kcli Configuration

Configuration Files Location

~/.kcli/ ├── config.yml # Main configuration (clients/providers) ├── profiles.yml # VM profiles (optional, can be in config.yml) ├── id_rsa / id_rsa.pub # SSH keys for VM access ├── id_ed25519 # Alternative SSH key └── clusters/ # Cluster state (created by kcli)

Basic config.yml Structure

default: client: localhost # Default provider to use numcpus: 2 memory: 512 pool: default nets: - default disks: - size: 10

Provider definitions

localhost: type: kvm host: 127.0.0.1

Provider Types

Type Description Required Fields

kvm

Local/remote libvirt host

aws

Amazon Web Services access_key_id, access_key_secret, region

gcp

Google Cloud Platform credentials, project, zone

azure

Microsoft Azure subscription_id, credentials (file)

kubevirt

VMs on Kubernetes context, host

openstack

OpenStack cloud auth_url, user, password, project

ovirt

oVirt/RHV host, user, password, datacenter

vsphere

VMware vSphere host, user, password, datacenter

proxmox

Proxmox VE host, user, password

hcloud

Hetzner Cloud token

ibm

IBM Cloud iam_api_key, region, vpc

KVM/Libvirt Configuration

Local libvirt

localhost: type: kvm host: 127.0.0.1 pool: default

Remote libvirt via SSH

remote-kvm: type: kvm host: 192.168.1.100 protocol: ssh # ssh (default), tcp, or tls user: root # SSH user pool: default

url: qemu+ssh://root@host/system # Or custom URI

AWS Configuration

myaws: type: aws access_key_id: AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE access_key_secret: wJalrXUtnFEMI/K7MDENG/bPxRfiCYEXAMPLEKEY region: us-east-1 keypair: mykey # EC2 key pair name

GCP Configuration

mygcp: type: gcp credentials: ~/service-account.json # Service account JSON project: my-project-id zone: us-central1-a region: us-central1 # Optional, derived from zone

Azure Configuration

myazure: type: azure subscription_id: xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx credentials: ~/.azure/credentials.json

Or use environment: AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION

location: eastus resource_group: my-rg # Optional, created if needed

KubeVirt Configuration

mykubevirt: type: kubevirt context: my-k8s-context # kubectl context host: api.cluster.local # API server for SSH tunneling pool: my-storageclass # StorageClass name multus: true # Use Multus CNI cdi: true # Use CDI for images

OpenStack Configuration

myopenstack: type: openstack auth_url: https://openstack:5000/v3 user: admin password: secret project: myproject domain: Default

oVirt/RHV Configuration

myovirt: type: ovirt host: ovirt-engine.local user: admin@internal password: secret datacenter: Default cluster: Default pool: DataDomain ca_file: ~/ovirt.pem # Engine CA certificate

Default Section Options

default:

Client selection

client: localhost

Compute

numcpus: 2 memory: 512 # MB cpumodel: host-model nested: true # Nested virtualization

Storage

pool: default disks: - size: 10 diskinterface: virtio diskthin: true

Network

nets: - default reservedns: false reservehost: false reserveip: false

OS/Cloud-init

cloudinit: true keys: [] # SSH public keys cmds: [] # Post-boot commands files: [] # Files to inject

Access

tunnel: false # SSH tunneling for console insecure: false # Ignore SSH host keys enableroot: true # Allow root SSH

Metadata

storemetadata: false planview: false

Profiles (profiles.yml or in config.yml)

In ~/.kcli/profiles.yml or config.yml profiles section

small: numcpus: 1 memory: 1024 disks: - size: 10

medium: numcpus: 2 memory: 2048 disks: - size: 20

large: numcpus: 4 memory: 4096 disks: - size: 40 - size: 100

webserver: image: centos9stream numcpus: 2 memory: 4096 nets: - default cmds: - dnf -y install nginx - systemctl enable --now nginx base: medium # Inherit from another profile

Multiple Clients

default: client: local-kvm # Default client

local-kvm: type: kvm host: 127.0.0.1

remote-kvm: type: kvm host: 192.168.1.100

myaws: type: aws access_key_id: ... access_key_secret: ... region: us-east-1

Switch clients:

kcli switch local-kvm # Change default kcli -C myaws list vm # Use specific client

Validation Commands

List configured clients

kcli list client

Check client connectivity

kcli list host

Info about current client

kcli info host

Switch default client

kcli switch <client>

Test with specific client

kcli -C <client> list vm

Environment Variables

Some values can come from environment:

• GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS

• GCP credentials path

• AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID , AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY

• AWS credentials

• AZURE_AUTH_LOCATION

• Azure credentials path

• OS_*

• OpenStack credentials (standard OS_ vars)

Troubleshooting

Connection refused (KVM):

Check libvirt is running

sudo systemctl status libvirtd

Test virsh connection

virsh -c qemu:///system list

SSH key issues:

Generate kcli SSH key

ssh-keygen -t rsa -N '' -f ~/.kcli/id_rsa

Or use ed25519

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -N '' -f ~/.kcli/id_ed25519

Debug mode:

kcli -d list vm # Shows provider connection details