Setup Context Skill

Configure the .env file for managing VMs on a hypervisor.

Instructions

Step 1: Ask for Backend Type

Use AskUserQuestion to ask which backend:

• libvirt - Local QEMU/KVM via libvirt
• proxmox - Remote Proxmox VE server via SSH (KVM VMs)
• proxmox-lxc - Remote Proxmox VE server via SSH (LXC containers; mutable-only, supports host ZFS bind mounts and the nas profile)

Step 2: Gather Backend-Specific Settings

For libvirt backend:

Most users can accept defaults. Only ask about non-default settings if user indicates special requirements (like running from a container).

Create .env with just:

BACKEND=libvirt

For proxmox backend:

Ask the user (as plain text prompts, not multiple choice):

• PVE_HOST (required) - SSH config host name (e.g., pve) or hostname/IP
• PVE_STORAGE - Storage for VM disks (default: local)
• PVE_BRIDGE - Network bridge (default: vmbr0)

Explain that they should configure their SSH connection in ~/.ssh/config:

Host pve
    HostName 192.168.1.100
    User root
    Port 22

And use ssh-agent for key authentication:

eval $(ssh-agent)
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

For proxmox-lxc backend:

Same SSH setup as proxmox. Ask the user (plain text prompts):

• PVE_HOST (required) - SSH config host name (e.g., pve) or hostname/IP
• PVE_STORAGE - CT-capable rootfs storage (a zfspool or dir storage, e.g. local-zfs or a pool name like rust; NOT a bare ZFS pool path). Check with ssh <host> pvesm status.
• PVE_BRIDGE - Network bridge (default: vmbr0)

Notes specific to this backend:

• LXC is mutable-only (read-write rootfs; nixos-rebuild runs inside). There is no immutable/semi-mutable mode.
• The nas profile (NFS + Samba) is LXC-only and runs the container privileged with an apparmor-unconfined override (for kernel NFS).
• Host ZFS datasets are bind-mounted into the container (<dataset>:<container-path>, e.g. rust/nas:/srv/nas); a bare dataset name is created on the host if missing. Configure these in the create wizard.

Example .env:

BACKEND=proxmox-lxc
PVE_HOST=pve
PVE_STORAGE=local-zfs
PVE_BRIDGE=vmbr0
PVE_BACKUP_STORAGE=local

Step 3: Create the .env file

Create/overwrite the .env file at the project root.

Example .env for libvirt:

BACKEND=libvirt

Example .env for proxmox:

BACKEND=proxmox
PVE_HOST=pve
PVE_STORAGE=local-lvm
PVE_BRIDGE=vmbr0
PVE_BACKUP_STORAGE=local

Step 4: Test Connection

After creating the .env file, run the connection test:

just test-connection

Important: Warn the user that they may need to authenticate multiple times during the test (SSH key passphrase prompts if not using ssh-agent, or host key verification).

If the test passes, tell the user the setup is complete and they can now use just commands.

Variable Reference

Libvirt Variables

Proxmox Variables

Proxmox-LXC Variables