wslx

Manage Ubuntu WSL virtual machines from the command line.

wslx imports an Ubuntu Noble rootfs as a WSL distribution, seeds it with cloud-init (a passwordless-sudo box user, the hostname, a few conveniences) and gets you a shell in it — one command per lifecycle step, no manual wsl --import juggling.

It is a Python port of the box wsl provider from gitlab.com/xtec/box, packaged on its own so it installs with uv/pip instead of a Rust toolchain. Machines created by either tool are interchangeable: same rootfs, same cloud-init, same box user.

Install

uv tool install wslx

or run it without installing:

uvx wslx list

pip install wslx works too. Python 3.11+.

Use

wslx create alfa          # import a new Ubuntu distribution named alfa
wslx connect alfa         # open a shell in it (starts it if needed)
wslx connect beta --new   # create, start and enter in one step
wslx list                 # every registered distribution
wslx stop alfa            # terminate
wslx delete alfa          # unregister and remove its disk

create, start, stop and delete take any number of names:

wslx create alfa beta gamma

What a machine looks like

Inside every distribution wslx creates:

• user box, password password, passwordless sudo, UID 1000 and the default login user
• hostname set to the distribution name (in /etc/wsl.conf, /etc/hostname and /etc/hosts)
• install-docker alias — curl -L sh.xtec.dev/docker.sh | sh

Where things live

wslx delete removes all three for the distribution it deletes.

wslx list shows every registered WSL distribution, not just the ones wslx made — the Managed column tells you which ones it owns. Deleting an unmanaged distribution still unregisters it, but its disk lives wherever its own installer put it.

Requirements

WSL only exists on Windows: every command needs wsl.exe on PATH and fails with a clear message anywhere else. The package still installs and imports on macOS and Linux so it can be developed and tested there.

Development

uv sync --all-groups
uv run pytest
uv run ruff check

The test suite is platform-independent — the Windows-only paths are covered through their pure helpers (output parsing, cloud-init rendering, path resolution) and the platform guard itself.

License

AGPL-3.0-only. © David de Mingo.