proxmox-aiops

Use this skill whenever the user needs to manage VMs and containers on Proxmox VE — list/inspect/configure VMs, power and lifecycle (start/stop/shutdown/reboot/reconfigure/clone/delete/migrate), snapshots (create/delete/list/rollback), disk grow/move, vzdump backups (create/list/restore), LXC containers (list/start/stop), cluster/node status, cluster resource inventory, async task polling + logs, free-VMID lookup, HA status, resource pools, firewall inspection, guest-agent ping, and storage listing. Also use it to diagnose cluster health — rank nodes by CPU/memory/disk pressure and scan guests for saturation (read-only RCA). Always use this skill for "list proxmox vms", "start proxmox vm", "stop proxmox vm", "proxmox snapshot", "proxmox backup", "restore proxmox vm", "resize proxmox disk", "proxmox vm status", "migrate proxmox vm", "proxmox container", "proxmox ha", "proxmox pool", "proxmox firewall", "list proxmox storage", "proxmox node pressure", or "why is proxmox slow" when the context is explicitly Proxmox / Proxmox VE / PVE. Do NOT use for non-Proxmox hypervisors, Kubernetes, or cloud providers. Broad coverage of common Proxmox operations, with a built-in governance harness (audit, token budget, undo, risk-tier labels).

Disclaimer: This is a community-maintained open-source project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Proxmox Server Solutions GmbH. "Proxmox" is a trademark of its owner. Source code is publicly auditable at github.com/AIops-tools/Proxmox-AIops under the MIT license.

Governed VM and container lifecycle operations for Proxmox VE — 43 MCP tools, every one wrapped with the bundled @governed_tool harness: a local unified audit log under ~/.proxmox-aiops/, token/runaway budget guard, undo-token recording, and descriptive risk-tier labels.

Standalone: the governance harness is bundled in the package (proxmox_aiops.governance) — proxmox-aiops has no external skill-family dependency. Coverage focuses on common Proxmox operations and is not yet exhaustive.

What This Skill Does

Category	Tools	Count	Read or Write
VM Lifecycle	list, get, config, start, stop, shutdown, reboot, reconfigure, clone, delete, migrate	11	3 read / 8 write
Snapshots	create, delete, list, rollback	4	1 read / 3 write
Disk	resize (grow-only), move	2	0 read / 2 write
Backups (vzdump)	create, list, restore	3	1 read / 2 write
LXC Containers	list, start, stop	3	1 read / 2 write
Cluster / Tasks	node list, cluster status, task poll, cluster resources, node status, task log, next vmid	7	7 read
HA	status, resource list	2	2 read
Pools	list, members	2	2 read
Firewall	vm rules, cluster status	2	2 read
Guest Agent	ping	1	1 read
Storage	list pools, list content	2	2 read
Diagnostics / RCA	node-pressure, guest-health	2	2 read

Quick Install

bash

uv tool install proxmox-aiops
proxmox-aiops doctor

When to Use This Skill

• List/inspect Proxmox QEMU VMs and their config
• Power ops: start, hard-stop, graceful shutdown, reboot
• Reconfigure (cores/memory), clone, delete, or migrate a VM between nodes
• Grow a VM disk (grow-only — shrink is refused) or move it to another storage
• Create, list, and restore vzdump backups
• Create / delete / list / roll back VM snapshots
• Manage LXC containers (list, start, stop)
• Inspect cluster nodes, quorum, the /cluster/resources inventory, node load/mem, and poll async tasks + fetch their logs by UPID; get a free VMID
• Check HA status / HA-managed resources (handles "HA not configured" gracefully)
• List resource pools and their members
• Inspect VM firewall rules and the cluster firewall enable state (read-only)
• Ping a VM's QEMU guest agent
• List storage pools and their content (ISOs, disk images, backups)
• Diagnose cluster health: rank nodes by CPU/memory/root-fs pressure, and scan VMs/containers for stopped guests, memory saturation, and disks near full — each finding cites the measured number and a concrete action (read-only RCA)

Do NOT use when the target is not Proxmox VE (other hypervisors, Kubernetes, or cloud providers are out of scope for this skill).

