# Dedalus Labs - Full Reference

> Persistent Linux VMs that start in under 50ms, built for AI agents.

## Agent skill

- [Dedalus Machines skill](https://docs.dedaluslabs.ai/dcs/dm/agent-skill): Install with `npx skills add https://docs.dedaluslabs.ai --skill dedalus-machines`.
- [Download SKILL.md](https://docs.dedaluslabs.ai/.well-known/skills/dedalus-machines/skill.md): Agent instructions for CLI setup, API-key checks, and machine lifecycle commands.

To select another environment, override the CLI base URL with `DEDALUS_BASE_URL` or `--base-url`, including for SSH. Ordinary API-key setup does not require an organization ID.

## Company Overview

Dedalus Labs builds Dedalus Machines, a cloud computing primitive that is both performant and flexible. A Dedalus Machine (DM) is a full Linux VM that spins up in 50ms.

The company was founded in 2025 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Dedalus Labs raised an $11M seed round led by Kindred Ventures and Saga Ventures, and is backed by Y Combinator (S25 batch).

## Articles

Practical guides to AI agent infrastructure are indexed at https://www.dedaluslabs.ai/articles. Individual article pages remain available at https://www.dedaluslabs.ai/blog/{slug}.

## Dedalus Machines — Core Product

### What is a Dedalus Machine?

A Dedalus Machine (DM) is a full Linux environment. Each DM is a VM that starts in under 50ms. Compute billing stops while the Machine sleeps; storage remains billable or counts against the included allowance.

A DM is a full Linux environment with systemd, package managers, and root access. Create a Machine, execute commands, connect with SSH, and manage its lifecycle through the CLI, an official SDK, or the raw API.

Files on the root filesystem persist across sleep and wake. Memory and CPU execution state reset, and processes that stopped during sleep must be restarted.

### Speed

Dedalus Machines start in under 50ms.

This is achieved by building a custom virtual machine monitor (VMM) called the Dedalus Hypervisor, built on top of the Cloud Hypervisor project. The hypervisors are orchestrated in their own Kubernetes pods to reactively and proactively meet the demands of dynamic workloads.

### Security — VM-Level Isolation

There are three types of isolation models, ordered by increasing strength:

1. Container-based isolation (weakest — trust boundary is software, cgroups/namespaces)
2. User-space kernel isolation (medium — software Sentry intercepts syscalls, large attack surface)
3. VM-level isolation (strongest — hardware-enforced via CPU privilege rings)

Dedalus Machines enforce VM-level isolation for maximum security. Each user gets their own virtual machine with its own dedicated guest kernel orchestrated by the Dedalus Hypervisor.

The host CPU enforces the boundary in hardware via privilege ring transitions (VMX root mode for the host, VMX non-root mode for the guest). Guest memory is isolated via Extended Page Tables (EPT) / Nested Page Tables (NPT), which are walked by the CPU's MMU hardware, not by software.

Unlike user-space kernel models (e.g. gVisor), VM-level isolation does not add syscall interception latency and cannot be bypassed by a single software bug.

### Disaggregated Compute and Storage

Compute and storage layers are separated entirely. This flexibility enables:
- Independent scaling of RAM and disk
- Persistent files across sleep and wake

### Durable Storage

Dedalus Machines provide a persistent Linux root filesystem.

### Flexibility

Dedalus Machines provide a full Linux environment with systemd, package managers, and root access.

## API

Using Dedalus Machines:

```
$ dedalus machines create --vcpu 1 --memory-mib 4096 --storage-gib 10
$ dedalus machines executions create --machine-id 0199a1b2-c3d4-7000-8000-000000000001 --command '["whoami"]'
$ dedalus machines sleep --machine-id 0199a1b2-c3d4-7000-8000-000000000001
```

The interface is designed to be native for AI agents via the Dedalus CLI (https://github.com/dedalus-labs/dedalus-cli).

## Pricing

### Dedalus Machines
- **Hobby**: $0/month, $20 one-time sign-up credit, no credit card required
- **Pro**: $20/month with $20 in monthly compute credits and priority support
- **Enterprise**: Custom pricing, dedicated support, SLAs, custom limits
- Per-second compute billing. Compute billing stops while sleeping; storage is priced separately.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: What are Dedalus Machines?**
A: Persistent Linux VMs that start in under 50ms with VM-level isolation and their own guest kernel.

**Q: How fast do Dedalus Machines boot?**
A: Under 50ms.

**Q: What isolation model does Dedalus use?**
A: VM-level isolation. Each Machine has its own guest kernel and hardware-enforced memory isolation.

**Q: How does pricing work?**
A: Every account receives a one-time $20 sign-up credit. Pro costs $20/month and includes $20 in monthly compute credits. CPU and RAM are billed per second while active. Storage is billed separately.

**Q: What can I run on a Dedalus Machine?**
A: Linux software that can be installed and run with systemd, package managers, and root access.

**Q: Does storage persist across sleep/wake?**
A: Files on the root filesystem persist. Memory and CPU execution state reset, and stopped processes must be restarted after wake.

**Q: How is Dedalus different from E2B, Daytona, or Fly.io?**
A: Dedalus Machines combine fast startup, a full Linux environment, VM-level isolation, persistent storage, and autosleep.

**Q: What is the Dedalus Hypervisor?**
A: A custom virtual machine monitor (VMM) built on the Cloud Hypervisor project. It enables 50ms boot via snapshot restore and is orchestrated in Kubernetes pods for elastic scaling.

## Technical Architecture

- **VMM**: Custom Dedalus Hypervisor built on Cloud Hypervisor
- **Isolation**: VM-level via EPT/NPT hardware enforcement
- **Boot**: Under 50ms
- **Storage**: Disaggregated from compute, POSIX-compliant ext4
- **Orchestration**: Kubernetes pods for hypervisor management
- **Networking**: Full Linux networking stack
- **Compute**: Per-second billing, scale-to-zero

## Contact

- Website: https://www.dedaluslabs.ai
- Documentation: https://docs.dedaluslabs.ai/dcs
- Email: support@dedaluslabs.ai
- GitHub: https://github.com/dedalus-labs
- CLI: https://github.com/dedalus-labs/dedalus-cli
- X/Twitter: https://x.com/dedaluslabs
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/dedalus-labs
- Discord: https://discord.gg/RuDhZKnq5R
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DedalusLabs
- Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/dedalus-labs