FAQ

Short answers about platforms, root, Dockerfiles, Olimpia, agents, failures and licensing.

Is Acropolis ready for production?

It is experimental. Olimpia uses it as an opt-in builder with a fallback, and it is tested against other builders’ compatibility suites, with full passes on some (Next.js, workspaces) and partial results on others (149 of 156 Railpack cases, 37 of 73 Nixpacks cases), but flags, output and defaults can change between 0.x releases. Pin a version and keep a fallback builder. See Status.

Does it run on macOS or Windows?

No. It needs Linux x86_64 or arm64 with glibc 2.36 or newer, because it uses mount, PID and network namespaces and overlayfs. On other systems, use a Linux VM or a --privileged container. See Install.

Does it need root?

acropolis build does. acropolis plan does not.

Does it need Docker?

No. There is no daemon: Acropolis downloads, builds and pushes by itself. You need Docker (or another runtime) only to run the images, or to use the builder image.

What about apps with a Dockerfile?

They are out of scope: Acropolis does not read the Dockerfile, it detects the stack from the source. Keep building apps that need their Dockerfile with BuildKit.

Does my Railpack configuration still work?

Yes. Acropolis reads railpack.json when there is no acropolis.json, follows Railpack’s schema and provider precedence, and reads every setting with the ACROPOLIS_ prefix first and RAILPACK_ second. See Configuration.

Which platform is the image for?

The platform of the host that runs the build. Build on arm64 to get an arm64 image.

What happens when it cannot build an app?

It exits with a code that says what to do: 1 the app’s own build failed, 75 infrastructure (retry once), 78 the app cannot be built as configured, 70 an Acropolis bug. With 78 and 70, fall back to another builder. See exit codes.

How do I use it on Olimpia?

Choose it in your app’s Settings → Builder on Olimpia, or with builder: "acropolis" from Olimpia’s MCP server. If Acropolis cannot build the app, the build continues with the Dockerfile or Railpack. See For agents.

Does Acropolis have an MCP server?

No. Agents use the acropolis CLI, with --events json and plan --json for machine-readable output, and read these docs as Markdown. Olimpia has its own MCP server for deploying there. See Connect.

Where does it keep its files?

In the home: $XDG_CACHE_HOME/acropolis, else ~/.cache/acropolis, or what --home or ACROPOLIS_HOME says. acropolis gc --max-size 20G trims it.

What is the license?

Apache-2.0 or MIT, at your option. The source is at github.com/olimpiacloud/acropolis.

How do I report a vulnerability?

Privately, through GitHub’s Report a vulnerability form. See SECURITY.md.