oci-image-defs-descriptor-structure.json
    title: OCI Image Descriptor Definitions Structure
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-state-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime State Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-features-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Features Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-linux-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-windows-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-solaris-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Solaris Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-freebsd-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-zos-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-config-vm-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-features-linux-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Features Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Common Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-linux-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Linux Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-windows-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime Windows Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-vm-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime VM Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-zos-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime z/OS Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-runtime-defs-freebsd-example.json
    title: OCI Runtime FreeBSD Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-image-config-example.json
    title: OCI Image Config Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-image-manifest-example.json
    title: OCI Image Manifest Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-image-index-example.json
    title: OCI Image Index Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-image-layout-example.json
    title: OCI Image Layout Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-image-content-descriptor-example.json
    title: OCI Image Content Descriptor Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-image-defs-example.json
    title: OCI Image Common Definitions Example
  - type: Examples
    url: examples/oci-image-defs-descriptor-example.json
    title: OCI Image Descriptor Definitions Example
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/youki-oci-runtime-context.jsonld
    title: OCI Runtime JSON-LD Context
  - type: JSONLD
    url: json-ld/youki-oci-image-context.jsonld
    title: OCI Image JSON-LD Context
common:
- type: Documentation
  url: https://youki-dev.github.io/youki/
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/youki-dev
- type: GitHubRepository
  url: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki
- type: ReleaseNotes
  url: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki/releases
- type: ChangeLog
  url: https://github.com/youki-dev/youki/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md
- type: Support
  url: https://youki-dev.github.io/youki/community/introduction.html
- type: Vocabulary
  url: vocabulary/youki-vocabulary.yaml
  title: Youki Vocabulary
- type: Features
  data:
  - name: OCI Runtime Spec Compliance
    description: Implements the Open Container Initiative (OCI) runtime specification, allowing youki to run any OCI-compliant
      container alongside or in place of runc.
  - name: Memory-Safe Rust Implementation
    description: Written entirely in Rust to deliver memory safety and stronger isolation guarantees than C-based container
      runtimes.
  - name: Rootless Containers
    description: Enables running containers without root privileges to reduce host attack surface for development and multi-tenant
      scenarios.
  - name: Cgroups v1 and v2 Support
    description: Supports both legacy cgroups v1 and modern cgroups v2 hierarchies for resource management on Linux.
  - name: Seccomp Filtering
    description: Applies seccomp BPF filters to restrict syscalls available to containers and harden the runtime surface.
  - name: Systemd Integration
    description: Integrates with systemd as a cgroup manager and supports systemd-managed container processes.
  - name: Linux Namespaces and Capabilities
    description: Manages mount, UTS, IPC, user, PID, network, and cgroup namespaces and supports capabilities such as CAP_BPF,
      CAP_PERFMON, and CAP_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE.
  - name: Performance
    description: Benchmarks show youki performing roughly twice as fast as runc for container create-to-delete cycles.
  - name: CNCF Sandbox Project
    description: Maintained as a Cloud Native Computing Foundation sandbox project with open governance, public roadmap, and
      community contributors.
- type: UseCases
  data:
  - name: Drop-In runc Replacement
    description: Use youki as a drop-in replacement for runc in container engines to gain memory safety and performance benefits
      with no workload changes.
  - name: Rootless Container Workflows
    description: Run containers as a non-root user for development, CI, or multi-tenant environments where elevated privileges
      are not desirable.
  - name: Kubernetes Workloads via containerd
    description: Use youki under containerd to execute Kubernetes pods and workloads in production clusters.
  - name: Podman and Docker Container Execution
    description: Configure Podman or Docker to invoke youki as the low-level OCI runtime for image execution.
  - name: Container Runtime Research and Education
    description: Explore and prototype container runtime features in a memory-safe codebase suitable for systems research,
      security analysis, and teaching.
- type: Integrations
  data:
  - name: containerd
    description: containerd has passed end-to-end testing against youki, enabling its use as the OCI runtime for Kubernetes
      and other workloads orchestrated by containerd.
  - name: Podman
    description: Podman can be configured to use youki as its OCI runtime for both rootless and rootful container execution.
  - name: Docker
    description: Docker can call youki as the low-level OCI runtime in place of runc for compatible workloads via daemon.json
      configuration.
  - name: Kubernetes
    description: Kubernetes clusters can run youki indirectly through container runtimes such as containerd or CRI-O.
  - name: crun
    description: youki sits alongside crun as a modern alternative to runc, focused on memory-safe systems programming in
      Rust.
  - name: systemd
    description: Integrates with systemd for cgroup management and lifecycle control of container processes.
  - name: oci-spec-rs
    description: Built on oci-spec-rs, the Rust implementation of the OCI Runtime, Image, and Distribution specifications
      maintained by the same organization.
- type: Solutions
  data:
  - name: Cloud Native Container Platforms
    description: Provides a CNCF sandbox container runtime for cloud-native platforms looking to adopt a memory-safe OCI runtime
      under containerd or CRI-O.
  - name: Secure Multi-Tenant Hosts
    description: Pairs rootless containers, seccomp filtering, and Rust memory safety to harden multi-tenant container hosts
      against runtime exploits.
  - name: Edge and Embedded Workloads
    description: A lightweight, high-performance runtime suitable for edge and embedded deployments where resource use and
      predictable performance matter.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com