ALPHA kcore is alpha software under active development. Not production ready.

Roadmap

Where kcore is today and where it's headed. Updated as development progresses.

kcore is alpha software. The roadmap below reflects current development priorities but is subject to change. We ship when things are ready, not to hit artificial dates.

Milestones are grouped into phases. Each phase builds on the previous one. We won't skip ahead — foundations matter.

Current Phase

Alpha — Foundation

Core platform architecture, basic VM lifecycle, CLI tooling.

NixOS-based immutable host OS

Declarative host configuration with atomic updates and generation-based rollback.

Done

VM lifecycle management (kctl)

Create, start, stop, delete VMs from the command line. Basic CRUD operations.

Done

gRPC API

Typed API for programmatic access. All CLI operations available via API.

Done

Multi-node architecture

Controller + node-agent topology. Nodes self-register with the controller on boot.

Done

Local and LVM storage

Store VM disks on local directories or LVM volumes.

Done

Networking and bridge management

Automated bridge setup, VLAN support, network configuration for VMs.

In Progress

Image management

Download, cache, and manage OS images. Support for cloud-init enabled images.

In Progress

mTLS between controller and nodes

Encrypted, authenticated communication across the cluster.

In Progress

YAML-based VM specs (kctl apply)

Declarative VM definitions applied from files, similar to kubectl apply.

Planned
Next

Late Alpha — Automation & Integrations

Terraform provider, MCP server, and the tooling that makes kcore programmable.

Terraform provider

Manage kcore VMs, networks, and storage through Terraform. Declarative infrastructure as code.

In Progress

MCP server

Model Context Protocol server so AI agents can query and manage infrastructure through structured APIs.

In Progress

ZFS storage backend

Snapshots, clones, and compression for VM storage using ZFS.

Planned

VM snapshots and cloning

Create point-in-time snapshots and clone VMs for testing and development.

Planned

Resource scheduling

Automatic placement of VMs across nodes based on available resources.

Planned
Future

Beta — Stability & Operations

Web dashboard, HA, monitoring, and the features needed for serious use.

Web dashboard

Read-only dashboard for cluster visibility. API consumer, not a primary interface.

Planned

High availability

Automatic VM restart on node failure. Controller redundancy.

Planned

Live migration

Move running VMs between nodes without downtime.

Planned

Monitoring and alerting

Built-in metrics, health checks, and integration with Prometheus/Grafana.

Planned

Backup and restore

Scheduled backups with configurable retention policies.

Planned

Want to Influence the Roadmap?

We're building kcore with input from early testers and design partners. If you have use cases that should shape our priorities, we want to hear from you.