pyro-mcp/README.md

pyro-mcp

pyro-mcp is a stable agent workspace product for one-shot commands and persistent work inside ephemeral Firecracker microVMs using curated Linux environments such as debian:12.

This is for coding agents, MCP clients, and developers who want isolated command execution and stable disposable workspaces in ephemeral microVMs.

It exposes the same runtime in three public forms:

• the pyro CLI
• the Python SDK via from pyro_mcp import Pyro
• an MCP server so LLM clients can call VM tools directly

Start Here

• Install: docs/install.md
• Vision: docs/vision.md
• Workspace roadmap: docs/roadmap/task-workspace-ga.md
• First run transcript: docs/first-run.md
• Stable workspace walkthrough GIF: docs/assets/workspace-first-run.gif
• Terminal walkthrough GIF: docs/assets/first-run.gif
• PyPI package: pypi.org/project/pyro-mcp
• What's new in 3.1.0: CHANGELOG.md#310
• Host requirements: docs/host-requirements.md
• Integration targets: docs/integrations.md
• Public contract: docs/public-contract.md
• Troubleshooting: docs/troubleshooting.md
• Changelog: CHANGELOG.md

Quickstart

Use either of these equivalent quickstart paths:

# Package without install
python -m pip install uv
uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro doctor
uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro env list
uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro env pull debian:12
uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro run debian:12 -- git --version

# Already installed
pyro doctor
pyro env list
pyro env pull debian:12
pyro run debian:12 -- git --version

From a repo checkout, replace pyro with uv run pyro.

What success looks like:

Platform: linux-x86_64
Runtime: PASS
Catalog version: 3.1.0
...
[pull] phase=install environment=debian:12
[pull] phase=ready environment=debian:12
Pulled: debian:12
...
[run] phase=create environment=debian:12
[run] phase=start vm_id=...
[run] phase=execute vm_id=...
[run] environment=debian:12 execution_mode=guest_vsock exit_code=0 duration_ms=...
git version ...

The first pull downloads an OCI environment from public Docker Hub, requires outbound HTTPS access to registry-1.docker.io, and needs local cache space for the guest image.

Stable Workspace Path

pyro run is the stable one-shot entrypoint. pyro workspace ... is the stable path when an agent needs one sandbox to stay alive across repeated commands, shells, services, checkpoints, diffs, exports, and reset.

The commands below use plain pyro .... Run the same flow with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro ... for the published package, or uv run pyro ... from a source checkout.

uv tool install pyro-mcp
WORKSPACE_ID="$(pyro workspace create debian:12 --seed-path ./repo --json | python -c 'import json,sys; print(json.load(sys.stdin)["workspace_id"])')"
pyro workspace sync push "$WORKSPACE_ID" ./changes
pyro workspace exec "$WORKSPACE_ID" -- cat note.txt
pyro workspace snapshot create "$WORKSPACE_ID" checkpoint
pyro workspace service start "$WORKSPACE_ID" web --ready-file .web-ready -- sh -lc 'touch .web-ready && while true; do sleep 60; done'
pyro workspace reset "$WORKSPACE_ID" --snapshot checkpoint
pyro workspace export "$WORKSPACE_ID" note.txt --output ./note.txt
pyro workspace delete "$WORKSPACE_ID"

That stable workspace path gives you:

• initial host-in seeding with --seed-path
• later host-in updates with workspace sync push
• one-shot commands with workspace exec and persistent PTYs with workspace shell *
• long-running processes with workspace service *
• explicit checkpoints with workspace snapshot *
• full-sandbox recovery with workspace reset
• baseline comparison with workspace diff
• explicit host-out export with workspace export
• secondary stopped-workspace disk inspection with workspace stop|start and workspace disk *

After the quickstart works:

