VMware AIops

AI-powered VMware vCenter and ESXi operations tool. Manage your entire VMware infrastructure using natural language through any AI coding assistant.

VMware MCP Skills family — choose the right skill for your task:

Task	Recommended Skill
Read-only monitoring, zero risk	vmware-monitor — uv tool install vmware-monitor
Storage: datastores, iSCSI, vSAN	vmware-storage — uv tool install vmware-storage
VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops	vmware-aiops ← this skill

Related Skills — Skill Routing

When the user's intent is outside VM operations, recommend the focused skill:

User Intent	Recommended Skill	Why
"show datastore usage", "browse datastore files", "scan for OVA images"	vmware-storage	Storage-focused, 11 tools, lighter for local models
"iSCSI status", "add iSCSI target", "vSAN health/capacity"	vmware-storage	Purpose-built storage skill
"check alarms", "show events" (read-only, no changes needed)	vmware-monitor	Read-only, code-level safe
VM power, create, delete, clone, guest exec, deploy OVA	vmware-aiops ← this skill	Full operations

vmware-aiops also includes storage and monitoring tools, but if the user only needs storage or read-only monitoring, the focused skills are lighter and better suited for local LLMs.

When to Use This Skill

• Query VM, host, datastore, cluster, and network inventory
• Check health status, active alarms, hardware sensors, and event logs
• Perform VM lifecycle operations: power on/off, create, delete, snapshot, clone, migrate
• Deploy VMs from OVA, templates, linked clones, or batch specs
• Create and manage clusters: HA/DRS configuration, add/remove hosts
• Configure iSCSI storage: enable adapter, add/remove targets, rescan
• Browse datastores and discover ISO/OVA/VMDK images
• Monitor vSAN health, capacity, disk groups, and performance
• Access Aria Operations (VCF Operations) for historical metrics, anomaly detection, and capacity planning
• Manage vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS) clusters
• Run scheduled scanning with webhook notifications (Slack, Discord)

Quick Install

All install methods fetch from the same source: github.com/zw008/VMware-AIops (MIT licensed). We recommend reviewing the source code before installing.

# Via Skills.sh (fetches from GitHub)
npx skills add zw008/VMware-AIops

# Via ClawHub (fetches from ClawHub registry snapshot of GitHub)
clawhub install vmware-aiops

# Via PyPI (recommended for version pinning)
uv tool install vmware-aiops==1.0.16

Claude Code

/plugin marketplace add zw008/VMware-AIops
/plugin install vmware-ops
/vmware-ops:vmware-aiops

Usage Mode

Choose the best mode based on your environment:

Scenario	Recommended Mode	Why
Cloud models (Claude, GPT-4o, Gemini)	MCP or CLI	Both work well; MCP gives structured JSON I/O
Local/small models (Ollama, Llama, Qwen <32B)	CLI	Lower token cost (~2K vs ~10K), higher accuracy — small models struggle with 31 MCP tool schemas
Token-sensitive workflows	CLI	CLI via SKILL.md uses ~2K tokens; MCP loads ~10K tokens of tool definitions into every conversation
Automated pipelines / Agent chaining	MCP	Structured JSON input/output, type-safe parameters, no shell parsing

Calling Priority

• MCP-native tools (Claude Code, Cursor): MCP first, CLI fallback
• Local models / Token-sensitive: CLI first (MCP not needed)
• All other tools: CLI first

Tip: For token-sensitive scenarios, use CLI mode — the AI reads SKILL.md (~2K tokens) and calls commands via Bash. MCP mode loads all 31 tool schemas (~10K tokens) into context on every conversation turn.

CLI Examples

# Activate venv first
source /path/to/VMware-AIops/.venv/bin/activate

# Inventory
vmware-aiops inventory vms --target home-esxi
vmware-aiops inventory hosts --target home-esxi

# Health
vmware-aiops health alarms --target home-esxi

# VM operations
vmware-aiops vm info my-vm --target home-esxi
vmware-aiops vm power-on my-vm --target home-esxi

MCP Mode (Optional)

For Claude Code / Cursor users who prefer structured tool calls, add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-aiops": {
      "command": "/path/to/VMware-AIops/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp_server"],
      "cwd": "/path/to/VMware-AIops",
      "env": {
        "VMWARE_AIOPS_CONFIG": "~/.vmware-aiops/config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

MCP exposes 33 tools across 8 categories. All accept optional target parameter.

