Since only a single process is virtualized (instead of a full operating system), the startup overhead is in the order of 5 ms.[2][independent source needed] ZeroVM creates a sandbox around a single process,[3] using technology based on Google Native Client (NaCl).

ZeroVM can only execute NaCl code compiled for the x86-64 platform, not the portable Native Client (PNaCl) format.

Outside the sandbox, a channel can be connected to a local file, to a pipe, or to another ZeroVM instance.

In particular, ZRT replaces C file input/output functions such as fopen and opendir with versions that operate on an in-memory filesystem.

ZeroVM has been integrated with Swift, the distributed object storage component of OpenStack.

[11][12] The first ZeroVM Design Summit was held in January 2014 at the University of Texas at San Antonio.