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Mental model: images → snapshots → instances → branches

Morph Cloud revolves around four concepts:

  1. Images: reusable base OS filesystems (e.g. morphvm-minimal).
  2. Snapshots: immutable, bootable copies of an image (or of a running instance).
  3. Instances: running VMs started from a snapshot.
  4. Branches: near-instant copies of an instance state that let you parallelize work.

When to use what​

  • Use an image when you want a standard starting point.
  • Create a snapshot when you want a reproducible environment you can boot repeatedly.
  • Run an instance when you need a live VM to execute commands, SSH, or expose services.
  • Create a branch when you want multiple parallel futures from the same state.

Common flows​

“Boot and run”​

image → snapshot → instance → exec/ssh/http

“Checkpoint and fork”​

instance → snapshot (checkpoint) → branch (parallel copies)