# virt-manager/virt-manager

Desktop tool for managing virtual machines via libvirt

Repository: https://github.com/virt-manager/virt-manager
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/virt-manager
Homepage: https://virt-manager.org
Language: Python
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Last push: 2026-08-15T09:29:59+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 87/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 97, release rhythm 67, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4122, "days_push": 18, "days_rel": 223, "gap_med": 0, "n_releases_24m": 58}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 3234, forks 541 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:50.213127+00:00)

## What it is
virt-manager is a desktop graphical application for managing virtual machines through libvirt, primarily targeting QEMU/KVM but also supporting Xen and LXC containers. It includes companion CLI tools (virt-install, virt-clone, virt-xml) for provisioning, cloning, and editing libvirt guests.

## Use cases
- manage KVM virtual machines with a GUI
- create new libvirt VMs from the command line
- clone an existing virtual machine with new UUID and MAC
- edit libvirt domain XML without a full GUI
- view a graphical console of a running guest via VNC or SPICE
- monitor live performance and resource usage of VMs
- manage Xen guests and LXC containers

## When to choose
- you use libvirt (QEMU/KVM, Xen, LXC) and want a mature GUI to manage guests
- you need scripted VM provisioning or cloning via virt-install/virt-clone
- you want an embedded VNC/SPICE console for your VMs
- you prefer a free, GPL-licensed tool available in most Linux distro repos

## When to avoid
- you need to manage non-libvirt hypervisors like VirtualBox, VMware, or Hyper-V
- you want a web-based or remote multi-tenant VM management UI (consider oVirt, Proxmox, or Cockpit instead)
- you are on Windows or macOS as your management desktop

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: stable
- function: gui, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: python
- tags: libvirt, kvm, qemu, xen, lxc, virtualization, vnc, spice, virt-install, virt-clone, virt-xml, command-line, linux, desktop

## Member repositories
- virt-manager/virt-manager (main) score 87

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:50.213127+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T18:43:56.190179+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/virt-manager/virt-manager (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:50.213127+00:00, sha e55a6da8ccac)
  - homepage: https://virt-manager.org (fetched 2026-08-29T09:37:36.959815+00:00, sha 396a5fe97fae)
  - site_page: https://virt-manager.org/documentation.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:37:36.969260+00:00, sha 381aa305ef89)
  - site_page: https://virt-manager.org/faq.html (fetched 2026-08-29T09:37:36.971218+00:00, sha 0a2d48f05baa)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.