VM-curator – a Linux VM manager with easy GPU-passthrough and more

Howdy! A few weeks ago I launched vm-curator as a FOSS hobby project. Since then, the project has matured substantially, solving real-world problems with Linux desktop/workstation VM management. Presenting, now, the official "grand-opening" release.

vm-curator is a rust TUI that works directly with QEMU/KVM, skipping libvirt. It is designed for desktop use-cases. (For servers, Proxmox is a better choice.) QEMU runs in user (non-root) mode only.

The app's biggest feature is guided support for single and multi-gpu passthrough. For computers with only one GPU, vm-curator will write and manage scripts to detach your GPU from your Linux display manager, attach it to your VM, and then will monitor your VM's use so that upon shutdown, it will reverse the attachment and restore your Linux display. For computers with multiple GPUs, vm-curator provides easy configuration of GPU-passthrough with support for looking glass. vm-curator also supports virgl para-virtualized 3D acceleration, which works great in Linux guests (but for full GPU performance, pass-through is a must.)

vm-curator also supports SLIRP, passt, and bridged mode for networking back-ends, comprehensive USB and PCI detection and pass-through, VM state monitoring, QCOWS2 snapshot management, and host directory passthrough. For BTRFS users, vm-curator will also automatically turn off BTRFS copy-on-write for your VM directory to avoid the double copy-on-write performance penalty. VM installation is easy with over 120 OS profiles built-in.

I've long wanted to leverage QEMU/KVM for desktop virtualization, but have been long stymied by gnome boxes (lacks advanced features) and virt-manager (very difficult to setup, especially with NVIDIA GPUs.) vm-curator has solved these hurdles for me. Hopefully it can help you as well.

FOSS engagement (PRs/contributions + feedback) is most welcome!