wtf is qemu-portable-ts?

qemu-portable is a Node.js library, written in TypeScript, that lets you run QEMU, a tool for creating and running virtual machines, without installing QEMU on your system first. Normally you would need to install QEMU separately through your operating system's package manager, but this project bundles a working copy of QEMU inside platform-specific npm packages, so a single npm install gives you everything you need. When you install the package, npm automatically picks the correct build for your computer, whether that is Linux, macOS, or Windows, and whichever processor type you have. It is a control layer, not a rewrite of QEMU itself, meaning your code calls into TypeScript functions that in turn launch the real QEMU program running underneath. This only works in Node.js version 20 or later, since it needs to launch QEMU as a separate program on your machine, which rules out browsers or edge computing platforms. The library gives you TypeScript functions for common tasks: creating and resizing virtual disk images, starting a virtual machine with settings like memory size and network forwarding, running commands inside a running virtual machine similar to how Docker lets you run commands inside a container, and controlling a virtual machine remotely using QEMU's own control protocol. There is also a command line tool for checking whether your computer supports running these virtual machines and for inspecting what the bundled QEMU build can do. If you want more control, the library also gives you the exact path to the underlying QEMU program and lets you launch it yourself with your own settings. Virtual machines started through this library are automatically shut down if your program closes or crashes, so you do not end up with virtual machines still running in the background after you are done.