Category	Tools
Inventory	list_virtual_machines, list_esxi_hosts, list_all_datastores, list_all_clusters
Health	get_alarms, get_events, vm_info
VM Lifecycle	vm_power_on, vm_power_off, vm_set_ttl, vm_cancel_ttl, vm_list_ttl, vm_clean_slate
Deployment	deploy_vm_from_ova, deploy_vm_from_template, deploy_linked_clone, attach_iso_to_vm, convert_vm_to_template, batch_clone_vms, batch_linked_clone_vms, batch_deploy_from_spec
Guest Operations	vm_guest_exec, vm_guest_exec_output, vm_guest_upload, vm_guest_download, vm_guest_provision
Plan → Apply	vm_create_plan, vm_apply_plan, vm_rollback_plan, vm_list_plans
Datastore	browse_datastore, scan_datastore_images, list_cached_images
Cluster	list_all_clusters
Storage / iSCSI	storage_iscsi_enable, storage_iscsi_status, storage_iscsi_add_target, storage_iscsi_remove_target, storage_rescan

vm_guest_exec_output — execute a shell command and capture stdout/stderr automatically. OS auto-detected (Linux/Windows) via vm.guest.guestFamily. No manual redirection needed.

vm_guest_provision — run an ordered sequence of exec/upload/service steps in one call. Stops on first failure. Typical use: SSH key injection → package install → service start.

list_virtual_machines auto-compacts when inventory exceeds 50 VMs (returns compact fields only). Use limit or fields to override.

Architecture

User (Natural Language)
  ↓
AI Tool (Claude Code / Aider / Gemini / Codex / Cursor / Trae / Kimi)
  ↓
  ├─ CLI mode (default): vmware-aiops CLI ──→ pyVmomi ──→ vSphere API
  │
  └─ MCP mode (optional): MCP Server (stdio) ──→ pyVmomi ──→ vSphere API
  ↓
vCenter Server ──→ ESXi Clusters ──→ VMs
    or
ESXi Standalone ──→ VMs

Capabilities

1. Inventory

Feature	vCenter	ESXi	Details
List VMs	✅	✅	Name, power state, CPU, memory, guest OS, IP
List Hosts	✅	⚠️ Self only	CPU cores, memory, ESXi version, VM count, uptime
List Datastores	✅	✅	Capacity, free/used, type (VMFS/NFS), usage %
List Clusters	✅	❌	Host count, DRS/HA status
List Networks	✅	✅	Network name, associated VM count

2. Health & Monitoring

Feature	vCenter	ESXi	Details
Active Alarms	✅	✅	Severity, alarm name, entity, timestamp
Event/Log Query	✅	✅	Filter by time range, severity; 50+ event types
Hardware Sensors	✅	✅	Temperature, voltage, fan status
Host Services	✅	✅	hostd, vpxa running/stopped status

Monitored Event Types:

Category	Events
VM Failures	VmFailedToPowerOnEvent, VmDiskFailedEvent, VmFailoverFailed
Host Issues	HostConnectionLostEvent, HostShutdownEvent, HostIpChangedEvent
Storage	DatastoreCapacityIncreasedEvent, SCSI high latency
HA/DRS	DasHostFailedEvent, DrsVmMigratedEvent, DrsSoftRuleViolationEvent
Auth	UserLoginSessionEvent, BadUsernameSessionEvent

