vmlab-agent
software
vmlab's first-party in-guest agent on the vmlab.agent.0 virtio-serial port: terminals, exec, file transfer, tail, event logs, clipboard, metrics, network/OS identification and graceful shutdown — no guest network involved.
vmlab-agent runs inside guests and talks to the host over a dedicated vmlab.agent.0 virtio-serial port, so everything it offers works on air-gapped machines and never depends on guest networking. One channel multiplexes: interactive terminals (a real PTY — root shell on Linux, SYSTEM PowerShell via ConPTY on Windows), streaming exec, **file push/pull, tail (tail -F semantics), the Windows event log**, clipboard get/set, subscribed guest metrics, and the identification and control calls the daemon needs — net_info (guest IPs without DHCP), os_info (see vmlab osinfo) and shutdown/reboot. Both full VMs and container micro-VMs carry it; playbooks push over the same channel.
| Consumer | Surface |
|---|---|
| CLI | vmlab exec / shell / cp / tail / eventlog; vmlab container exec / shell (see the CLI reference) |
| wscript | m.exec / exec_timeout / copy_to / copy_from / terminal() / stats() on any Machine — method tables |
| Web console | Machine Terminal tabs, guest metrics meters, clipboard sync |
How it gets into guests. Template builds auto-attach a **VMLAB bootstrap ISO** (agent binaries + install script) when the template's agent field is true (the default); the guest's own unattended-install hook (cloud-init runcmd, installer late-commands, autounattend first-logon) runs the script: Linux gets a systemd unit (or OpenRC on Alpine), Windows a service under C:\ProgramData\vmlab. The handshake is verified live on the channel before the image is sealed, and only then is agent_version recorded in template meta — the marker that unlocks agent-only features for clones. Container micro-VMs get the agent injected by the init at boot, no baking needed. With agent = false or on vintage guests (no agent channel), there is no exec/copy transport at all — only screen-driven automation — and the VM never reports ready. vm.wait_ready() means agent-level readiness.