prism

module

v0.35.5 Latest Latest Go to latest Published: May 5, 2026 License: Apache-2.0

Details

Valid go.mod file
Redistributable license
Tagged version
Stable version
Learn more about best practices

Repository

github.com/scttfrdmn/prism

Links

Open Source Insights

README ¶

Prism

Prism Logo

Academic Research Computing Platform - Pre-configured cloud environments made simple

What is Prism?

Prism provides researchers with pre-configured cloud workstations for data analysis, machine learning, and computational research. Launch production-ready environments without manual configuration.

From individual researchers to institutional deployments - research computing made simple, scalable, and cost-effective.

Learn more at prismcloud.io

🎯 Core Design Principles

🎯 Default to Success: Every template works out of the box in every supported region
⚡ Optimize by Default: Smart instance sizing and cost-performance optimization
🔍 Transparent Fallbacks: Clear communication when configurations change
💡 Helpful Warnings: Gentle guidance for optimal choices
🚫 Zero Surprises: Users always know what they're getting
📈 Progressive Disclosure: Simple by default, detailed when needed

🚀 Installation

macOS

Homebrew (Recommended)

brew install scttfrdmn/tap/prism

Manual Installation

# Download and extract
curl -L https://github.com/scttfrdmn/prism/releases/latest/download/prism_0.5.11_darwin_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz

# Install binaries
sudo mv prism prismd /usr/local/bin/

Linux

Debian/Ubuntu

wget https://github.com/scttfrdmn/prism/releases/download/v0.5.11/prism_0.5.11_linux_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i prism_0.5.11_linux_amd64.deb

RHEL/CentOS/Fedora

wget https://github.com/scttfrdmn/prism/releases/download/v0.5.11/prism_0.5.11_linux_amd64.rpm
sudo rpm -i prism_0.5.11_linux_amd64.rpm

Alpine Linux

wget https://github.com/scttfrdmn/prism/releases/download/v0.5.11/prism_0.5.11_linux_amd64.apk
sudo apk add --allow-untrusted prism_0.5.11_linux_amd64.apk

Windows

Scoop

scoop bucket add scttfrdmn https://github.com/scttfrdmn/scoop-bucket
scoop install prism

Manual Installation

# Download from GitHub releases
# https://github.com/scttfrdmn/prism/releases/latest
# Extract and add to PATH

🚀 Quick Start

First-Time Users: Interactive Wizard (⏱️ 30 seconds)

Launch your first workspace with a guided wizard!

# Configure AWS credentials (if not already set up)
aws configure

# Launch the interactive wizard
prism init

The wizard will guide you through:

✅ Template Selection: Browse by category (ML/AI, Data Science, Bioinformatics, Web)
✅ Workspace Configuration: Name and size with cost estimates
✅ Review: See exactly what you're launching
✅ Launch: Real-time progress tracking
✅ Connect: SSH connection details and next steps

Time to first workspace: ~30 seconds 🚀

Advanced: Direct Commands

For experienced users or automation:

# View available templates
prism templates

# Launch a Python ML environment
prism launch python-ml my-research

# Connect via SSH
prism connect my-research

# View running workspaces
prism list

Automatic Features:

✅ Daemon starts if not running
✅ Optimal instance type selected
✅ Security groups configured
✅ SSH keys generated and managed
✅ Template provisioned and ready

Credential Discovery (automatic):

Environment variables (AWS_PROFILE, AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID)
AWS CLI configuration (~/.aws/credentials)
Prism profiles (for multi-account management)

🌟 Key Features

💰 Cost Optimization

Hibernation: Preserve state while reducing costs by 90%
Idle Detection: Automated hibernation policies with configurable thresholds
Budget Management: Project-level cost tracking and alerts
Cost Analytics: Real-time spending reports and forecasts

