utmd

Disposable VM sandbox manager for UTM on macOS. Create, run, and prune isolated development environments.

Installation • Quick Start • Usage • Config • JSON Output

Features

• Template-based cloning — create VMs from base templates ([t]-linux, [t]-macos)
• Disposable lifecycle — create → run → rm for one-off sandboxes, prune for batch cleanup
• Smart naming — exact names, templates with {prefix}{os}-{rand}, or prefix + OS combinations
• Batch pruning — filter by prefix, OS, or age (--older-than 24h, --older-than 7d)
• Machine readable — JSON output for all commands, designed for automation and agent pipelines
• Non-destructive — only removes utmd- prefixed VMs, leaves personal VMs untouched
• Dry run support — --dry-run previews actions without mutating state
• Global automation flags — --json, --quiet, --yes, --dry-run, --config

Installation

Homebrew

brew install tappunk/utmd/utmd

Cargo

cargo install utmd

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/tappunk/utmd.git
cd utmd
cargo build --release
sudo cp target/release/utmd /usr/local/bin/utmd

Quick Start

utmd init                    # Create config file
utmd create linux            # Clone a sandbox from template
utmd run linux               # Boot and show the sandbox

Usage

Create and run sandboxes

utmd create linux                      # Clone from template, name generated
utmd create linux --name sandbox1      # Clone with a specific name
utmd create linux --name exact-name --name-exact
utmd create linux --name-template "{prefix}{os}-{rand}"

utmd run linux                   # Clone and run in one step
utmd run linux --name myproject  # Clone, run, and show
utmd run linux --name-template "{prefix}{os}-{rand}"

Manage existing VMs

utmd ls                              # List managed VMs (default prefix)
utmd ls --prefix ""                  # List all VMs
utmd inspect utmd-linux-abc123       # Show VM details
utmd start utmd-linux-abc123         # Start a stopped VM
utmd stop utmd-linux-abc123          # Stop a running VM
utmd show utmd-linux-abc123          # Open in UTM app
utmd rm utmd-linux-abc123            # Remove a single VM

Batch pruning

utmd prune                             # Prune all disposable VMs
utmd prune --prefix utmd-              # Prune with specific prefix
utmd prune --os linux                  # Prune only Linux VMs
utmd prune --older-than 24h            # Prune VMs older than 24 hours
utmd prune --older-than 7d --dry-run   # Preview what would be deleted
utmd --yes prune                       # Skip confirmation prompts

Config

Create the config file with utmd init:

utmd init

Default config path: ~/.config/utmd/config.toml

utm_app = "/Applications/UTM.app"
utmctl_path = "/usr/local/bin/utmctl"
state_path = "/Users/user/Library/Application Support/utmd/state.json"
default_prefix = "utmd-"

[templates]
linux = "[t]-linux"
macos = "[t]-macos"

[naming]
default_template = "{prefix}{os}-{rand}"
rand_len = 4
max_retries = 8

[output]
default_json = false
default_quiet = false

Environment variables

Environment variables override config values. Precedence: CLI flags > environment > config file > built-in defaults.

UTMD_UTM_APP
UTMD_UTMCTL_PATH
UTMD_STATE_PATH
UTMD_PREFIX
UTMD_TEMPLATE_LINUX
UTMD_TEMPLATE_MACOS
UTMD_JSON
UTMD_QUIET

JSON Output

All commands return wrapped JSON with a stable top-level shape:

{
  "command": "ls",
  "ok": true,
  "data": [],
  "warnings": [],
  "error": null
}

Use --json to force JSON output. On first run, utmd checks for the utmctl dependency and reports an error if it is missing.