qemu-kvm

qemu-kvm is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills. It costs 83 tokens per session (1,684 once invoked), scanned B, original, MIT.

A guide to running virtual computers with QEMU and KVM. QEMU emulates a computer, while KVM uses processor support to run virtual machines faster.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to run Linux VMs, test custom kernels, pass hardware such as GPUs or network cards into VMs, manage machines with libvirt, and create snapshots.
Why use it?
It helps you configure virtual machines, devices, and kernel boots without relying on physical test hardware.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one.

Good fit Use it to run Linux VMs, test custom kernels, pass hardware such as GPUs or network cards into VMs, manage machines with libvirt, and create snapshots.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/qemu-kvm
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills --skill qemu-kvm
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for qemu-kvm

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/qemu-kvm/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/qemu-kvm)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/qemu-kvm"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/qemu-kvm/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for qemu-kvm

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/qemu-kvm"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills/qemu-kvm.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 83 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,684 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan B 1 finding. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00083 $0.01684
Opus 5 $0.00042 $0.00842
Sonnet 5 $0.00017 $0.00337
Haiku 4.5 $0.00008 $0.00168

Measured 9d ago against content hash 571a215d6136, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-12, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade B, and why

qemu-kvm scanned grade B with 1 finding against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Asks for rootmediumPrivilege escalation

A mod that escalates privileges can change anything on the machine, not only the project.

echo 10de 1c03 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/vfio-pci/new_id
skills/virtualization/qemu-kvm/SKILL.md · 204 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 204 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

QEMU / KVM

Purpose

Guide agents through QEMU system emulation and KVM acceleration: key qemu-system-x86_64 flags, virtio devices, VFIO device passthrough, QMP monitor protocol, libvirt/virsh management, and QEMU for kernel development with -kernel -initrd -append.

When to Use

  • Running Linux VMs with hardware acceleration
  • Testing custom kernels without bare metal
  • Passing through GPU or NIC to a VM with VFIO
  • Managing VMs with libvirt and virsh
  • Creating VM snapshots for reproducible testing
  • Developing kernel or bootloader with direct kernel boot

Workflow

1. Basic KVM VM

# Check KVM support
egrep -c '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo
ls -l /dev/kvm

# Minimal Ubuntu VM
qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -enable-kvm \
  -cpu host \
  -m 4096 \
  -smp 4 \
  -drive file=ubuntu.img,format=qcow2 \
  -netdev user,id=net0 \
  -device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0 \
  -display none \
  -serial mon:stdio
Flag Purpose
-enable-kvm Use KVM acceleration
-cpu host Pass through host CPU features
-m RAM in MB
-smp vCPU count
-drive Disk image
-netdev / -device Network backend

2. virtio devices

# virtio-blk (paravirtual disk — faster)
-device virtio-blk-pci,drive=hd0 \
-drive if=none,id=hd0,file=disk.qcow2,format=qcow2

# virtio-net
-netdev tap,id=net0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no \
-device virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0

# virtio-balloon (dynamic memory)
-device virtio-balloon-pci

# virtio-scsi
-device virtio-scsi-pci,id=scsi0 \
-device scsi-hd,drive=hd0,bus=scsi0.0

Always prefer virtio over emulated devices for performance.

3. VFIO device passthrough

# Bind device to vfio-pci
echo 10de 1c03 | sudo tee /sys/bus/pci/drivers/vfio-pci/new_id
sudo virsh nodedev-detach pci_0000_01_00_0

# QEMU with passthrough
qemu-system-x86_64 \
  -enable-kvm -m 8192 -smp 8 \
  -device vfio-pci,host=01:00.0 \
  ...

Requires IOMMU enabled (intel_iommu=on or amd_iommu=on in kernel cmdline).

Read the full file on GitHub · 204 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 204 lines · 83 tokens per session scan B 571a215d6136

Subscribe to this mod's changes

qemu-kvm is a skill published in the GitHub repository mohitmishra786/low-level-dev-skills (203 stars, last pushed 2mo ago), licensed MIT. It adds 83 tokens to every session and 1,684 once invoked, about $0.0004 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it B with 1 finding (asks for root). No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-09-03.

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