• prove the full one-shot lifecycle with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro demo
• create a persistent workspace with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace create debian:12 --seed-path ./repo
• update a live workspace from the host with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace sync push WORKSPACE_ID ./changes
• enable outbound guest networking for one workspace with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace create debian:12 --network-policy egress
• add literal or file-backed secrets with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace create debian:12 --secret API_TOKEN=expected --secret-file PIP_TOKEN=./token.txt
• map one persisted secret into one exec, shell, or service call with --secret-env API_TOKEN
• diff the live workspace against its create-time baseline with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace diff WORKSPACE_ID
• capture a checkpoint with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace snapshot create WORKSPACE_ID checkpoint
• reset a broken workspace with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace reset WORKSPACE_ID --snapshot checkpoint
• export a changed file or directory with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace export WORKSPACE_ID note.txt --output ./note.txt
• open a persistent interactive shell with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace shell open WORKSPACE_ID
• start long-running workspace services with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace service start WORKSPACE_ID app --ready-file .ready -- sh -lc 'touch .ready && while true; do sleep 60; done'
• publish one guest service port to the host with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace create debian:12 --network-policy egress+published-ports and uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace service start WORKSPACE_ID app --ready-http http://127.0.0.1:8080/ --publish 18080:8080 -- ./start-app
• stop a workspace for offline inspection with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace stop WORKSPACE_ID
• inspect or export one stopped guest rootfs with uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace disk list WORKSPACE_ID, uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace disk read WORKSPACE_ID note.txt, and uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro workspace disk export WORKSPACE_ID --output ./workspace.ext4
• move to Python or MCP via docs/integrations.md

Supported Hosts

Supported today:

• Linux x86_64
• Python 3.12+
• uv
• /dev/kvm

Optional for outbound guest networking:

• ip
• nft or iptables
• privilege to create TAP devices and configure NAT

Not supported today:

• macOS
• Windows
• Linux hosts without working KVM at /dev/kvm

Detailed Walkthrough

If you want the expanded version of the canonical quickstart, use the step-by-step flow below.

1. Check the host

uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro doctor

Expected success signals:

Platform: linux-x86_64
Runtime: PASS
KVM: exists=yes readable=yes writable=yes
Environment cache: /home/you/.cache/pyro-mcp/environments
Capabilities: vm_boot=yes guest_exec=yes guest_network=yes
Networking: tun=yes ip_forward=yes

2. Inspect the catalog

uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro env list

Expected output:

Catalog version: 3.1.0
debian:12 [installed|not installed] Debian 12 environment with Git preinstalled for common agent workflows.
debian:12-base [installed|not installed] Minimal Debian 12 environment for shell and core Unix tooling.
debian:12-build [installed|not installed] Debian 12 environment with Git and common build tools preinstalled.

3. Pull the default environment

uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro env pull debian:12

The first pull downloads an OCI environment from public Docker Hub, requires outbound HTTPS access to registry-1.docker.io, and needs local cache space for the guest image. See docs/host-requirements.md for the full host requirements.

4. Run one command in a guest

uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro run debian:12 -- git --version

Expected success signals:

[run] environment=debian:12 execution_mode=guest_vsock exit_code=0 duration_ms=...
git version ...

The guest command output and the [run] ... summary are written to different streams, so they may appear in either order in terminals or capture tools. Use --json if you need a deterministic structured result.

5. Optional demos

uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro demo
uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro demo --network

pyro demo proves the one-shot create/start/exec/delete VM lifecycle works end to end.

Example output:

{
  "cleanup": {
    "deleted": true,
    "reason": "post_exec_cleanup",
    "vm_id": "..."
  },
  "command": "git --version",
  "environment": "debian:12",
  "execution_mode": "guest_vsock",
  "exit_code": 0,
  "stdout": "git version ...\n"
}

When you are done evaluating and want to remove stale cached environments, run pyro env prune.

If you prefer a fuller copy-pasteable transcript, see docs/first-run.md. The walkthrough GIF above was rendered from docs/assets/first-run.tape using scripts/render_tape.sh.

Stable Workspaces

Use pyro run for one-shot commands. Use pyro workspace ... when you need repeated commands in one workspace without recreating the sandbox every time.

