Runners

Runner image

What a Skipbox VM has installed, the user a job runs as, and how to add the tools GitHub's ubuntu-latest has and Skipbox doesn't.

View as Markdown

Every Skipbox VM is Ubuntu 24.04 on x64, whatever its size.

What's installed

Tool	Version
Docker CE	from Docker's own apt repository
git, build-essential, jq, curl, unzip	Ubuntu's packages
Node.js	22
Python	3.12
The GitHub Actions runner	pinned, checked by SHA-256

The job runs as the user runner, with passwordless sudo, as on GitHub's runners. So sudo apt-get install works in a step.

Tools that aren't installed

GitHub's ubuntu-latest image has many more tools preinstalled. On Skipbox, add the ones a job needs with their setup actions:

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
      - uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          distribution: temurin
          java-version: "21"
      - uses: actions/setup-go@v5
        with:
          go-version: stable

Or install a package in a step:

      - run: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y postgresql-client

Docker

Docker runs in the VM, so docker build, docker run, service containers and container jobs work. Images are pulled from Docker Hub anonymously from the VM's own address.

Architecture

Only x64. There are no Arm VMs, and no Windows or macOS.

Updated November 9, 2026