tsiry-sandratraina.com / vmx
A Docker-like CLI and HTTP API for managing headless VMs
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vmx#

ci

A powerful command-line tool and HTTP API for managing and running headless virtual machines using QEMU. Built with Deno and TypeScript, vmx provides a Docker-like experience for VM management with OCI registry support.

Features#

🚀 Core Functionality#

  • Headless VM Management - Run VMs in the background without GUI overhead
  • QEMU Integration - Leverages QEMU for robust virtualization on both x86_64 and ARM64 architectures
  • Docker-like CLI - Familiar commands for VM lifecycle management (run, start, stop, ps, rm, etc.)
  • Configuration Files - TOML-based configuration for reproducible VM setups
  • Multiple Input Sources - Boot from local ISOs, remote URLs, or OCI registry images

📦 OCI Registry Support#

  • Pull & Push - Store and retrieve VM images from OCI-compliant registries (GitHub Container Registry, Docker Hub, etc.)
  • Image Management - List, tag, and remove local VM images
  • Authentication - Secure login/logout for private registries
  • Cross-platform - Automatic architecture detection and handling (amd64/arm64)

🌐 Networking#

  • Bridge Networking - Create and manage network bridges for VM connectivity
  • Port Forwarding - Easy SSH and service access with flexible port mapping
  • Multiple Network Modes - Support for various QEMU networking configurations

💾 Storage & Volumes#

  • Volume Management - Create, list, inspect, and delete persistent volumes
  • Multiple Disk Formats - Support for qcow2 and raw disk images
  • Automatic Provisioning - Volumes are created automatically from base images
  • Flexible Sizing - Configurable disk sizes for different workloads

🔧 Advanced Features#

  • Detached Mode - Run VMs in the background as daemon processes
  • Live Logs - Stream VM output and follow logs in real-time
  • VM Inspection - Detailed information about running and stopped VMs
  • Resource Configuration - Customizable CPU, memory, and disk settings
  • ARM64 & x86_64 Support - Native support for both architectures with UEFI firmware

🌍 HTTP API#

  • RESTful API - Full-featured HTTP API for programmatic VM management
  • Bearer Authentication - Secure API access with token-based auth
  • Machines Endpoint - Create, start, stop, restart, and remove VMs via API
  • Images Endpoint - List and query VM images
  • Volumes Endpoint - Manage persistent storage volumes
  • CORS Support - Cross-origin requests for web-based tools

Installation#

# Install with Deno
 deno install -A -r -f -g --config deno.json ./main.ts -n vmx

Requirements#

  • Deno runtime
  • QEMU installed on your system
    • macOS: brew install qemu
    • Linux: apt-get install qemu-system or yum install qemu-kvm

Quick Start#

Initialize Configuration#

Create a default VM configuration file:

vmx init

This creates a vmconfig.toml file with sensible defaults.

Run a VM from ISO#

# From a local ISO file
vmx /path/to/ubuntu.iso

# Download and run from URL
vmx https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/24.04/release/ubuntu-24.04.3-live-server-arm64.iso