The project direction is an agent workspace, not a CI job runner. Persistent workspaces are meant to let an agent stay inside one bounded sandbox across multiple steps. See docs/vision.md for the product thesis and the longer-term interaction model.

pyro workspace create debian:12 --seed-path ./repo
pyro workspace create debian:12 --network-policy egress
pyro workspace create debian:12 --seed-path ./repo --secret API_TOKEN=expected
pyro workspace create debian:12 --network-policy egress+published-ports
pyro workspace sync push WORKSPACE_ID ./changes --dest src
pyro workspace exec WORKSPACE_ID -- cat src/note.txt
pyro workspace exec WORKSPACE_ID --secret-env API_TOKEN -- sh -lc 'test "$API_TOKEN" = "expected"'
pyro workspace diff WORKSPACE_ID
pyro workspace snapshot create WORKSPACE_ID checkpoint
pyro workspace reset WORKSPACE_ID --snapshot checkpoint
pyro workspace reset WORKSPACE_ID
pyro workspace export WORKSPACE_ID src/note.txt --output ./note.txt
pyro workspace shell open WORKSPACE_ID --secret-env API_TOKEN
pyro workspace shell write WORKSPACE_ID SHELL_ID --input 'pwd'
pyro workspace shell read WORKSPACE_ID SHELL_ID
pyro workspace shell close WORKSPACE_ID SHELL_ID
pyro workspace service start WORKSPACE_ID web --secret-env API_TOKEN --ready-file .web-ready -- sh -lc 'touch .web-ready && while true; do sleep 60; done'
pyro workspace service start WORKSPACE_ID worker --ready-file .worker-ready -- sh -lc 'touch .worker-ready && while true; do sleep 60; done'
pyro workspace service start WORKSPACE_ID app --ready-http http://127.0.0.1:8080/ --publish 18080:8080 -- ./start-app
pyro workspace service list WORKSPACE_ID
pyro workspace service status WORKSPACE_ID web
pyro workspace service logs WORKSPACE_ID web --tail-lines 50
pyro workspace service stop WORKSPACE_ID web
pyro workspace service stop WORKSPACE_ID worker
pyro workspace stop WORKSPACE_ID
pyro workspace disk list WORKSPACE_ID
pyro workspace disk read WORKSPACE_ID src/note.txt
pyro workspace disk export WORKSPACE_ID --output ./workspace.ext4
pyro workspace start WORKSPACE_ID
pyro workspace logs WORKSPACE_ID
pyro workspace delete WORKSPACE_ID

Persistent workspaces start in /workspace and keep command history until you delete them. For machine consumption, add --json and read the returned workspace_id. Use --seed-path when you want the workspace to start from a host directory or a local .tar / .tar.gz / .tgz archive instead of an empty workspace. Use pyro workspace sync push when you want to import later host-side changes into a started workspace. Sync is non-atomic in 3.1.0; if it fails partway through, prefer pyro workspace reset to recover from baseline or one named snapshot. Use pyro workspace diff to compare the live /workspace tree to its immutable create-time baseline, and pyro workspace export to copy one changed file or directory back to the host. Use pyro workspace snapshot * and pyro workspace reset when you want explicit checkpoints and full-sandbox recovery. Use pyro workspace exec for one-shot non-interactive commands inside a live workspace, and pyro workspace shell * when you need a persistent PTY session that keeps interactive shell state between calls. Use pyro workspace service * when the workspace needs one or more long-running background processes. Typed readiness checks prefer --ready-file, --ready-tcp, or --ready-http; keep --ready-command as the escape hatch. Service metadata and logs live outside /workspace, so the internal service state does not appear in pyro workspace diff or pyro workspace export. Use --network-policy egress when the workspace needs outbound guest networking, and --network-policy egress+published-ports plus workspace service start --publish when one service must be probed from the host on 127.0.0.1. Use --secret and --secret-file at workspace creation when the sandbox needs private tokens or config. Persisted secrets are materialized inside the guest at /run/pyro-secrets/<name>, and --secret-env SECRET_NAME[=ENV_VAR] maps one secret into one exec, shell, or service call without exposing the raw value in workspace status, logs, diffs, or exports. Use pyro workspace stop plus pyro workspace disk list|read|export when you need offline inspection or one raw ext4 copy from a stopped guest-backed workspace, then pyro workspace start to resume the same workspace.

