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Barn documentation

Start Barn with two commands, then look up operations, configuration, and CLI contracts as needed.

Barn turns one Pigsty-compatible Inventory into fixed-IP QEMU virtual machines. It manages one deployment per Unix user; state lives under ~/.barn, so lifecycle and SSH commands work from any directory.

Choose the shortest path for your task:

  • Start — boot the first lab with two commands, then operate and troubleshoot it.
  • Reference — exact Inventory fields, commands, flags, output, and exit codes.
  • About — design, native validation, limits, and release gates.

Start with the Quick Start to prepare the Barn 0.9.0 release candidate from source. Once the CLI is ready, run barn up to start the lab, then barn ssh to connect.

Important

0.9.0 is the first Barn release and is not yet published. It uses the new commands, environment variables and fresh state, without compatibility or migration for earlier development builds. See release and validation status.

Start

Start Barn with up, connect with ssh, and read the other guides only when needed.

Reference

Exact contracts for the Pigsty-compatible Inventory and Barn command line.

About

The product model, implementation boundaries, native evidence, current limits, and release gates.