🏗️ Research Templates

21+ Pre-configured Environments: Python ML, R, bioinformatics, web dev, and more
Template Inheritance: Compose complex environments from simple building blocks
Smart Defaults: Optimal instance sizing and cost-performance ratios
Regional Fallbacks: Automatic handling of availability constraints

🏢 Enterprise & Collaboration

Project-Based Organization: Multi-user projects with role-based access
Research User System: Persistent identities across workspaces
Multi-Account Support: Manage multiple AWS profiles efficiently
Template Marketplace: Share and discover community templates

CLI: Fast, scriptable command-line interface
TUI: Interactive terminal interface with keyboard navigation
GUI: Desktop application (available when building from source)
REST API: Complete HTTP API on port 8947

📦 Templates

Prism ships with minimal base OS templates (as of v0.7.0):

Amazon Linux 2023 (x86_64, ARM64)
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (x86_64, ARM64)
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (x86_64, ARM64)

Application templates are community-contributed:

Python ML: Jupyter, scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch
R Research: RStudio, tidyverse, Bioconductor
Bioinformatics: BLAST, bowtie2, samtools, bedtools
Web Development: Node.js, Docker, nginx
Desktop Environments: Full GUI with browsers and dev tools

# View all templates (base + community)
prism templates

# Launch a base OS template
prism launch ubuntu-24-04-x86 my-instance

# Launch a community template with applications
prism launch python-ml my-ml-project

# Get detailed template info
prism templates info python-ml

Template Structure: See templates/README.md for details on base/, community/, and custom templates.

💻 Usage Examples

Basic Workspace Management

# Launch a workspace
prism launch python-ml my-project

# List running workspaces
prism list

# Connect via SSH
prism connect my-project

# Stop workspace
prism stop my-project

Cost Optimization

# Hibernate to preserve state while saving costs
prism hibernate my-workspace
prism resume my-workspace

# Automated idle policies
prism idle profile list
prism idle workspace my-gpu --profile gpu

Project Management

# Create project with budget
prism project create ml-research --budget 500

# Add team members
prism project member add ml-research user@example.com --role member

# Launch workspace in project
prism launch python-ml analysis --project ml-research

# Command line
prism templates

# REST API
curl http://localhost:8947/api/v1/instances

📖 Documentation

📚 Complete Documentation Site - User guides, architecture docs, and persona walkthroughs

prism --help                      # Show all commands
prism templates                   # List available templates
prism templates info <template>   # Detailed template info
prism doctor                      # System health check

Guides:

AWS Setup Guide - AWS account and credential configuration
Collaboration Quickstart - Add collaborators in 5 minutes (simplified guide)
Multi-User Instance Setup - Comprehensive multi-user collaboration guide
Custom AMI Workflow - Creating and managing custom AMIs for faster launches
AMI Best Practices - Best practices for AMI management, security, and cost optimization
Installation Guide - Comprehensive installation instructions
Budget System Philosophy - Multi-budget system design and conceptual model (v0.5.10+)
Budget Banking Philosophy - Surplus tracking and burst budgeting
Resource Tagging - Cost optimization and zombie resource cleanup
Security & Compliance - NIST 800-171, HIPAA, GDPR, FISMA compliance
Changelog - Version history and release notes

🗓️ Version History

v0.5.11 (Current) - Complete User Invitation & Collaboration System

User Invitation System: Individual, bulk, and shared token invitations with full lifecycle management
Automatic Provisioning: Research users created with SSH keys, UID/GID, and EFS home directories on invitation acceptance
Quota Validation: Pre-flight AWS capacity checking prevents bulk invitation failures
Professional GUI: Cloudscape-based invitation management interface with QR code generation
Zero Manual Setup: End-to-end automation from invitation send to workspace access

v0.5.10 - Multi-Project Budget System & Rebranding

Multi-Project Budgets: Projects can reference multiple budgets for complex funding scenarios
Budget Surplus Banking: Track and leverage surplus funds for burst research needs
Budget Performance Metrics: ROI analysis, utilization tracking, and forecasting
Complete Prism Rebrand: CloudWorkStation → Prism across entire codebase (29,225 files)
Binary Rename: cws/prismd → prism/prismd