Common Workflows

Triage a "cluster feels slow" complaint (read-only)

1. proxmox-aiops diagnose node-pressure → worst-first table of nodes over the CPU/mem/disk thresholds, each row citing the measured % and the fix
2. proxmox-aiops diagnose guest-health → guests near their memory ceiling or with disks near full, plus the list of stopped guests
3. Act on the top finding — e.g. proxmox-aiops vm migrate <vmid> --to-node <n> to shed load off a hot node, or vm reconfigure <vmid> --memory ... for a RAM-starved guest. All of these route through the governed path (audited, undo recorded).

Snapshot, then reconfigure a VM

1. proxmox-aiops vm list → find the vmid and confirm it is the right VM/node
2. proxmox-aiops vm snapshot-create <vmid> --name pre-change → baseline before any risky change
3. proxmox-aiops vm reconfigure <vmid> --cores 8 --memory 16384 → the harness captures the prior cores/memory as the undo descriptor
4. Failure branch: if the change goes wrong, the write recorded an _undo_id — reverse it with proxmox-aiops undo apply <id>, or roll back with proxmox-aiops vm snapshot-rollback <vmid> --name pre-change.

Free a node that is out of memory

1. proxmox-aiops diagnose node-pressure → identify the node flagged high memory
2. proxmox-aiops cluster resources --type vm → find a movable guest on that node
3. proxmox-aiops vm migrate <vmid> --to-node <other> --dry-run → preview, then run without --dry-run (migrate is high risk; the inverse migrate-back is recorded)
4. Re-run diagnose node-pressure to confirm the pressure cleared.

Stop a VM safely

1. proxmox-aiops vm get <vmid> → confirm current status is running
2. proxmox-aiops vm stop <vmid> --dry-run → preview the exact API call
3. proxmox-aiops vm stop <vmid> → double confirmation required; vm_stop records an inverse vm_start undo descriptor
4. Failure branch: if doctor shows the node unreachable or the secret env var is missing, fix credentials with proxmox-aiops secret set <target> before retrying — the stop is never issued against an unauthenticated session.

Usage Mode

Scenario	Recommended	Why
Local/small models	CLI	fewer tokens than MCP
Cloud models (Claude, GPT)	Either	MCP gives structured JSON I/O
Automated pipelines	MCP	type-safe parameters, audited

MCP Tools (43 — 25 read, 18 write)

Category	Tools	R/W
VM Lifecycle	vm_list, vm_get, vm_config	Read
	vm_start, vm_stop, vm_shutdown, vm_reboot, vm_reconfigure, vm_clone, vm_delete, vm_migrate	Write
Snapshots	vm_list_snapshots	Read
	vm_snapshot_create, vm_snapshot_delete, vm_snapshot_rollback	Write
Disk	vm_resize_disk (grow-only), vm_move_disk	Write
Backups	backup_list	Read
	vm_backup, backup_restore (high)	Write
LXC Containers	ct_list	Read
	ct_start, ct_stop	Write
Cluster / Tasks	node_list, cluster_status, task_status, cluster_resources, node_status, task_log, next_vmid	Read
HA	ha_status, ha_resource_list	Read
Pools	pool_list, pool_members	Read
Firewall	vm_firewall_rules_list, cluster_firewall_status	Read
Guest Agent	vm_agent_ping	Read
Storage	storage_list, storage_content	Read
Diagnostics / RCA	node_pressure_rca, guest_health_rca	Read
Undo	undo_list	Read
	undo_apply	Write

Harness features that light up: write tools with a clean inverse (vm_start/vm_stop/vm_shutdown/vm_reconfigure/vm_clone/vm_migrate/vm_snapshot_create/vm_move_disk/ct_start/ct_stop) pass an undo= lambda so the harness records an inverse descriptor (with _undo_id) to the undo store — vm_reconfigure captures the prior cores/memory, vm_clone's inverse is vm_delete(newid), vm_migrate's is migrate-back, vm_move_disk's is move-back to the captured source storage. backup_restore records a vm_delete inverse only when it restored into a free VMID (a forced overwrite is destructive and declares none). Irreversible writes (vm_delete, vm_snapshot_rollback, backup_restore with force) declare no undo and are tagged risk_level=high; vm_resize_disk is grow-only and refuses shrink before any API call. All 43 tools are audit-logged under ~/.proxmox-aiops/ and pass through the budget/runaway guard + risk-tier tagging. Proxmox writes are async (return a task UPID) — poll with task_status (and read lines with task_log) instead of re-issuing (the runaway breaker backs this up).

