Mahimahi

Spec sheet

Purpose

Mahimahi is a set of lightweight tools for measuring and emulating web performance.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Intended users

The site describes the tools as intended for browser developers, website authors, and network protocol designers.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

License

The public project repository identifies its license as GPL-3.0.Read 8 Oct 2026 · github.com

Client compatibility

The site says users can run unmodified Chrome, Firefox, Safari, virtual machines, and mobile-device emulators in its tools.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Composability

Mahimahi tools can be nested to chain network effects.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Implementation

Each tool spawns a lightweight container, generally connected through a synthetic network device.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Installation

The site provides Ubuntu installation instructions using an apt repository and also documents building from source.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Network conditions

Its tools emulate propagation delay, link rates, and stochastic packet loss.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Queueing

LinkShell supports DropTail, DropHead, and CoDel queueing disciplines.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Record traffic

RecordShell can save real HTTP content to disk for repeatable replay with ReplayShell.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Replay behavior

ReplayShell locally mirrors a page’s server distribution and serves requests from real web servers.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Research

The site links a research paper presented at the 2015 USENIX Annual Technical Conference.Read 8 Oct 2026 · mahimahi.mit.edu

Plans and prices

Every Mahimahi plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Network Simulation Software#23 of 317.4