Overview

A small, fully featured 5G core you can stand up on a laptop to learn, test, and prototype against.

What dflux TinyCore is

dflux TinyCore is a fully featured small 5G core network for labs. It packs the standard 5G control- and user-plane functions into a handful of small Go processes so you can bring up a working core, register a UE, and forward user traffic without wrangling a sprawl of services. It is built for lab operators, 5G engineers, and learners — not for carrier-scale production.

The network functions

Rather than running a separate process for every 3GPP network function, dflux TinyCore groups them into four core binaries. The interfaces between functions that live in the same process are plain in-process calls, while the interfaces that cross process boundaries are real 3GPP protocols. Two optional NFs — NSSF and SMSF — ship as their own processes when you need them.

DMF — the d3x Management Function, combining the AMF (Access and Mobility Management) and SMF (Session Management). It speaks NGAP to the gNB and PFCP to the UPF.
DPF — the d3x Policy Function, combining the AUSF, UDM, UDR, and PCF. It authenticates subscribers, holds their data, and supplies policy.
NRF — a standalone Network Repository Function for NF registration, discovery, and heartbeats.
UPF — a standalone User Plane Function that forwards UE traffic between the radio side (N3/GTP-U) and the data network (N6).
NSSF (optional) — Network Slice Selection Function for allowed / configured NSSAI at registration.
SMSF (optional) — SMS Function for mobile-originated and mobile-terminated SMS over NAS.

For the full breakdown of what each process owns, see Network functions.

The golden path it runs

dflux TinyCore runs a real end-to-end 5G attach, the same sequence a production core follows:

A gNB connects over N2 (NGAP/SCTP) and a UE starts registration.
The UE is authenticated with 5G-AKA against the DPF (AUSF/UDM).
The UE establishes a PDU session; the SMF programs the UPF over N4 (PFCP) and an IP is assigned from the UE pool.
User-plane traffic flows: GTP-U over N3 from the gNB to the UPF, then out to the data network over N6.

Lab topology

What's in and out of scope

In scope: UE registration, 5G-AKA authentication, PDU session establishment, policy control, user-plane forwarding over a single PLMN, optional slice selection (NSSF), and optional SMS over NAS (SMSF). dflux TinyCore deliberately leaves out features a lab core does not need.

Lab scope

A single PLMN and a single AMF; no handover/Xn, roaming, or multi-AMF mobility; the PCF is minimal. Subscribers are provisioned by seeding or SQL today — there is no admin REST API yet. NSSF and SMSF are optional add-ons, not required for the golden path.

Where to go next

Why dflux TinyCore — the problem it solves and where it fits.
Quickstart — install the binaries, run the four required NFs natively, and register a UE in about ten minutes.