3. VM Lifecycle

Operation	Command	Confirmation	vCenter	ESXi
Power On	vm power-on <name>	—	✅	✅
Graceful Shutdown	vm power-off <name>	Double	✅	✅
Force Power Off	vm power-off <name> --force	Double	✅	✅
Reset	vm reset <name>	—	✅	✅
Suspend	vm suspend <name>	—	✅	✅
VM Info	vm info <name>	—	✅	✅
Create VM	vm create <name> --cpu --memory --disk	—	✅	✅
Delete VM	vm delete <name>	Double	✅	✅
Reconfigure	vm reconfigure <name> --cpu --memory	Double	✅	✅
Create Snapshot	vm snapshot-create <name> --name <snap>	—	✅	✅
List Snapshots	vm snapshot-list <name>	—	✅	✅
Revert Snapshot	vm snapshot-revert <name> --name <snap>	—	✅	✅
Delete Snapshot	vm snapshot-delete <name> --name <snap>	—	✅	✅
Clone VM	vm clone <name> --new-name <new>	—	✅	✅
vMotion	vm migrate <name> --to-host <host>	—	✅	❌
Set TTL	vm set-ttl <name> --minutes <n>	—	✅	✅
Cancel TTL	vm cancel-ttl <name>	—	✅	✅
List TTLs	vm list-ttl	—	✅	✅
Clean Slate	vm clean-slate <name> [--snapshot baseline]	Double	✅	✅
Guest Exec	vm guest-exec <name> --cmd /bin/bash --args "-c 'whoami'"	—	✅	✅
Guest Upload	vm guest-upload <name> --local f.sh --guest /tmp/f.sh	—	✅	✅
Guest Download	vm guest-download <name> --guest /var/log/syslog --local ./syslog	—	✅	✅

Guest Operations require VMware Tools running inside the guest OS.

Plan → Apply (Multi-step Operations)

For complex operations involving 2+ steps or 2+ VMs, use the plan/apply workflow:

Step	MCP Tool / CLI	Description
1. Create Plan	vm_create_plan	Validates actions, checks targets in vSphere, generates plan with rollback info
2. Review	—	AI shows plan to user: steps, affected VMs, irreversible warnings
3. Apply	vm_apply_plan	Executes sequentially; stops on failure
4. Rollback (if failed)	vm_rollback_plan	Asks user, then reverses executed steps (skips irreversible)

Plans are stored in ~/.vmware-aiops/plans/, deleted on success, auto-cleaned after 24h.

4. VM Deployment & Provisioning

Operation	Command	Speed	vCenter	ESXi
Deploy from OVA	deploy ova <path> --name <vm>	Minutes	✅	✅
Deploy from Template	deploy template <tmpl> --name <vm>	Minutes	✅	✅
Linked Clone	deploy linked-clone --source <vm> --snapshot <snap> --name <new>	Seconds	✅	✅
Attach ISO	deploy iso <vm> --iso "[ds] path/to.iso"	Instant	✅	✅
Convert to Template	deploy mark-template <vm>	Instant	✅	✅
Batch Clone	deploy batch-clone --source <vm> --count <n>	Minutes	✅	✅
Batch Deploy (YAML)	deploy batch spec.yaml	Auto	✅	✅

5. Datastore Browser

Feature	vCenter	ESXi	Details
Browse Files	✅	✅	List files/folders in any datastore path
Scan Images	✅	✅	Discover ISO, OVA, OVF, VMDK across all datastores
Local Cache	✅	✅	Registry at ~/.vmware-aiops/image_registry.json

6. vSAN Management

Feature	Details
Health Check	Cluster-wide health summary, per-group test results
Capacity	Total/free/used capacity with projections
Disk Groups	Cache SSD + capacity disks per host
Performance	IOPS, latency, throughput per cluster/host/VM

Requires pyVmomi 8.0.3+ (vSAN SDK merged). For older versions, install the standalone vSAN Management SDK.

7. Aria Operations (VCF Operations)

Feature	Details
Historical Metrics	Time-series CPU, memory, disk, network with months of history
Anomaly Detection	ML-based dynamic baselines and anomaly alerts
Capacity Planning	What-if analysis, time-to-exhaustion, forecasting
Right-sizing	CPU/memory recommendations per VM
Intelligent Alerts	Root cause analysis, remediation recommendations

REST API at /suite-api/. Auth: vRealizeOpsToken. Rebranded as VCF Operations in VCF 9.0.

