Tinkerer Playgrounds
Your support now helps shape what comes next. The sale will continue until morale improves revenue recovers to a sustainable level.
What are iximiuz Labs Playgrounds?
iximiuz Labs Playgrounds are real Linux virtual machines, running on bare-metal servers, that you can spin up in seconds and access over SSH, from the browser, or local IDE.
Each playground can contain one or multiple VMs, connected by private networks, with full root access. You can install packages, run Docker or Kubernetes, attach extra disks, reboot machines, expose services, and tear everything down when you're done.
They're powered by Firecracker microVMs and optimized kernels, so they boot fast — but behave like real servers.
Think: cloud-grade VMs without cloud friction.
What do engineers use Playgrounds for?
Playgrounds are built for hands-on server-side work — not demos or toy sandboxes.
Learn by actually doing
- Practice Linux, networking, Docker, Kubernetes, storage, and security
- Reproduce real-world setups instead of reading about them
- Break things safely and fix them again
Experiment & research safely
- Try new tools, container runtimes, or networking setups
- Test risky commands without touching your laptop or production systems
- Run coding agents or untrusted scripts in isolation
Build a "remote homelab"
- Docker hosts, multi-node Kubernetes clusters, advanced CI/CD pipelines, and more
- Custom network topologies (routers, NAT, isolated LANs)
- Persistent labs you can stop, resume, clone, and branch
Share & collaborate
- Create custom playgrounds and share them via a link
- Use them in blog posts, workshops, interviews, or docs
- Show actual infrastructure skills, not just YAML or screenshots
Why Playgrounds instead of local VMs or cloud instances?
- ✓No setup: open a playground, start working
- ✓No cleanup: destroy it when done, your local system remains clean
- ✓No laptop limits: multi-node clusters run remotely
- ✓Cheaper than cloud VMs for experimentation
- ✓More realistic than containers (real kernels, real networking)
- ✓Instant start: most playgrounds boot in seconds, not minutes
"I wish I could just try this on a real server, quickly" — that's exactly what Playgrounds are for.
Free vs Paid Access
Free access
Free users can start playgrounds and explore the platform:
- Limited runtime per day: 1 hour
- Only one playground can run at a time
- Smaller VMs: up to 2 CPU / 4 GB RAM per VM
- Up to 5 VMs per playground (total 5 CPU / 8 GB RAM)
- Limited internet access: only safe destinations
- No persistence (sessions are ephemeral)
- Some advanced features restricted
It's great for getting a feel for the platform.
Tinkerer (paid playground access)
The Tinkerer plan unlocks everything Playgrounds can do:
- Longer uninterrupted sessions: 8 hours per playground
- Up to 5 concurrent playgrounds (120 play hours per day)
- Bigger VMs: up to 4 CPU / 8 GB RAM per VM
- Higher total resource limits: 10 CPU / 16 GB RAM
- Full internet access: any destinations, higher bandwidth
- Persistent playgrounds – stop and resume days later
- Instant clones – branch your environment in seconds
- Save playground runs as reusable templates
- Full networking, storage, and multi-VM capabilities
- Ideal for daily practice, experimentation, research, and homelab-style setups
No courses required. No forced learning paths.
Just powerful infrastructure, ready when you need it.
Who is the Tinkerer plan for?
- ✓ Engineers who already learn by experimenting
- ✓ DevOps, SREs, platform and backend engineers
- ✓ People practicing for interviews or certifications
- ✓ Anyone who wants a serious sandbox, not a tutorial toy
If you mostly want machines to think with, Tinkerer is the plan.
Yearly plans are the best fit for long-term subscribers
Tinkerer Playgrounds
Premium playground experience
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Join Our Growing Community
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Frequently Asked Questions
From the Author
Hi there! It's Ivan, the creator of iximiuz Labs.
Since 2019, through my blog and newsletter, I've published more than 100 articles on Containers, Kubernetes, Linux, Networking, and Programming. I've also created several open source projects and spent countless hours answering questions on Twitter, Discord, and other platforms. All with a single goal: to help people master the Server Side craft.
A few years ago, when iximiuz.com started gaining traction, my dream evolved. I wanted to augment my static writing with a more dynamic experience — giving readers the ability to spin up carefully crafted remote sandbox environments right in their browser to experiment with Linux, Docker, and Kubernetes without needing to install anything on their local machines. This dream eventually led to the creation of iximiuz Labs.
The platform uses a Freemium model with a generous free tier. A large part of the content is (and will remain) free, and only a single-click signup is required to access the playgrounds. However, on the free tier, the daily playground time, the microVM's resources, and Internet egress traffic are significantly limited. This serves two purposes: keeps bots away and also incentivizes the most serious students to become paying members.
With upgraded iximiuz Labs membership students get virtually unlimited daily playtime, more powerful microVMs, and unrestricted Internet egress, allowing them to experiment with a much wider set of technologies in much more permissive environments. Trust me, you will notice the difference even if you find the free tier already good.
For the first couple of years, I was building iximiuz Labs alongside a full-time engineering job — nights, weekends, and whatever spare time I could find. These days, iximiuz Labs is my full focus. But "full focus" doesn't mean "easy mode": keeping a fleet of servers healthy, shipping new playground capabilities, and steadily growing the content catalog is still a lot of work for one person. The project is community-funded, and the revenue is (so far) just barely enough to sustain a single creator. That's why every purchase of the Official Content Pack or the Tinkerer plan makes a real difference — it keeps the free tier generous, funds infrastructure, and buys me more time to build, write, and improve the platform 🚀
