QVSL - Qemu Virtual machine start with Language

QVSL is a lightweight proof-of-concept that brings a declarative approach to QEMU management using Docker, Go-templates, and pure Bash arrays.

Think of vm.yaml as a values.yaml in Helm, but specifically designed for QEMU virtual machines.

Instead of dealing with massive, unreadable qemu-system-* bash strings or heavy virtualization management tools, QVSL uses:

vm.yaml: Declarative configuration of your VM (CPU, RAM, drives, cloud-init, networking).
qemu-run.sh.tmpl: A Go-template that compiles your YAML into clean, bulletproof Bash execution logic and argument arrays.
Docker Container: A single, reproducible runner containing QEMU, Cloud-Init ISO generators, and optional noVNC web console.

Quick start

Download Alpine Cloud-Template

curl -L https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.22/releases/cloud/generic_alpine-3.22.5-x86_64-bios-cloudinit-r0.qcow2 -o ./vm-data/template.qcow2

Insert your user-data in vm.yaml - cloud_init.config or use cloud-init/user-data

And lets goooo!

docker compose up

You can see VNC console on

http://localhost:6080/vnc.html

Or connect via SSH

ssh -p 2222 root@localhost

vm.yaml: Manifest file with VM declaration (works with any Linux distribution).
qemu-run.sh.tmpl: Go-template that acts as the pre-init script and QEMU CLI builder.
docker-compose.yml: Runner container environment setup (KVM passthrough, storage mounts).

Template throw HTTP: Can download QCOW2 templates
Storage Engines: Support for QCOW2 files and raw LVM block devices.
Smart Provisioning: Auto-creation of Linked (CoW) or Full copy disks from base templates.
Auto-Resize: Automatic virtual disk expansion using qemu-img resize prior to boot.
Cloud-Init Engine: Dynamic cidata seed ISO generation on the fly.