8. vSphere Kubernetes Service (VKS)

Feature	Details
List Clusters	Tanzu Kubernetes clusters with phase status
Cluster Health	InfrastructureReady, ControlPlaneAvailable, WorkersAvailable
Scale Workers	Adjust MachineDeployment replicas
Node Status	Machine status, ready/unhealthy counts

Kubernetes-native API via kubectl/kubeconfig. VKS 3.6+ uses Cluster API specification.

9. Cluster Management

Operation	Command	Confirmation	vCenter	ESXi
Cluster Info	cluster info <name>	—	✅	❌
Create Cluster	cluster create <name> [--ha] [--drs]	—	✅	❌
Delete Cluster	cluster delete <name>	Double	✅	❌
Add Host	cluster add-host <cluster> --host <host>	Double	✅	❌
Remove Host	cluster remove-host <cluster> --host <host>	Double	✅	❌
Configure HA/DRS	cluster configure <name> [--ha/--no-ha] [--drs/--no-drs]	Double	✅	❌

10. Storage / iSCSI Configuration

Operation	Command	Confirmation	vCenter	ESXi
Enable iSCSI	storage iscsi-enable <host>	Double	✅	✅
iSCSI Status	storage iscsi-status <host>	—	✅	✅
Add Target	storage iscsi-add-target <host> --address <ip> [--port 3260]	Double	✅	✅
Remove Target	storage iscsi-remove-target <host> --address <ip> [--port 3260]	Double	✅	✅
Rescan Storage	storage rescan <host>	—	✅	✅

11. Scheduled Scanning & Notifications

Feature	Details
Daemon	APScheduler-based, configurable interval (default 15 min)
Multi-target Scan	Sequentially scan all configured vCenter/ESXi targets
Scan Content	Alarms + Events + Host logs (hostd, vmkernel, vpxd)
Log Analysis	Regex pattern matching: error, fail, critical, panic, timeout
Webhook	Slack, Discord, or any HTTP endpoint

Safety Features

Feature	Details
Plan → Confirm → Execute → Log	Structured workflow: show current state, confirm changes, execute, audit log
Double Confirmation	All destructive ops (power-off, delete, reconfigure, snapshot-revert/delete, clone, migrate) require 2 sequential confirmations — no bypass flags
Rejection Logging	Declined confirmations are recorded in the audit trail for security review
Audit Trail	All operations logged to ~/.vmware-aiops/audit.log (JSONL) with before/after state
Input Validation	VM name length/format, CPU (1-128), memory (128-1048576 MB), disk (1-65536 GB) validated before execution
Password Protection	.env file loading, never in command line or shell history; file permission check at startup
SSL Self-signed Support	disableSslCertValidation — only for ESXi hosts with self-signed certificates in isolated lab/home environments. Production environments should use CA-signed certificates with full TLS verification enabled.
Task Waiting	All async operations wait for completion and report result
State Validation	Pre-operation checks (VM exists, power state correct)

Version Compatibility

vSphere Version	Support	Notes
8.0 / 8.0U1-U3	✅ Full	CreateSnapshot_Task deprecated → use CreateSnapshotEx_Task
7.0 / 7.0U1-U3	✅ Full	All APIs supported
6.7	✅ Compatible	Backward-compatible, tested
6.5	✅ Compatible	Backward-compatible, tested

pyVmomi auto-negotiates the API version during SOAP handshake — no manual configuration needed.

