Student feedback
A failed check gives them evidence
The validator reports what it inspected, what it expected, and what it observed. Students diagnose the running system, make a change, and validate again.
For instructors, bootcamps, and teaching labs
Grade the live system students build.
Students build containers, networks, and service dependencies on their own machines. Each exercise is checked against the live Docker state, so a pass records a working system rather than a submitted diagram.
MIT licensed · no student accounts · Docker required on each machine
assignment / private-subnetstudent machine
read the task
change the system
run validators
web container reaches databasepass
load balancer cannot reach port 5432pass
application responds through proxypass
exercise complete3 / 3
Use the free catalogue, or write assignments for your course.
The same local engine runs Torollo’s built-in roadmaps and instructor-authored labs. Students use the visual canvas, terminals, and service explorers to do the work.
Classroom requirements
Docker-capable machines
Every student needs Docker on Linux, macOS, or Windows with WSL 2. Torollo runs the architecture locally, so the institution does not need a cloud account for each student.
install: npx torollo start
Start immediately
Three guided roadmaps ship free
The catalogue covers a resilient three-tier system, Redis cache-aside, and workers with a Redis job queue. Each roadmap is a sequence of verifiable steps.
Review the roadmap catalogueAdapt it to your syllabus
Roadmaps are open JSON
Define a topology, initial state, steps, hints, and declarative validators. Course files can be reviewed and versioned like the rest of your teaching material.
Read the public format specificationFit Torollo to the way you already teach.
The product can support a demonstration, a guided practice session, or a custom assignment. The runtime and validation model stay the same.
Teaching mode
Live demonstration
Build an architecture on the canvas, open a shell into a node, change the network, and run a validator while students can see the expected and observed state.
Teaching mode
Guided lab session
Assign one of the three free roadmaps. Every student runs an independent copy and can retry checks without waiting for a shared environment.
Teaching mode
Course-specific assignment
Write a roadmap against your syllabus. The assignment ends when the declared validators pass on the student’s local containers.
Instructor workflow
From course objective to local validation
The assignment describes observable system state. Torollo supplies the local runtime and the validator that checks it.
Define the observable end state
Choose what should exist when the exercise is complete: running containers, a reachable service, a database record, a blocked network path, or another state Torollo can inspect.
course work: learning objective
Write the roadmap as data
A roadmap declares the starting topology, instructions, hints, and validators in JSON. The format is documented and lives with the open-source engine.
course work: roadmap file
Students run an independent system
Each student starts Torollo on a Docker-capable laptop or lab machine. They change real containers, networks, and service configuration inside their own local environment.
student work: live architecture
The validator checks what is running
A failed check reports the expected and observed state. The student keeps working until the local system passes. Torollo provides the validation result; it does not ship a classroom gradebook.
student result: local validation
Students assemble the architecture, change the live system, and pass by producing the state the assignment asked for.
Available today
The education path uses the free engine.
Three free guided roadmaps
Students can practice resilient three-tier architecture, cache-aside with Redis, and workers with a Redis job queue.
The complete local engine
The canvas, Docker runtime, terminals, network engine, validators, and every current node type are MIT licensed.
An open authoring format
Course-specific roadmaps are JSON files. Instructors can review and version them without modifying the engine.
Expected and observed results
Validators explain what they inspected. Students get a concrete failure to diagnose and a concrete pass when the state is correct.
Current boundary
Free, local, instructor-led
Torollo does not currently provide hosted student machines, classes, SSO, or a teacher dashboard. The engine and authoring format are available now. If you use them in a course, your feedback can show which education support is worth building.
Tell us about your courseRun a roadmap before you design the course around it.
Start the free engine, complete one lab, and inspect the roadmap format. If it fits your teaching, tell us what you plan to assign and what is missing.