diff --git a/src/daemon-test.sh b/src/daemon-test.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ac65d400bb073eb1b50346e36c238cf8396ab5d1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/daemon-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,65 @@
+# aria2c 'https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/focal/20231003/focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img' -x2
+# https://medium.com/@art.vasilyev/use-ubuntu-cloud-image-with-kvm-1f28c19f82f8
+
+cp template/*-data .
+genisoimage  -output initimg.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data
+qemu-img create -f qcow2 -F qcow2 -o backing_file=base/focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img instance-1.qcow2
+qemu-img resize instance-1.qcow2 60G
+qemu-system-x86_64 -drive file=instance-1.qcow2,if=virtio -cdrom initimg.iso -m 8G -cpu host -smp 4 -vnc :5 --enable-kvm -bios /usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF.fd
+
+function generate_metadata () {
+    local name=$1
+    echo "local-hostname: $name"
+}
+function generate_userdata () {
+    local username=$1
+    local password=$2
+    local name=$3
+    # TODO: allow public key?
+    echo "#cloud-config
+system_info:
+  default_user:
+    name: $username
+    home: /home/$username
+
+password: $password
+chpasswd: { expire: False }
+hostname: $name
+
+# configure sshd to allow users logging in using password 
+# rather than just keys
+ssh_pwauth: True
+"
+}
+
+workdir=./data
+mkdir -p "$workdir/base" "$workdir/vm" "$workdir/tmp"
+function create_vm_from () {
+    local name=$1
+    local cores=$2
+    local ram=$3
+    local disk=$4
+    local cloudimg=$5
+    local username=$6
+    local password=$7
+    local vnc=$8
+    local ports="$9"
+
+    if [[ -f "$workdir/vm/$name/disk.img" ]]; then
+        # simply start it
+        return
+    else
+        # create and start it
+        generate_metadata "$name" > "$workdir/vm/$name/meta-data"
+        generate_userdata "$username" "$password" "$name" > "$workdir/vm/$name/user-data"
+        ( cd "$workdir/vm/$name" ; genisoimage  -output initimg.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data )
+        qemu-img create -f qcow2 -F qcow2 -o backing_file=base/focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img "$workdir/vm/$name/disk.img"
+        qemu-img resize "$workdir/vm/$name/disk.img" "$disk"
+        qemu-system-x86_64 -drive file="$workdir/vm/$name/disk.img",if=virtio -cdrom "$workdir/vm/$name/initimg.iso" -m "$ram" -cpu host -smp "$cores" -vnc "$vnc" --enable-kvm -bios /usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF.fd &
+        pid=$!
+        echo PID=$pid
+        # TODO
+    fi
+}
+
+
diff --git a/src/qemu-create-vm-from-cloudimg.fish b/src/qemu-create-vm-from-cloudimg.fish
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..f6aebf1f2880da8a70155e6c6e696b3247f8b4f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/qemu-create-vm-from-cloudimg.fish
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+# aria2c 'https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/focal/20231003/focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img' -x2
+# https://medium.com/@art.vasilyev/use-ubuntu-cloud-image-with-kvm-1f28c19f82f8
+
+cp template/*-data .
+genisoimage  -output initimg.iso -volid cidata -joliet -rock user-data meta-data
+qemu-img create -f qcow2 -F qcow2 -o backing_file=base/focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img instance-1.qcow2
+qemu-img resize instance-1.qcow2 60G
+qemu-system-x86_64 -drive file=instance-1.qcow2,if=virtio -cdrom initimg.iso -m 8G -cpu host -smp 4 -vnc :5 --enable-kvm -bios /usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF.fd
+
+
+
diff --git a/src/vm.list b/src/vm.list
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a570254e61b25f25397f004a5f846b8f04f7f75f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/vm.list
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# hostname,cores,mem,disk,base-img,username,password,ports
+
+instance1,4,8G,60G,focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img,r,1,22
+gitlab-ci,2,2G,40G,focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img,r,1,22
+httptest,1,1G,20G,focal-server-cloudimg-amd64.img,r,1,22 80 443