Supported AI Platforms

Platform	Status	Config File
Claude Code	✅ Native Skill	plugins/.../SKILL.md
Gemini CLI	✅ Extension	gemini-extension/GEMINI.md
OpenAI Codex CLI	✅ Skill + AGENTS.md	codex-skill/AGENTS.md
Aider	✅ Conventions	codex-skill/AGENTS.md
Continue CLI	✅ Rules	codex-skill/AGENTS.md
Trae IDE	✅ Rules	trae-rules/project_rules.md
Kimi Code CLI	✅ Skill	kimi-skill/SKILL.md
MCP Server	✅ MCP Protocol	mcp_server/
Python CLI	✅ Standalone	N/A

MCP Server — Local Agent Compatibility

The MCP server works with any MCP-compatible agent via stdio transport. Config templates in examples/mcp-configs/:

Agent	Local Models	Config Template
Goose (Block)	✅ Ollama, LM Studio	goose.json
LocalCowork (Liquid AI)	✅ Fully offline	localcowork.json
mcp-agent (LastMile AI)	✅ Ollama, vLLM	mcp-agent.yaml
VS Code Copilot	—	vscode-copilot.json
Cursor	—	cursor.json
Continue	✅ Ollama	continue.yaml
Claude Code	—	claude-code.json

# Example: Aider + Ollama (fully local, no cloud API)
aider --conventions codex-skill/AGENTS.md --model ollama/qwen2.5-coder:32b

CLI Reference

# Diagnostics
vmware-aiops doctor [--skip-auth]

# MCP Config Generator
vmware-aiops mcp-config generate --agent <goose|cursor|claude-code|continue|vscode-copilot|localcowork|mcp-agent>
vmware-aiops mcp-config list

# Inventory
vmware-aiops inventory vms [--target <name>] [--limit <n>] [--sort-by name|cpu|memory_mb|power_state] [--power-state poweredOn|poweredOff]
vmware-aiops inventory hosts [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops inventory datastores [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops inventory clusters [--target <name>]

# Health
vmware-aiops health alarms [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops health events [--hours 24] [--severity warning]

# VM Operations
vmware-aiops vm info <vm-name>
vmware-aiops vm power-on <vm-name>
vmware-aiops vm power-off <vm-name> [--force]
vmware-aiops vm create <name> [--cpu <n>] [--memory <mb>] [--disk <gb>]
vmware-aiops vm delete <vm-name> [--confirm]
vmware-aiops vm reconfigure <vm-name> [--cpu <n>] [--memory <mb>]
vmware-aiops vm snapshot-create <vm-name> --name <snap-name>
vmware-aiops vm snapshot-list <vm-name>
vmware-aiops vm snapshot-revert <vm-name> --name <snap-name>
vmware-aiops vm snapshot-delete <vm-name> --name <snap-name>
vmware-aiops vm clone <vm-name> --new-name <name>
vmware-aiops vm migrate <vm-name> --to-host <host>
vmware-aiops vm set-ttl <vm-name> --minutes <n>
vmware-aiops vm cancel-ttl <vm-name>
vmware-aiops vm list-ttl
vmware-aiops vm clean-slate <vm-name> [--snapshot baseline]

# Guest Operations (requires VMware Tools)
vmware-aiops vm guest-exec <vm-name> --cmd /bin/bash --args "-c 'ls -la /tmp'" --user root
vmware-aiops vm guest-upload <vm-name> --local ./script.sh --guest /tmp/script.sh --user root
vmware-aiops vm guest-download <vm-name> --guest /var/log/syslog --local ./syslog.txt --user root

# Plan → Apply (multi-step operations)
vmware-aiops plan list

# Deploy
vmware-aiops deploy ova <path> --name <vm-name> [--datastore <ds>] [--network <net>]
vmware-aiops deploy template <template-name> --name <vm-name> [--datastore <ds>]
vmware-aiops deploy linked-clone --source <vm> --snapshot <snap> --name <new-name>
vmware-aiops deploy iso <vm-name> --iso "[datastore] path/file.iso"
vmware-aiops deploy mark-template <vm-name>
vmware-aiops deploy batch-clone --source <vm> --count <n> [--prefix <prefix>]
vmware-aiops deploy batch <spec.yaml>

# Cluster
vmware-aiops cluster info <name>
vmware-aiops cluster create <name> [--ha] [--drs] [--drs-behavior fullyAutomated|partiallyAutomated|manual] [--datacenter <dc>]
vmware-aiops cluster delete <name>
vmware-aiops cluster add-host <cluster> --host <hostname>
vmware-aiops cluster remove-host <cluster> --host <hostname>
vmware-aiops cluster configure <name> [--ha/--no-ha] [--drs/--no-drs] [--drs-behavior <behavior>]

