Secure software artifacts with one command: Minimal

Asynchronous software development

Modern software development faces a critical challenge: achieving fast, secure, and reproducible builds across all environments while managing an increasingly complex web of dependencies. The recent surge in supply chain attacks, which have doubled according to Cyble, demonstrates that traditional approaches are failing. These struggles come in the form of fragmented tooling across programming languages, inconsistent builds between development and continuous integration (CI) environments, and reactive security postures that slow development velocity.

The underlying issue is structural: security measures that create friction get circumvented, while those that accelerate development get embraced. Traditional solutions treat developer environments and CI infrastructure as separate concerns, leading to accumulated technical debt and fragmented security approaches. This is why we're launching Minimal.

A secure foundation for everyone

As a provenance-first build system, Minimal embeds security into development naturally rather than adding late-stage gates that slow delivery. These repeatable container images are further accelerated with multi-layer caching and pre-built toolchains. These core features were created from one principle: developer experience is the primary attack surface for organization security.

Minimal's foundation is a curated public registry of hardened open source build tools, continuously updated and built on isolated infrastructure. These packages undergo regular security review and include cryptographic provenance attestations. From this public registry, the architecture spans three deployment contexts: developer workstations, CI infrastructure, and Minimal Cloud services. The public registries also function as safeguards for AI agents, providing them with consistent, traceable artifacts.

Minimal Build Specifications, written in Nickel for maximum readability, specify all inputs required to produce a package, like source locations with integrity checksums, build and runtime dependencies, and more. These specifications, constructed without traditional package managers to reduce bloat, provide a clear picture of the environment and outputs regardless of location. Whether they're executed on developer workstations, CI infrastructure, or Minimal's Cloud services, the Build Specifications are only one part of Minimal's dedication to visibility.

The complete image

Communication is crucial, so all development and build actions execute within isolated sandboxes and come with detailed reports. Network connectivity and filesystem access must be explicitly declared in Build Specifications, as well as all required tools across developers and CI. This isolation requires no elevated privileges and imposes no friction on daily workflows — including those from AI. Build outputs also contain signed provenance records, SBOMs, and attestations that create an unbroken chain of custody from source commit to deployable artifact. Finally, Minimal provides in-depth visibility on which dependencies are involved with a build, as well as proactive dependency lifecycle management like end-of-life warnings, vulnerability correlation, and more. These features contribute to Minimal's security suite, providing important information to security professionals for investigations; however, Minimal's dedication to security begins long before alerts are even generated.

Tools for InfoSec

Minimal implements centralized policy governance, allowing security teams to define organization-wide rules while engineers receive immediate feedback during development rather than after deployment. Pushing commits will trigger an automated build on hardened infrastructure, each of which undergo dynamic malware analysis before artifacts are published. Additionally, downstream sandbox controls prevent compromise because they lack the necessary permissions. If a vulnerability occurs, Minimal simplifies the investigation with features like flexible deployment platform integration options that track active software versions across the organization. By building these features directly into Minimal, developers can maintain organization security without additional, time consuming processes.

Build better with Minimal

Minimal provides near-instantaneous value. Transform your software development process immediately by standardizing build environments with Harnesses, Profiles, and Tasks. As requirements evolve, organizations can adopt Build Specifications, private registries, and policy enforcements. Once the stage is set, Minimal is invoked in a single command line, 200 times faster than leading competitors — and we're only getting started.

Watch our progress by following us on Bluesky, X, and LinkedIn. Get started today by downloading Minimal for free on GitHub. Get in touch by joining our Discord to ask questions, submit bugs, and provide feedback that influences Minimal's future. We're excited to build with you.