DynamoRIO targets user space applications under the Android, Linux, and Windows operating systems running on the AArch32, IA-32, and x86-64 instruction set architectures.

[3] DynamoRIO's API abstracts away the details of the virtualization process and focuses on monitoring or modifying the dynamic code stream of the program.

DynamoRIO invokes tool-registered callbacks at a number of common program event points, such as thread creation, library loading, system calls, signals, or exceptions.

DynamoRIO's API and event callbacks are designed to be cross-platform, enabling the same tool code to operate on both Windows and Linux and on both IA-32 and x86-64.

DynamoRIO contains libraries that extend its API to provide symbol table access, function wrapping and replacing, and memory address tracing utilities.

In 2003, program shepherding was commercialized as the brand-named Memory Firewall host intrusion prevention software in a startup company called Determina.