# Storage / iSCSI
vmware-aiops storage iscsi-enable <host>
vmware-aiops storage iscsi-status <host>
vmware-aiops storage iscsi-add-target <host> --address <ip> [--port 3260]
vmware-aiops storage iscsi-remove-target <host> --address <ip> [--port 3260]
vmware-aiops storage rescan <host>

# Datastore
vmware-aiops datastore browse <ds-name> [--path <subdir>]
vmware-aiops datastore scan-images [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops datastore images [--type ova|iso|vmdk] [--ds <name>]

# vSAN
vmware-aiops vsan health [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops vsan capacity [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops vsan disks [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops vsan performance [--hours 1]

# Aria Operations
vmware-aiops ops alerts [--severity critical]
vmware-aiops ops metrics <resource-name> [--hours 24]
vmware-aiops ops recommendations [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops ops capacity <cluster-name>

# VKS (Kubernetes)
vmware-aiops vks clusters [--namespace default]
vmware-aiops vks health <cluster-name>
vmware-aiops vks scale <machine-deployment> --replicas <n>
vmware-aiops vks nodes <cluster-name>

# Scanning & Daemon
vmware-aiops scan now [--target <name>]
vmware-aiops daemon start
vmware-aiops daemon stop
vmware-aiops daemon status

Setup

# 1. Install from PyPI (source: github.com/zw008/VMware-AIops)
uv tool install vmware-aiops

# 2. Verify installation source
vmware-aiops --version  # confirms installed version

# 3. Configure
mkdir -p ~/.vmware-aiops
vmware-aiops init  # generates config.yaml and .env templates
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-aiops/.env
# Edit ~/.vmware-aiops/config.yaml and .env with your target details

What Gets Installed

The vmware-aiops package installs a Python CLI binary and its dependencies (pyVmomi, Click, Rich, APScheduler, python-dotenv). No background services, daemons, or system-level changes are made during installation. The scheduled scanner (daemon start) only runs when explicitly started by the user.

Development Install

git clone https://github.com/zw008/VMware-AIops.git
cd VMware-AIops
uv venv && source .venv/bin/activate
uv pip install -e .

Security

• Source Code: Fully open source at github.com/zw008/VMware-AIops (MIT). The uv installer fetches the vmware-aiops package from PyPI, which is built from this GitHub repository. We recommend reviewing the source code and commit history before deploying in production.
• TLS Verification: Enabled by default. The disableSslCertValidation option exists solely for ESXi hosts using self-signed certificates in isolated lab/home environments. In production, always use CA-signed certificates with full TLS verification.
• Credentials & Config: This skill requires the following secrets, all stored in ~/.vmware-aiops/.env (chmod 600, loaded via python-dotenv):
• VSPHERE_USER — vCenter/ESXi service account username
• VSPHERE_PASSWORD — service account password
• (Optional) Webhook URLs for Slack/Discord notifications

The config file ~/.vmware-aiops/config.yaml stores only target hostnames, ports, and a reference to the .env file — it does not contain passwords or tokens. The env var VMWARE_AIOPS_CONFIG points to this YAML file. - Webhook Data Scope: Webhook notifications are disabled by default. When enabled, they send infrastructure health summaries (alarm counts, event types, host status) to user-configured URLs only (Slack, Discord, or any HTTP endpoint you control). No data is sent to third-party services. Webhook payloads contain no credentials, IPs, or personally identifiable information — only aggregated alert metadata. - Prompt Injection Protection: All vSphere-sourced content (event messages, host logs) is truncated, stripped of control characters, and wrapped in boundary markers ([VSPHERE_EVENT]/[VSPHERE_HOST_LOG]) before output to prevent prompt injection when consumed by LLM agents. - Least Privilege: Use a dedicated vCenter service account with minimal permissions. For monitoring-only use cases, prefer the read-only VMware-Monitor skill which has zero destructive code paths.

License

MIT