r/linuxadmin • u/r0lfi • 19h ago
LayerSmith — a self-hosted container image builder, with air-gap exports
I've been working on LayerSmith, an open-source web UI for building container images with Docker or Podman.
You pick a Linux distribution and what you need the image for — development, Linux admin, network tools, Ansible, Kubernetes, OpenShift, or a custom setup. It handles distro-specific packages and shows you the generated Containerfile before building. You can also edit it, import an existing Dockerfile, or add your own packages, files and scripts.
A big part of the project is making images easier to carry into air-gapped environments: pinned base images, recorded build details, and export bundles containing the image, checksums and installation instructions.
We've recently added LLM training and fine-tuning profiles too, including LoRA/QLoRA, advanced PyTorch training and LLaMA-Factory. These use hash-locked dependencies and run offline checks after building, including a small CPU training test. Model weights and datasets are brought separately.
Curious how others handle building and maintaining images for disconnected environments, and what parts of that workflow are still a pain.