branch-and-checkpoint SKILL.md skillA
branch-and-checkpoint from smol-machines/smolvm is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add smol-machines/smolvm/branch-and-checkpoint@git:20261016.432b170Pins git:20261016.432b170 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- smol-machines/smolvm
- Path
docs/branch-and-checkpoint/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 2
- Latest version
- git:20261016.432b170, committed Oct 16, 2026
- First version recorded
- Oct 6, 2026
- Size
- 19,301 bytes
- Repository stars
- 6,776
- License
- Apache-2.0
Saves a running smolvm machine as checkpoints on a schedule, keeps a bounded history, restores any generation in it, pauses and resumes machines without losing running processes, and branches a warm machine into children with a checkpoint of the exact point they started from. Use when a machine's state has to survive the machine; when an agent or a job needs to roll back; when checkpoints must be taken periodically, since smolvm has no scheduler or retention of its own; when fanning a prepared…
Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.
What the file says
# Checkpoints, restores, pauses and branches Verified on **smolvm v1.29.0** on macOS arm64, 2026-10-15, and on **v1.18.2** on Linux aarch64, 2026-09-24. Done means a restore brings back both the disk and the memory you left, the schedule keeps exactly the checkpoints you asked for and no fewer, and every child of a branch starts from a state you still hold as a checkpoint after the children are gone. The Linux runs used the scripts of their date; this version's preflight and cleanup scripts ran on Linux aarch64 on v1.22.2 on 2026-10-03. `README.md` says what each of these operations is. This file is how to run them, and the traps. **Three facts shape everything here.** - **smolvm has no scheduler and no retention.** `scripts/checkpoint.sh` is the one capture a timer runs, with the rules the engine asks a scheduler to follow built in; `references/scheduling.md` puts it under cron, systemd or launchd. - **A branch's captured state stays on this host and cannot be exported.** So a branch point is paired with a checkpoint taken at the same moment, which is the copy you keep. - **`--branchable` at `start` decides what a machine can do later.** A branch source needs it on …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add smol-machines/smolvm/branch-and-checkpoint@sha256:11d17cdafbe7c859The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261016.432b170, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_w7zyptu5a4wfdfqh)
2 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 2 versions of this file, between Oct 6, 2026 and Oct 16, 2026, about one every 10 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261016.432b170 latest | 2026-10-16 | 432b170 | 19,301 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20261006.8798449 | 2026-10-06 | 8798449 | 18,576 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (19301 bytes)
- pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
- pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
- pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
- pass: No credential-shaped string
- pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
- pass: No text hidden with inline styles
- pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
- pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
- pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
- pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
- pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
- pass: No link to a raw IP address
- pass: No script tag
Source
smol-machines/smolvm · 6,776 stars · license Apache-2.0 · pushed 2026-10-20 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_w7zyptu5a4wfdfqh GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=smol-machines/smolvm/branch-and-checkpoint GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/11d17cdafbe7c8596c8511270e2b1aaa3e13027b04b4fb51dc915bc68777f687
Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.
Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.