Linux

Alpine Playground

Alpine Linux is an ultra-lightweight Linux distribution (~5 MB) built on musl libc and BusyBox — the base for most Docker images..

Get access to the Alpine playground with one click

Welcome to the Alpine Linux Playground!

Alpine Linux 3.21 — the ultra-minimal (5 MB) distribution built on musl libc and BusyBox. The foundation of most production Docker images.

Tip: Alpine uses apk for package management and ash as the default shell. bash is pre-installed in this playground for a better experience.

What’s Pre-installed

Shell: bash (default), ash (BusyBox)
Package manager: apk (Alpine Package Keeper)
Base tools: curl, wget, vim, nano, git, jq, tree (installed on first connect)

Quick Start

uname -a
cat /etc/alpine-release
apk update && apk add python3
python3 --version

Common Workflows

# Package management
apk search <name>
apk add --no-cache <package>
apk info <package>
apk del <package>
apk upgrade

# List installed packages
apk info -vv | head -20

# Add a repository
echo "@edge http://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/edge/main" >> /etc/apk/repositories
apk update && apk add <package>@edge

Advanced Tips

# Create a minimal Docker image
cat > Dockerfile <<'EOF'
FROM alpine:3.21
RUN apk add --no-cache curl
CMD ["curl", "--version"]
EOF

# Use ash for scripting (faster than bash in Alpine)
#!/bin/ash
for i in $(seq 1 5); do echo $i; done

# Static binaries work without libc
apk add --no-cache busybox-static
/bin/busybox.static ls /

Session Notes

Session lasts 1 hour.
Alpine uses musl libc — some glibc-compiled binaries won’t work directly. Use Alpine’s own packages.