🎯

kcli-provider-development

🎯Skill

from karmab/kcli

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What it does

Guides developers in implementing custom virtualization providers for kcli by defining a standardized interface and core method requirements.

kcli-provider-development

Installation

Install skill:
npx skills add https://github.com/karmab/kcli --skill kcli-provider-development
4
Last UpdatedJan 25, 2026

Skill Details

SKILL.md

Guides implementation of new virtualization providers for kcli. Use when adding support for a new cloud platform, hypervisor, or infrastructure provider.

Overview

# kcli Provider Development

Provider Architecture

Providers are located in kvirt/providers/ as subdirectories. Each provider implements the interface defined in kvirt/providers/sampleprovider.py (class Kbase).

Required Implementation Steps

1. Create Provider Directory

```

kvirt/providers/yourprovider/

β”œβ”€β”€ __init__.py # Contains your Kyourprovider class

└── (optional helpers)

```

2. Implement the Provider Class

Your class must:

  • Set self.conn attribute in __init__ (set to None if backend unreachable)
  • Set self.debug from the debug parameter
  • Return standardized response dicts from methods

Return Value Pattern:

```python

# Success

return {'result': 'success'}

# Failure

return {'result': 'failure', 'reason': "VM %s not found" % name}

```

3. Core Methods to Implement

VM Lifecycle (required):

  • create() - Create VM with all parameters (cpus, memory, disks, nets, etc.)
  • start(name) - Start VM
  • stop(name, soft=False) - Stop VM
  • restart(name) - Restart VM (default calls start)
  • delete(name, snapshots=False, keep_disks=False) - Delete VM
  • list() - Return list of [name, state, ip, source, plan, profile]
  • info(name, output, fields, values, vm, debug) - Return VM details dict
  • exists(name) - Check if VM exists
  • status(name) - Return VM status
  • ip(name) - Return IP string
  • clone(old, new, full=False, start=False) - Clone VM
  • export(name, image=None) - Export VM as image
  • console(name, tunnel, tunnelhost, tunnelport, tunneluser, web) - Graphical console
  • serialconsole(name, web) - Serial console

Storage:

  • create_pool(name, poolpath, pooltype, user, thinpool)
  • delete_pool(name, full)
  • list_pools() - Return list of pool names
  • get_pool_path(pool) - Get pool path
  • add_disk(name, size, pool, thin, image, shareable, existing, interface, novm, overrides)
  • delete_disk(name, diskname, pool, novm)
  • create_disk(name, size, pool, thin, image) - Create standalone disk
  • list_disks() - Return dict {'diskname': {'pool': poolname, 'path': name}}
  • disk_exists(pool, name) - Check if disk exists
  • detach_disks(name) - Detach all disks from VM

Networking:

  • create_network(name, cidr, dhcp, nat, domain, plan, overrides)
  • delete_network(name, cidr, force)
  • update_network(name, dhcp, nat, domain, plan, overrides)
  • list_networks() - Return dict of networks
  • info_network(name) - Get network info
  • net_exists(name) - Check if network exists
  • network_ports(name) - List ports on network
  • add_nic(name, network, model)
  • delete_nic(name, interface)
  • update_nic(name, index, network) - Update NIC

Subnets (cloud providers):

  • create_subnet(name, cidr, dhcp, nat, domain, plan, overrides)
  • delete_subnet(name, force)
  • update_subnet(name, overrides)
  • list_subnets() - Return subnet dict
  • info_subnet(name) - Get subnet info

Images:

  • volumes(iso=False, extended=False) - List available images
  • add_image(url, pool, short, cmds, name, size, convert)
  • delete_image(image, pool)

Snapshots:

  • create_snapshot(name, base) - Create snapshot
  • delete_snapshot(name, base) - Delete snapshot
  • list_snapshots(base) - List snapshots (returns list)
  • revert_snapshot(name, base) - Revert to snapshot

Update Operations:

