Every runner instance is launched from an image. Sprinters provides a set of pre-built images for you to use.
These images are split across three dimensions:
| Image | Variant | Size | Boot time |
|---|---|---|---|
ubuntu-24.04 |
Full | 12 GiB | 25-55s |
ubuntu-24.04-slim |
Slim | 7 GiB | 20-40s |
ubuntu-24.04-minimal |
Minimal | 1 GiB | 10-18s |
| Image | Variant | Size | Boot time |
|---|---|---|---|
ubuntu-24.04-arm |
Full | 7 GiB | 20-40s |
ubuntu-24.04-arm-slim |
Slim | 5 GiB | 18-35s |
ubuntu-24.04-arm-minimal |
Minimal | 1 GiB | 10-18s |
| Image | Variant | Size | Boot time |
|---|---|---|---|
ubuntu-22.04 |
Full | 13 GiB | 25-55s |
ubuntu-22.04-slim |
Slim | 8 GiB | 21-41s |
ubuntu-22.04-minimal |
Minimal | 1 GiB | 10-18s |
| Image | Variant | Size | Boot time |
|---|---|---|---|
ubuntu-22.04-arm |
Full | 7 GiB | 20-40s |
ubuntu-22.04-arm-slim |
Slim | 6 GiB | 19-38s |
ubuntu-22.04-arm-minimal |
Minimal | 1 GiB | 10-18s |
There are three variants of each image:
On AWS, the smaller the image, the faster the instance boots and the lower the EBS costs are.
All Sprinters images are fully optimized for this by using a read-only zstd-compressed root volume.
You can, however, take things further by using -slim or -minimal variants.
If you aren’t using Android, CodeQL, Haskell or Julia, you should use -slim images without hesitation.
They are otherwise identical to full images, boot slightly faster and have much lower EBS costs.
If you mostly install your own versions of the tools you use by downloading them directly, installing apt packages or
using setup actions like actions/setup-xyz, you are ready to take things to their natural conclusion and go for our -minimal images.
They are less than 1 GiB in size, boot very fast and have very low EBS costs. We highly recommend you give them a try.