qemu-mcp-server

An MCP server that gives AI agents direct control over QEMU virtual machines.

Create, boot, snapshot, inspect, and destroy VMs through standard MCP tool calls. The server manages QEMU processes and communicates through QMP (QEMU Machine Protocol).

Quick start

1. Install QEMU

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install qemu-system-arm qemu-system-x86

# Fedora
sudo dnf install qemu-system-aarch64 qemu-system-x86

# macOS
brew install qemu

# Windows -- use WSL (see "Windows support" below)

2. Install the server

npm install -g qemu-mcp-server

Or run without installing:

npx qemu-mcp-server

Or from source:

git clone https://github.com/Abdalla-Eldoumani/qemu-mcp-server
cd qemu-mcp-server
npm install && npm run build

The server checks for QEMU on startup and tells you exactly what to install if anything is missing.

3. Connect your AI client

Claude Desktop -- add to your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qemu": {
      "command": "qemu-mcp-server"
    }
  }
}

Cursor -- add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qemu": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["qemu-mcp-server"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code:

claude mcp add qemu -- npx qemu-mcp-server

4. Try it

Ask your AI agent:

"Create an aarch64 VM with 128MB of memory and tell me what you see on the console."

The agent will call create_vm, wait for output, read the console, and report back.

What agents can do

Create and manage VMs

• create_vm -- Start a VM with specified architecture, memory, and disk/kernel
• destroy_vm -- Stop and clean up a VM
• list_vms -- See all running VMs

Control execution

• pause_vm, resume_vm, reset_vm, shutdown_vm

Snapshots (requires a qcow2 disk image)

• save_snapshot, load_snapshot, delete_snapshot, list_snapshots

Inspect state

• get_vm_status, get_vm_info, read_console, dump_memory

Run commands

• send_console_input -- Type into the serial console
• wait_for_console_output -- Wait for expected text in output

Example: booting a Linux kernel

If you have a Linux kernel image and root filesystem:

"Create an x86_64 VM with 512MB memory, disk image /path/to/rootfs.qcow2, and kernel /path/to/bzImage with kernel args 'console=ttyS0 root=/dev/vda'."

The agent can then interact with the Linux system through the serial console using send_console_input and wait_for_console_output.

Windows support

This server uses Unix sockets for QMP communication, so it does not run natively on Windows. Use WSL instead:

1. Install WSL: wsl --install in PowerShell
2. Install QEMU inside WSL: sudo apt install qemu-system-arm qemu-system-x86
3. Install Node.js inside WSL
4. Run the server inside WSL

For Claude Desktop or Cursor on Windows, configure the MCP server to run through WSL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "qemu": {
      "command": "wsl",
      "args": ["node", "/path/in/wsl/to/qemu-mcp-server/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}

Configuration

All optional. Set via environment variables:

| Variable | Default | What it does | |----------|---------|-------------| | TRANSPORT | stdio | "stdio" or "http" | | HTTP_PORT | 3000 | Port for HTTP transport | | QEMU_BINARY_DIR | (empty) | Custom path to QEMU binaries | | VM_TEMP_DIR | os.tmpdir() | Where to store sockets and temp files | | MAX_VMS | 10 | Max concurrent VMs | | QMP_TIMEOUT_MS | 30000 | Command timeout (ms) | | CONSOLE_BUFFER_LINES | 1000 | Console output buffer size per VM | | LOG_LEVEL | info | debug, info, warn, error |

Supported architectures

• aarch64 (ARM64)
• x86_64

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (20+ recommended)
• QEMU installed and on PATH
• Linux, macOS, or Windows with WSL

License

MIT