Quickstart

heyvm is the binary name for mvm-ctrl. It provides three modes: a Terminal User Interface (TUI) for interactive management, an HTTP API for programmatic access, and a pure CLI for one-off subcommands. You need at least one backend configured (Microsandbox, Bubblewrap, or Apple Container).

Prerequisites

• One of the supported backends installed and set up. See Microsandbox, Bubblewrap, or Apple Container for installation.

Install heyvm

One-liner:

curl -fsSL https://heyo.computer/heyvm/install.sh | sh

The script detects your OS and architecture and installs heyvm. Install directory defaults to /usr/local/bin if writable, otherwise ~/.local/bin. On macOS with the Apple Container backend, the install process handles signing; see that page for details.

First run

• TUI (default when no subcommand): run heyvm or heyvm --tui. The API runs in the background on port 34099 for the TUI to connect.
• API only: run heyvm --api (listens on port 3000 by default; use --port to change). For production deployment on bare metal, see Deployment.
• Single command: run a subcommand, e.g. heyvm create --name my-sandbox --type shell. No HTTP server is started.

Example: create a sandbox and run a command:

heyvm create --name my-sandbox --type shell
heyvm exec my-sandbox -- echo hello

For all subcommands and options, see the CLI reference. For full details, see the mvm-ctrl README in the repo.