Public Interfaces

The public user-facing interface is pyro and Pyro. After the CLI validation path works, you can choose one of three surfaces:

• pyro for direct CLI usage, including one-shot run and persistent workspace workflows
• from pyro_mcp import Pyro for Python orchestration
• pyro mcp serve for MCP clients

Command forms:

• published package without install: uvx --from pyro-mcp pyro ...
• installed package: pyro ...
• source checkout: uv run pyro ...

Makefile targets are contributor conveniences for this repository and are not the primary product UX.

Official Environments

Current official environments in the shipped catalog:

• debian:12
• debian:12-base
• debian:12-build

The package ships the embedded Firecracker runtime and a package-controlled environment catalog. Official environments are pulled as OCI artifacts from public Docker Hub repositories into a local cache on first use or through pyro env pull. End users do not need registry credentials to pull or run official environments. The default cache location is ~/.cache/pyro-mcp/environments; override it with PYRO_ENVIRONMENT_CACHE_DIR.

CLI

List available environments:

pyro env list

Prefetch one environment:

pyro env pull debian:12

Run one command in an ephemeral VM:

pyro run debian:12 -- git --version

Run with outbound internet enabled:

pyro run debian:12 --network -- \
  'python3 -c "import urllib.request; print(urllib.request.urlopen(\"https://example.com\", timeout=10).status)"'

Show runtime and host diagnostics:

pyro doctor
pyro doctor --json

pyro run defaults to 1 vCPU / 1024 MiB. It fails closed when guest boot or guest exec is unavailable. Use --allow-host-compat only if you explicitly want host execution.

Run the MCP server after the CLI path above works:

pyro mcp serve

Run the deterministic demo:

pyro demo
pyro demo --network

Run the Ollama demo:

ollama serve
ollama pull llama3.2:3b
pyro demo ollama

Python SDK

from pyro_mcp import Pyro

pyro = Pyro()
result = pyro.run_in_vm(
    environment="debian:12",
    command="git --version",
    timeout_seconds=30,
    network=False,
)
print(result["stdout"])

Lower-level lifecycle control remains available:

from pyro_mcp import Pyro

pyro = Pyro()
created = pyro.create_vm(
    environment="debian:12",
    ttl_seconds=600,
    network=True,
)
vm_id = created["vm_id"]
pyro.start_vm(vm_id)
result = pyro.exec_vm(vm_id, command="git --version", timeout_seconds=30)
print(result["stdout"])

exec_vm() is a one-command auto-cleaning call. After it returns, the VM is already deleted.

Environment management is also available through the SDK:

from pyro_mcp import Pyro

pyro = Pyro()
print(pyro.list_environments())
print(pyro.inspect_environment("debian:12"))

For repeated commands in one workspace:

from pyro_mcp import Pyro

pyro = Pyro()
workspace = pyro.create_workspace(environment="debian:12", seed_path="./repo")
workspace_id = workspace["workspace_id"]
try:
    pyro.push_workspace_sync(workspace_id, "./changes", dest="src")
    result = pyro.exec_workspace(workspace_id, command="cat src/note.txt")
    print(result["stdout"], end="")
finally:
    pyro.delete_workspace(workspace_id)

MCP Tools

Primary agent-facing tool:

• vm_run(environment, command, vcpu_count=1, mem_mib=1024, timeout_seconds=30, ttl_seconds=600, network=false, allow_host_compat=false)

Advanced lifecycle tools:

• vm_list_environments()
• vm_create(environment, vcpu_count=1, mem_mib=1024, ttl_seconds=600, network=false, allow_host_compat=false)
• vm_start(vm_id)
• vm_exec(vm_id, command, timeout_seconds=30) auto-cleans the VM after that command
• vm_stop(vm_id)
• vm_delete(vm_id)
• vm_status(vm_id)
• vm_network_info(vm_id)
• vm_reap_expired()