Streamlined Navigation: 14 → 6 top-level menu items for clearer workspace focus
Unified Storage: Single storage interface combining EFS and EBS management
Hierarchical Settings: Advanced features organized under collapsible settings
Terminal/WebView Integration: Merged into workspaces view for better context

v0.5.8 - Quick Start Experience & Reliability

Quick Start Wizard: Launch first workspace in 30 seconds with GUI wizard
CLI Init Command: Interactive prism init onboarding in terminal
Workspace Terminology: Consistent "workspace" naming across all interfaces
Background State Monitoring: Async daemon monitoring of AWS state changes
Billing Accuracy: Correct hibernation billing exception handling
Reliability Improvements: AWS system status checks, IAM eventual consistency

v0.5.7 - Template File Provisioning & Test Infrastructure

Template File Provisioning: Provision files directly from template definitions
AWS Cost Testing: Complete integration test suite with cost tracking
Instance Lifecycle Testing: Full workflow validation including cleanup

v0.5.6 - Complete Prism Rebrand

Project Rename: CloudWorkStation → Prism (complete rebrand)
Repository Rename: prism → prism on GitHub
Configuration Directory: .prism → .prism
Module Path Update: Complete Go module path migration

v0.5.5 - AWS Research Services Integration

EMR Studio: Big data analytics and Spark-based research
Amazon Braket: Quantum computing research access
Web Service Framework: Unified interface for EC2 + AWS research services

v0.5.4 - Universal Version System

Dynamic OS Versions: Choose OS versions at launch time with --version flag
Version Aliases: Support for latest, lts, previous-lts
AMI Freshness Checking: prism ami check-freshness validates static AMI IDs
AWS SSM Integration: Automatic latest AMI discovery for major distributions
Package Management: Available via Homebrew (macOS), Scoop (Windows), deb, rpm, apk

v0.5.3 - Research User System & Template Marketplace

Multi-User Architecture: Persistent research identities across workspaces
SSH Key Management: Complete key generation and distribution
Template Registry: Multi-registry support with community templates
Policy Framework: Institutional governance and access control

v0.4.5 - Enterprise Research Platform

Project-Based Organization: Multi-user projects with role-based access
Budget Management: Real-time cost tracking and automated controls
Hibernation Ecosystem: Manual + automated idle detection policies
Template Inheritance: Stackable template system

🚀 Roadmap

Phase 5 (Current): Multi-user collaboration and template marketplace Phase 6: Advanced storage (FSx, S3 integration) and AWS research services Phase 7: Enterprise authentication (OAuth, LDAP, SAML) and TUI enhancements

🤝 Contributing

Prism is open source and welcomes contributions!

Issues: Report bugs or request features
Pull Requests: Submit code improvements
Templates: Contribute research environment templates 🎯
Documentation: Help improve guides

Contributing Templates: See our Community Template Contribution Guide for step-by-step instructions on creating and submitting templates to the marketplace.

Development:

git clone https://github.com/scttfrdmn/prism.git
cd prism
make build
make test

📄 License

Apache License 2.0 - Free for academic and commercial use

🆘 Support

Documentation: Complete docs site or prism --help
System Check: prism doctor
Issues: GitHub Issues
Discussions: GitHub Discussions
AWS Setup: See AWS Setup Guide