# From OCI registry
vmx ghcr.io/tsirysndr/ubuntu:24.04

Pull and Run from Registry#

# Pull an image
vmx pull ghcr.io/tsirysndr/ubuntu:24.04

# Run the image
vmx run ghcr.io/tsirysndr/ubuntu:24.04

# Run with custom resources
vmx run ghcr.io/tsirysndr/ubuntu:24.04 -m 4G -C 4 -d

Usage#

VM Lifecycle Management#

# List running VMs
vmx ps

# List all VMs (including stopped)
vmx ps --all

# Start a VM
vmx start my-vm

# Stop a VM
vmx stop my-vm

# Restart a VM
vmx restart my-vm

# Remove a VM
vmx rm my-vm

# View VM logs
vmx logs my-vm

# Follow logs in real-time
vmx logs -f my-vm

# Inspect VM details
vmx inspect my-vm

Image Management#

# List local images
vmx images

# Pull from registry
vmx pull ghcr.io/tsirysndr/ubuntu:24.04

# Push to registry
vmx push ghcr.io/tsirysndr/my-vm:latest

# Tag an image
vmx tag my-vm ghcr.io/tsirysndr/my-vm:v1.0

# Remove an image
vmx rmi ghcr.io/tsirysndr/ubuntu:24.04

Registry Authentication#

# Login to registry
vmx login -u username ghcr.io

# Login with password from stdin
echo "password" | vmx login -u username ghcr.io

# Logout
vmx logout ghcr.io

Volume Management#

# List volumes
vmx volumes

# Create and attach a volume to VM
vmx run ubuntu:24.04 -v my-data

# Inspect a volume
vmx volume inspect my-data

# Remove a volume
vmx volume rm my-data

Advanced Options#

# Run with custom resources
vmx run ubuntu:24.04 \
  --cpu host \
  --cpus 4 \
  --memory 4G \
  --detach

# With port forwarding (SSH on port 2222)
vmx run ubuntu:24.04 -p 2222:22

# With bridge networking
vmx run ubuntu:24.04 --bridge br0

# With persistent disk
vmx run ubuntu:24.04 \
  --image /path/to/disk.img \
  --size 40G \
  --disk-format qcow2

Configuration File#

The vmconfig.toml file allows you to define default VM settings:

[vm]
iso = "https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/24.04/release/ubuntu-24.04.3-live-server-arm64.iso"
cpu = "host"
cpus = 2
memory = "2G"
image = "./vm-disk.img"
disk_format = "raw"
size = "20G"

[network]
bridge = "br0"
port_forward = "2222:22"

[options]
detach = false

HTTP API#

Start the API server:

# Start on default port (8889)
vmx serve

# Start on custom port
vmx serve --port 3000

# With custom API token
export VMX_API_TOKEN=your-secret-token
vmx serve

API Endpoints#

Machines (VMs)#

  • GET /machines - List all machines
  • GET /machines?all=true - List all machines including stopped
  • POST /machines - Create a new machine
  • GET /machines/:id - Get machine details
  • DELETE /machines/:id - Remove a machine
  • POST /machines/:id/start - Start a machine
  • POST /machines/:id/stop - Stop a machine
  • POST /machines/:id/restart - Restart a machine

Images#

  • GET /images - List all images
  • GET /images/:id - Get image details

Volumes#

  • GET /volumes - List all volumes
  • GET /volumes/:id - Get volume details
  • POST /volumes - Create a new volume
  • DELETE /volumes/:id - Remove a volume

API Authentication#

All API requests require a Bearer token:

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer your-token" http://localhost:8889/machines

Example API Usage#

# Create a machine
curl -X POST http://localhost:8889/machines \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-token" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "image": "ubuntu:24.04",
    "memory": "4G",
    "cpus": 4,
    "portForward": ["2222:22"]
  }'

# Start a machine
curl -X POST http://localhost:8889/machines/{id}/start \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-token"

# List all machines
curl http://localhost:8889/machines \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer your-token"

Architecture Support#

vmx automatically detects and adapts to your system architecture:

  • x86_64 / amd64 - Full QEMU system emulation
  • ARM64 / aarch64 - Native Apple Silicon and ARM server support with UEFI firmware

Examples#

Development Environment#

# Initialize configuration
vmx init

# Edit vmconfig.toml to your needs
# Then start the VM
vmx

# SSH into the VM (port forwarding configured)
ssh -p 2222 user@localhost

CI/CD Integration#

# Pull a pre-configured image
vmx pull ghcr.io/company/test-env:latest

# Run tests in detached mode
vmx run ghcr.io/company/test-env:latest -d

# Execute tests and cleanup
vmx stop test-vm
vmx rm test-vm

Multi-VM Setup#

# Start database VM
vmx run postgres:14 -d -p 5432:5432 -v pgdata

# Start application VM
vmx run app:latest -d -p 8080:8080

# List all running VMs
vmx ps

License#

Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0)

Copyright (c) 2025 Tsiry Sandratraina

Contributing#

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.