  • update_metadata(name, metatype, metavalue, append)
  • update_memory(name, memory)
  • update_cpus(name, numcpus)
  • update_start(name, start) - Set autostart
  • update_information(name, information) - Update info metadata
  • update_iso(name, iso) - Change attached ISO
  • update_flavor(name, flavor) - Change VM flavor

Buckets (object storage):

  • create_bucket(bucket, public) - Create storage bucket
  • delete_bucket(bucket) - Delete bucket
  • list_buckets() - List all buckets
  • list_bucketfiles(bucket) - List files in bucket
  • upload_to_bucket(bucket, path, overrides, temp_url, public)
  • download_from_bucket(bucket, path)
  • delete_from_bucket(bucket, path)

Security Groups (cloud providers):

  • create_security_group(name, overrides)
  • delete_security_group(name)
  • update_security_group(name, overrides)
  • list_security_groups(network) - List security groups

DNS:

  • reserve_dns(name, nets, domain, ip, alias, force, primary, instanceid)
  • list_dns_zones() - List DNS zones
  • dnsinfo(name) - Return (dnsclient, domain) for VM

Other:

  • close() - Clean up connection
  • info_host() - Return host info dict
  • vm_ports(name) - List ports on VM
  • list_flavors() - Return [[name, numcpus, memory], ...] if platform supports flavors

4. Register Provider in config.py

Add import and instantiation in kvirt/config.py (around lines 102-220):

```python

elif self.type == 'yourprovider':

# Get provider-specific options

option1 = options.get('option1')

if option1 is None:

error("Missing option1 in configuration. Leaving")

sys.exit(1)

try:

from kvirt.providers.yourprovider import Kyourprovider

except Exception as e:

exception = e if debug else None

dependency_error('yourprovider', exception)

k = Kyourprovider(option1=option1, debug=debug)

```

5. Add Dependencies to setup.py

```python

YOURPROVIDER = ['required-package1', 'required-package2']

# Add to extras_require dict:

extras_require={

'yourprovider': YOURPROVIDER,

# ...

}

# Add to ALL list if needed:

ALL = EXTRAS + AWS + ... + YOURPROVIDER

```

Info Method Structure

The info() method should build a dict with these keys:

  • name, autostart, plan, profile, image, ip, memory, numcpus, creationdate
  • nets: list of {'device': device, 'mac': mac, 'net': network, 'type': network_type}
  • disks: list of {'device': device, 'size': disksize, 'format': diskformat, 'type': drivertype, 'path': path}
  • snapshots: list of {'snapshot': snapshot, 'current': current}

Then call: common.print_info(yamlinfo, output=output, fields=fields, values=values)

Reference Implementations

Study these existing providers:

  • kvirt/providers/kvm/ - Libvirt (most complete reference, ~4300 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/aws/ - AWS cloud (~2200 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/gcp/ - Google Cloud Platform (~2100 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/kubevirt/ - KubeVirt on Kubernetes (~1900 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/vsphere/ - VMware vSphere (~1900 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/azure/ - Microsoft Azure (~1500 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/ibm/ - IBM Cloud (~1500 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/ovirt/ - oVirt/RHV (~1400 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/openstack/ - OpenStack (~1350 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/proxmox/ - Proxmox VE (~1200 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/hcloud/ - Hetzner Cloud (~550 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/web/ - Web-based provider (~530 lines)
  • kvirt/providers/fake/ - Minimal stub for testing (~20 lines)

Provider Complexity Guide

Not all providers need to implement every method. Focus on:

  1. Minimum viable: create, delete, list, info, start, stop, exists, status, ip
  2. Storage: add_disk, delete_disk, list_disks, create_pool, delete_pool, list_pools
  3. Networking: create_network, delete_network, list_networks, net_exists
  4. Images: volumes, add_image, delete_image
  5. Advanced: Snapshots, cloning, export, buckets, security groups (as needed)

Methods can return {'result': 'success'} with a print("not implemented") for optional features.