Prism v0.5.11 - Research computing environments made accessible | prismcloud.io

Directories ¶

?	: This menu
/	: Search site
f or F	: Jump to
y or Y	: Canonical URL

Path	Synopsis
cmd
prism command Prism CLI client - Launch research computing environments.	Prism CLI client - Launch research computing environments.
prismd command Prism Daemon (prismd) - Background service for AWS operations.	Prism Daemon (prismd) - Background service for AWS operations.
prismd-service command
internal
cli Package cli implements Prism's command-line interface application.	Package cli implements Prism's command-line interface application.
pkg
alerting Package alerting provides a unified notification dispatcher for Prism.	Package alerting provides a unified notification dispatcher for Prism.
ami Package ami provides Prism's AMI creation system.	Package ami provides Prism's AMI creation system.
api/client Package client provides the Prism API client implementation	Package client provides the Prism API client implementation
api/errors
api/mock Package mock provides mock implementations for Prism API.	Package mock provides mock implementations for Prism API.
aws Package aws provides AMI caching functionality for the Universal AMI System	Package aws provides AMI caching functionality for the Universal AMI System
connection
cost Package cost provides advanced cost optimization and alerting features	Package cost provides advanced cost optimization and alerting features
course Package course — audit log implementation for academic integrity tracking.	Package course — audit log implementation for academic integrity tracking.
daemon AMI operations handlers for Universal AMI System (Phase 5.1 Week 2)	AMI operations handlers for Universal AMI System (Phase 5.1 Week 2)
daemon/logger Package logger provides structured logging for the Prism daemon with proper log levels.	Package logger provides structured logging for the Prism daemon with proper log levels.
errors Package errors provides enhanced error messages with actionable guidance	Package errors provides enhanced error messages with actionable guidance
idle Package idle provides advanced idle detection and policy management	Package idle provides advanced idle detection and policy management
invitation Package invitation provides local invitation cache management for Prism v0.5.11+	Package invitation provides local invitation cache management for Prism v0.5.11+
marketplace Package marketplace provides the marketplace registry implementation	Package marketplace provides the marketplace registry implementation
monitoring
policy
pricing
profile Package profile provides functionality for managing Prism profiles	Package profile provides functionality for managing Prism profiles
profile/export Package export provides functionality for exporting and importing Prism profiles.	Package export provides functionality for exporting and importing Prism profiles.
profile/security Package security provides comprehensive audit logging for security events	Package security provides comprehensive audit logging for security events
progress
project Package project provides approval workflow management for Prism.	Package project provides approval workflow management for Prism.
ratelimit Package ratelimit provides token bucket rate limiting for AWS API calls	Package ratelimit provides token bucket rate limiting for AWS API calls
rbac Package rbac provides role-based access control for Prism.	Package rbac provides role-based access control for Prism.
repository Package repository provides multi-repository support for Prism templates.	Package repository provides multi-repository support for Prism templates.
research Package research provides the multi-user foundation for Prism Phase 5A.	Package research provides the multi-user foundation for Prism Phase 5A.
retry Package retry provides exponential backoff retry logic for transient failures	Package retry provides exponential backoff retry logic for transient failures
security Package security provides AWS Artifact compliance validation and SCP enforcement	Package security provides AWS Artifact compliance validation and SCP enforcement
sleepwake Package sleepwake provides automatic instance hibernation when the system sleeps	Package sleepwake provides automatic instance hibernation when the system sleeps
state Package state provides unified state management for Prism.	Package state provides unified state management for Prism.
storage Package storage provides S3-backed file transfer functionality for template provisioning.	Package storage provides S3-backed file transfer functionality for template provisioning.
templates Package templates provides AMI configuration validation for the Universal AMI System	Package templates provides AMI configuration validation for the Universal AMI System
throttle Package throttle provides launch throttling for cost control and resource management	Package throttle provides launch throttling for cost control and resource management
types Package types provides AMI-related data structures for the Universal AMI System	Package types provides AMI-related data structures for the Universal AMI System
update
usermgmt
version Package version provides centralized version information for Prism.	Package version provides centralized version information for Prism.
web Package web provides web interface and proxy capabilities for Prism	Package web provides web interface and proxy capabilities for Prism
workshop Package workshop provides workshop and event management functionality for Prism.	Package workshop provides workshop and event management functionality for Prism.
scripts
test
fixtures
integration