VibeVisor

High-performance virtualization for Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) built with Rust and Tauri.

Overview

VibeVisor is a lightweight, memory-secure virtualization apparatus engineered for macOS on Apple Silicon. It uses a curated QEMU backend with Rust-based control logic for a professional, high-velocity user experience.

Why VibeVisor?

• 🚀 Near-Native Performance: Leverages Apple's Hypervisor.framework (HVF) for minimal overhead
• 🔒 Security-First Design: Comprehensive hardening with CSPRNG, path validation, rate limiting, and sandboxed processes
• 🦀 Rust Backend: Memory-safe, async orchestration with zero .unwrap() calls in production
• 🎨 Modern UI: Svelte 5 with Runes + Tailwind CSS, dark mode aesthetic
• 💾 QCOW2 Support: Snapshot capabilities, linked clones, efficient storage

Features

Requirements

• macOS: 14.0+ (Sonoma or later)
• Hardware: Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
• Tools: Xcode Command Line Tools
• QEMU: 9.0+ (aarch64)

Quick Start

1. Install Dependencies

# Install QEMU (required for VM execution)
brew install qemu

# Or build from source for optimal performance
./src-tauri/sidecars/qemu/build-qemu.sh

2. Clone & Setup

git clone https://github.com/pallab-js/r-utm.git
cd r-utm
npm install

3. Development

# Start the development server with hot reload
npm run tauri dev

4. Production Build

# Build the production application
npm run tauri build

The built application will be in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/.

Project Structure

r-utm/
├── src/                          # Frontend (Svelte 5)
│   ├── app.css                   # Tailwind CSS styles
│   ├── app.html                  # HTML template
│   ├── routes/                   # SvelteKit routes
│   │   ├── +page.svelte          # Main VM management UI
│   │   └── +layout.svelte        # Layout wrapper
│   └── lib/
│       ├── components/           # Reusable UI components
│       │   ├── Chart.svelte      # Metrics visualization
│       │   ├── CreateVmWizard.svelte
│       │   ├── EditVmModal.svelte
│       │   ├── Settings.svelte
│       │   └── SpiceDisplay.svelte
│       └── stores/
│           └── metrics.ts        # VM metrics store
│
├── src-tauri/                    # Backend (Rust/Tauri 2)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── lib.rs                # Tauri commands + AppState
│   │   ├── main.rs               # Entry point
│   │   └── vibe_core/            # Core modules
│   │       ├── config.rs         # TOML VM configuration
│   │       ├── launcher.rs       # QEMU process launcher
│   │       ├── qmp.rs            # QMP client (Unix sockets)
│   │       ├── storage.rs        # QCOW2 management
│   │       ├── monitor.rs        # VM monitoring
│   │       ├── kernel.rs         # Direct kernel boot
│   │       ├── cores.rs          # P/E-core allocation
│   │       ├── error.rs          # Error types
│   │       ├── security.rs       # Security utilities
│   │       └── rate_limiter.rs   # Rate limiting
│   ├── capabilities/
│   │   └── default.json          # Tauri permissions
│   ├── sidecars/qemu/            # QEMU binaries
│   ├── icons/                    # Application icons
│   ├── tauri.conf.json           # Tauri configuration
│   ├── vibe.entitlements         # macOS entitlements
│   └── Cargo.toml                # Rust dependencies
│
├── .github/                      # GitHub configuration
│   ├── workflows/ci.yml          # CI/CD pipeline
│   ├── ISSUE_TEMPLATE/           # Issue templates
│   └── FUNDING.yml               # Sponsorship links
│
├── package.json                  # Node.js configuration
└── vite.config.js                # Vite bundler

Architecture

Backend (Rust)

The Rust backend provides robust, memory-safe control over QEMU:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Tauri Commands                        │
│              (lib.rs - Frontend Bridge)                  │
└─────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
                          │
          ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
          │               │               │
    ┌─────▼─────┐  ┌─────▼─────┐  ┌─────▼─────┐
    │ launcher  │  │  config   │  │  storage  │
    │   (QEMU   │  │  (TOML    │  │  (QCOW2   │
    │  spawn)   │  │  parsing) │  │  mgmt)    │
    └─────┬─────┘  └───────────┘  └───────────┘
          │
    ┌─────▼─────┐
    │    qmp    │
    │  (Unix    │
    │  sockets) │
    └───────────┘