Persistent workspace tools:

• workspace_create(environment, vcpu_count=1, mem_mib=1024, ttl_seconds=600, network_policy="off", allow_host_compat=false, seed_path=null, secrets=null)
• workspace_sync_push(workspace_id, source_path, dest="/workspace")
• workspace_exec(workspace_id, command, timeout_seconds=30, secret_env=null)
• workspace_export(workspace_id, path, output_path)
• workspace_diff(workspace_id)
• snapshot_create(workspace_id, snapshot_name)
• snapshot_list(workspace_id)
• snapshot_delete(workspace_id, snapshot_name)
• workspace_reset(workspace_id, snapshot="baseline")
• service_start(workspace_id, service_name, command, cwd="/workspace", readiness=null, ready_timeout_seconds=30, ready_interval_ms=500, secret_env=null, published_ports=null)
• service_list(workspace_id)
• service_status(workspace_id, service_name)
• service_logs(workspace_id, service_name, tail_lines=200)
• service_stop(workspace_id, service_name)
• shell_open(workspace_id, cwd="/workspace", cols=120, rows=30, secret_env=null)
• shell_read(workspace_id, shell_id, cursor=0, max_chars=65536)
• shell_write(workspace_id, shell_id, input, append_newline=true)
• shell_signal(workspace_id, shell_id, signal_name="INT")
• shell_close(workspace_id, shell_id)
• workspace_status(workspace_id)
• workspace_logs(workspace_id)
• workspace_delete(workspace_id)

Integration Examples

• Python one-shot SDK example: examples/python_run.py
• Python lifecycle example: examples/python_lifecycle.py
• Python workspace example: examples/python_workspace.py
• MCP client config example: examples/mcp_client_config.md
• Claude Desktop MCP config: examples/claude_desktop_mcp_config.json
• Cursor MCP config: examples/cursor_mcp_config.json
• OpenAI Responses API example: examples/openai_responses_vm_run.py
• LangChain wrapper example: examples/langchain_vm_run.py
• Agent-ready vm_run example: examples/agent_vm_run.py

Runtime

The package ships an embedded Linux x86_64 runtime payload with:

• Firecracker
• Jailer
• guest agent
• runtime manifest and diagnostics

No system Firecracker installation is required. pyro installs curated environments into a local cache and reports their status through pyro env inspect and pyro doctor. The public CLI is human-readable by default; add --json for structured output.

Contributor Workflow

For work inside this repository:

make help
make setup
make check
make dist-check

Contributor runtime sources live under runtime_sources/. The packaged runtime bundle under src/pyro_mcp/runtime_bundle/ contains the embedded boot/runtime assets plus manifest metadata; end-user environment installs pull OCI-published environments by default. Use PYRO_RUNTIME_BUNDLE_DIR=build/runtime_bundle only when you are explicitly validating a locally built contributor runtime bundle.

Official environment publication is performed locally against Docker Hub:

export DOCKERHUB_USERNAME='your-dockerhub-username'
export DOCKERHUB_TOKEN='your-dockerhub-token'
make runtime-materialize
make runtime-publish-official-environments-oci

make runtime-publish-environment-oci auto-exports the OCI layout for the selected environment if it is missing. The publisher accepts either DOCKERHUB_USERNAME and DOCKERHUB_TOKEN or OCI_REGISTRY_USERNAME and OCI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD. Docker Hub uploads are chunked by default for large rootfs layers; if you need to tune a slow link, use PYRO_OCI_UPLOAD_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, PYRO_OCI_UPLOAD_CHUNK_SIZE_BYTES, and PYRO_OCI_REQUEST_TIMEOUT_SECONDS.

For a local PyPI publish:

export TWINE_PASSWORD='pypi-...'
make pypi-publish

make pypi-publish defaults TWINE_USERNAME to __token__. Set PYPI_REPOSITORY_URL=https://test.pypi.org/legacy/ to publish to TestPyPI instead.