One USB. Any distro. ZFS on root. Production Kubernetes in 20 minutes.
kldloadOS assembles any Linux distribution from stock vendor repos (DNF, APT, pacman) with ZFS on root, WireGuard, eBPF, and a complete Kubernetes stack — on a single bootable ISO. Nothing forked, nothing patched. Every package pulled directly from vendor CDNs. Most distros install fully offline from embedded package mirrors (darksites).
One command deploys a production Kubernetes cluster with Cilium eBPF, dual WireGuard encrypted backplanes, and ZFS instant-cloned nodes:
kube-cluster bootstrap --workers 5Website: kldload.com | Download: dl.kldload.com | Demo: YouTube | Discord: discord.gg/tkVN6sSU
# Download and burn
curl -L -o kldload.iso https://dl.kldload.com/kldload-free-latest.iso
dd if=kldload.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=direct conv=fsync && sync
# Or build from source
git clone https://github.com/kldload/kldload.git && cd kldload
PROFILE=desktop ./deploy.sh buildBoot the USB → web UI opens at :8080 → pick distro + profile → install.
| OS | Method | Offline |
|---|---|---|
| CentOS Stream 9 | dnf --installroot | Yes (RPM darksite) |
| Debian 13 (Trixie) | debootstrap | Yes (APT darksite) |
| Ubuntu 24.04 (Noble) | debootstrap | Yes (APT darksite) |
| Fedora 41 | dnf --installroot | Yes (RPM darksite) |
| Rocky Linux 9 | dnf --installroot | Yes (shared RPM darksite) |
| RHEL 9 | dnf --installroot | No (Red Hat CDN) |
| Arch Linux | pacman --root | No (rolling release) |
| Alpine Linux | apk add --root | Partial (apk cache) |
| Profile | What you get |
|---|---|
| Desktop | GNOME + ZFS + all kldloadOS tools |
| Server | Headless SSH + ZFS + all kldloadOS tools |
| KVM | KVM hypervisor + ZFS zvols + instant cloning + Kubernetes |
| Kubernetes | KVM + one-command K8s cluster (Cilium eBPF + WireGuard + Hubble) |
| Core | ZFS on root + WireGuard — stock distro, nothing else |
| AI | Desktop + Ollama + local LLM + NVIDIA GPU |
ZFS on root — Boot environments, snapshots, replication, per-dataset encryption, compression, checksums. Every dataset tuned: 8K for databases, 128K for general, instant clones for VMs.
WireGuard — Encrypted backplanes from first boot. Management and Kubernetes traffic on separate encrypted planes.
eBPF — bcc-tools, bpftrace, bpftool pre-installed. BTF in the kernel. Cilium gets the full eBPF feature set — no fallback to iptables.
KVM + ZFS instant cloning — Clone a VM in 75ms. Zero disk cost (copy-on-write). Golden image → fleet deployment in seconds.
Kubernetes — One command deploys a production cluster:
kube-cluster bootstrap --workers 3Golden image → ZFS clone 4 nodes → Cilium CNI → MetalLB → Gateway API → Hubble → done.
NVIDIA GPU — Drivers from the installer. Multiple containers share one GPU via CUDA time-slicing. No PCIe passthrough required.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
kldload-overview |
Unified status — ZFS, VMs, K8s, GPU, eBPF, everything |
kvm-demo |
Interactive KVM + container demo (GPU, podman, clones) |
kube-demo |
Interactive Kubernetes demo (Cilium, Hubble, MetalLB) |
kst |
System health dashboard |
kst-dashboard |
Live tmux monitoring |
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
kvm-create |
Create VM on ZFS zvol |
kvm-clone |
ZFS instant clone (~75ms) |
kvm-snap |
Snapshot a VM |
kvm-list |
List all VMs |
kvm-delete |
Destroy VM + zvol |
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
ksnap |
Smart snapshot manager |
kclone |
Clone datasets/zvols |
kbe |
Boot environment manager |
kdf |
ZFS-aware disk usage |
kexport |
Export golden images (qcow2, vmdk, vhd, ova, raw) |
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
build |
Build ISO (uses cached darksites) |
build-debian-darksite |
Build Debian APT offline mirror |
build-ubuntu-darksite |
Build Ubuntu APT offline mirror |
build-fedora-darksite |
Build Fedora RPM offline mirror |
builder-image |
Rebuild builder container |
kvm-deploy |
Deploy to local KVM |
proxmox-deploy |
Deploy to Proxmox |
burn |
Write ISO to USB |
clean |
Remove build artifacts |
Fully auditable. Zero compiled binaries. Three bootstrap paths: dnf, debootstrap, pacstrap.
Cat any file and read what it does.
The live environment is always CentOS Stream 9. The user picks their target distro at install time. Future upgrades use the public repos of the distro you chose. There is no kldload repo. There are no kldload updates.
- 197 commits. One-command production Kubernetes on bare metal.
kube-cluster bootstrap --workers 5— full cluster in under 20 minutes- Cilium v1.16.5 eBPF CNI — no kube-proxy, no iptables, pure kernel datapath
- Hubble eBPF observability — L3/L4/L7 flow visibility from first boot
- Dual WireGuard encrypted backplanes — management + data plane
- ZFS instant clones — nodes provision in under 100ms via copy-on-write
- MetalLB + Gateway API + OpenEBS ZFS CSI — full production stack
- Secure Boot end-to-end — MOK-signed ZFS modules
- ZFSBootMenu — native boot environments, GRUB eliminated
- Comprehensive smoke tests — 190+ automated checks
- Demo video
- FreeBSD 15.0 added to installer (native ZFS, jails, bhyve)
- KVM hypervisor profile: ZFS zvols, instant clones (~100ms), golden image workflow
kvm-create,kvm-clone,kvm-snap,kvm-delete,kvm-list,kvm-demo- Debian 13 (Trixie) as first-class citizen
- AI profile: Ollama + Open WebUI + NVIDIA GPU
- Web UI with 5 profiles: Desktop, Server, Core, KVM, AI
- Golden image export (qcow2, vmdk, vhd, ova) with cloud-init
kexportCLI for image sealing and export- NVIDIA CUDA time-slicing for container GPU sharing
- Added Alpine Linux, Ubuntu 24.04 offline darksite
- AI assistant: Ollama + Open WebUI + local LLM
- Boot environment manager (
kbe) kupgradewith automatic pre-upgrade snapshots
- 6 distros: CentOS, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, Rocky, Arch
- WireGuard + eBPF from first boot
kvm-demointeractive hypervisor demo- Sanoid automatic snapshot scheduling
- Single ISO, 4 distros, ZFS on root
- Offline RPM darksite
- ZFSBootMenu boot environments
BSD-3-Clause. Free forever. See LICENSE.
kldloadOS 1.0.4 — Kubernetes on ZFS