Key Modules:

• vibe-launcher: Async QEMU process spawning with HVF acceleration
• vibe-qmp: QEMU Machine Protocol client via Unix Domain Sockets
• vibe-storage: QCOW2 image management with snapshot support
• vibe-config: TOML-based VM configuration serialization
• vibe-security: Cryptographic operations and input validation
• vibe-monitor: Real-time VM metrics collection
• vibe-cores: Apple Silicon P/E-core allocation suggestions

Frontend (Svelte 5)

The frontend uses Svelte 5's new Runes system for fine-grained reactivity:

• $state(): Reactive state management
• $derived(): Computed values
• $effect(): Side effects and subscriptions
• Tailwind CSS v4: Utility-first styling with dark mode

Configuration

VM Configuration (TOML)

VM configurations are stored in ~/Library/Application Support/VibeVisor/vms/:

name = "My Linux VM"
id = "uuid-here"
architecture = "aarch64"

[hardware]
cpu_cores = 4
memory_mb = 4096
cpu_model = "host"

[storage]
disk_path = "/path/to/disk.qcow2"
disk_size_gb = 20
disk_type = "qcow2"
snapshot_enabled = true

[network]
enabled = true
mode = "nat"

[display]
spice_enabled = true
resolution = { width = 1920, height = 1080 }

App Settings

Application settings are stored in ~/.config/VibeVisor/settings.toml and can be configured via the Settings UI.

Supported Guest Operating Systems

Keyboard Shortcuts

Troubleshooting

QEMU Not Found

Ensure QEMU is installed and accessible:

which qemu-system-aarch64
which qemu-img

VibeVisor searches for QEMU in this order:

1. /usr/local/bin/
2. /opt/homebrew/bin/ (Homebrew on Apple Silicon)
3. src-tauri/sidecars/qemu/ (bundled)
4. System PATH

Hypervisor Entitlement Missing

The app requires com.apple.security.hypervisor entitlement. This is automatically bundled in production builds.

SPICE Display Issues

• Ensure you're using a SPICE-compatible viewer or the built-in display
• SPICE is bound to localhost only for security
• Check firewall settings if connecting remotely

VM Won't Start

1. Check QEMU is installed: qemu-system-aarch64 --version
2. Verify VM configuration in ~/Library/Application Support/VibeVisor/vms/
3. Check logs in the development console or Console.app

Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details.

Quick Start for Contributors

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature
3. Make your changes
4. Run tests: npm run check && cd src-tauri && cargo test
5. Commit with conventional commit message: git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature'
6. Push and submit a PR

Good First Issues

Look for issues labeled good-first-issue for beginner-friendly tasks.

Development Commands

# Frontend
npm run dev              # Start dev server
npm run build            # Build frontend
npm run check            # Type checking (Svelte)

# Backend (Rust)
cd src-tauri && cargo test       # Run tests
cd src-tauri && cargo clippy     # Linting
cd src-tauri && cargo fmt        # Formatting

# Full application
npm run tauri dev        # Development mode
npm run tauri build      # Production build

Before committing:

npm run check && cd src-tauri && cargo check --lib --bins && cargo test

Security

VibeVisor implements multiple layers of security hardening:

• 🔐 Cryptographic Security: CSPRNG-generated passwords with 325+ bits of entropy
• 🛡️ Command Injection Prevention: All paths validated and canonicalized
• 📁 Secure Temporary Files: QMP sockets in restricted directories (0o700)
• 📦 Archive Inspection: Pre-extraction validation prevents malicious imports
• ⏱️ Rate Limiting: Token bucket algorithm prevents resource exhaustion
• 🚫 Zero .unwrap() Calls: Proper error handling throughout

See our Security Policy for details, including audit history and vulnerability reporting.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Acknowledgments

• QEMU - The open-source machine emulator
• Tauri - Build smaller, faster, secure desktop apps
• Svelte - Cybernetically enhanced web apps
• Apple Hypervisor.framework - Native macOS virtualization
• All our contributors

Star History

Made with ❤️ for the Apple Silicon community