routeros-quickchr

Grounding RouterOS with quickchr

What this is for

The reliable way to know whether a RouterOS config, script, or API call actually works is to run it against real RouterOS — not to guess from docs. quickchr (@tikoci/quickchr, npm, MIT, public) makes that a few lines: it downloads a MikroTik CHR (Cloud Hosted Router) image, boots it under QEMU, provisions it, and hands you a REST/SSH/exec handle. The free CHR license (1 Mbps, no signup) is enough for config validation, API iteration, and test grounding.

Reach for quickchr when you want to apply config and read it back, iterate on REST/scripting against a live box, or run integration tests against CHR.

Don't reach for it when you only need documentation (use the rosetta MCP / the routeros-fundamentals skill), or you're flashing physical hardware (use the routeros-netinstall skill). For raw QEMU boot internals without the quickchr wrapper, see the routeros-qemu-chr skill.

The grounding loop (core pattern)

import { QuickCHR } from "@tikoci/quickchr";

const chr = await QuickCHR.start({ name: "lab", channel: "stable" });
// start() resolves REST-READY — provisioning is already done. No second wait needed
// in normal background/library use; waitForBoot() is only a belt-and-suspenders check.

await chr.exec("/ip/firewall/address-list/add list=blocked address=10.9.9.9");
const list = await chr.rest("/ip/firewall/address-list");   // structured read-back
// assert the entry is there → your config is grounded against real RouterOS

await chr.remove();   // tear down

exec() runs a CLI command (config writes, scripts) and returns { output, via }; rest() does a REST call and returns parsed JSON. Worked, runnable version: examples/grounding/. Minimal boot-and-read smoke test: examples/quickstart/. All examples are runnable bun run scripts (grounding/ is the one bun:test); the full set + coverage map is in examples/COVERAGE.md.