CLI Quick Reference

bash

proxmox-aiops vm list [--target <t>] [--node <n>]
proxmox-aiops vm get <vmid> [--node <n>]
proxmox-aiops vm start <vmid> [--node <n>]
proxmox-aiops vm stop <vmid> [--dry-run]              # double confirm
proxmox-aiops vm resize-disk <vmid> --disk scsi0 --size +10G   # grow-only
proxmox-aiops vm move-disk <vmid> --disk scsi0 --storage ceph [--delete]
proxmox-aiops vm agent-ping <vmid>
proxmox-aiops vm snapshot-create <vmid> --name <snap>
proxmox-aiops vm snapshot-delete <vmid> --name <snap> [--dry-run]   # double confirm
proxmox-aiops vm snapshot-list <vmid>
proxmox-aiops backup create <vmid> --storage <s> [--mode snapshot]
proxmox-aiops backup list <storage> [--vmid <id>]
proxmox-aiops backup restore <vmid> --archive <volid> --storage <s> [--force] [--dry-run]  # double confirm
proxmox-aiops cluster resources [--type vm|node|storage]
proxmox-aiops cluster node-status <node>
proxmox-aiops cluster task-log <upid>
proxmox-aiops cluster next-vmid
proxmox-aiops ha status
proxmox-aiops pool list
proxmox-aiops firewall vm-rules <vmid>
proxmox-aiops storage list [--node <n>]
proxmox-aiops diagnose node-pressure                  # rank nodes by CPU/mem/disk pressure (read-only RCA)
proxmox-aiops diagnose guest-health                   # stopped guests, mem saturation, disks near full
proxmox-aiops undo apply <id>                         # reverse a recorded governed write
proxmox-aiops init                                    # onboarding wizard (encrypted creds)
proxmox-aiops secret set <target>                     # manage encrypted secret store
proxmox-aiops doctor
proxmox-aiops mcp                                      # start MCP server (stdio)

Credentials are managed by the proxmox-aiops init onboarding wizard and the proxmox-aiops secret commands, which back an encrypted secret store (no plaintext passwords in config.yaml).

Troubleshooting

"Config file not found"

Create ~/.proxmox-aiops/config.yaml with a targets: list (see README), and put secrets in ~/.proxmox-aiops/.env (chmod 600).

"Secret not found. Set environment variable: PROXMOX__SECRET"

Each target needs a per-target secret env var. For target pve-lab, set PROXMOX_PVE_LAB_SECRET=<token-uuid> in .env.

"Token auth requires user in the form 'user@realm!tokenid'"

For API-token auth (recommended, least privilege), user must include the token id after !, e.g. root@pam!claude. For password auth set auth_kind: password and use user@realm.

"No node specified and no default node configured"

Either pass --node <name> / node=<name>, or set node: on the target in config.yaml. VM operations can auto-locate a vmid across nodes, but storage listing needs an explicit node.

Audit & Safety

The skill delivers reads and writes and records them; it does not decide whether a write is permitted. That is your agent's judgement, or the permission of the account you connect it with — use a Proxmox VE user or API token granted only read privileges (no VM./Datastore. write roles), and writes then fail at the server. There is no read-only switch, policy file, or approval gate.

• Audit is the guarantee, and it is not bypassable. Every operation — MCP and CLI alike — is logged to ~/.proxmox-aiops/audit.db (relocatable via PROXMOX_AIOPS_HOME): params, result, status, duration, and the risk tier. The CLI writes the same row the MCP path does.
• PROXMOX_AUDIT_APPROVED_BY / PROXMOX_AUDIT_RATIONALE are optional annotations recorded on the audit row (who/why); they are never required and never block.
• Runaway guard — a safety backstop, not authorization: the same call looped in a tight window trips a circuit breaker. Disable with PROXMOX_RUNAWAY_MAX=0; optional hard ceilings via PROXMOX_MAX_TOOL_CALLS / PROXMOX_MAX_TOOL_SECONDS.
• Undo store records inverse descriptors for reversible writes (start/stop/shutdown/reconfigure/clone/migrate/snapshot-create, container start/stop).
• Writes support --dry-run / dry_run=True and double confirmation at the CLI.

The harness is bundled in the package — no external dependency, no manual setup.

Contributing & feature requests

Coverage is intentionally focused. Missing a device, action, or feature you need? Open an issue or pull request at github.com/AIops-tools/Proxmox-AIops — feature requests, contributions, and comments are all welcome.

License

MIT — github.com/AIops-tools/Proxmox-AIops