lxd

name	lxd
description	Workflows for LXD containers and VMs: launch Ubuntu instances, mount host directories and storage volumes, and define reusable profiles and networks.
compatibility	Linux host with LXD/LXC CLI access (tested on LXD 5.x+).

LXD skill

Use this skill for LXD/LXC tasks.

Defaults and guardrails

• Default image for both containers and VMs: ubuntu:26.04.
• Prefer containers unless the user explicitly asks for a VM, or needs virtualized devices (for example, storage devices).
• Prefer reusable profiles and managed storage volumes over one-off instance tweaks.
• Do not delete or reconfigure existing instances, networks, or profiles unless asked.
• Avoid security.privileged, security.nesting, and raw.lxc unless explicitly required.

Preflight

lxc info >/dev/null
lxc remote list --format=table
lxc image info ubuntu:26.04

Topics

• Instance bring-up and readiness: references/instances.md
• Host mounts and managed volumes: references/storage-and-mounts.md
• Profiles and networks: references/profiles-and-networks.md
• Troubleshooting hanging commands: references/troubleshooting.md

Execution style

• Prefer init → config → start for repeatable provisioning.
• Use idempotent checks (show/list before create) in scripts/automation.
• lxc profile create <name> can hang waiting for stdin; if you are not piping profile YAML/content into it, redirect stdin from /dev/null (for example, lxc profile create <name> </dev/null).
• Important: in non-interactive shells, CI, or SSH/Testflinger-style runners, lxc init, lxc launch, and lxc storage volume create can also inherit stdin and block waiting for EOF; if you are not intentionally feeding them input, redirect stdin from /dev/null. Also see troubleshooting hanging commands.
• Validate after changes (lxc list, lxc info <instance>, guest-level checks).
• Summarize assumptions and non-default settings clearly.

Validate the documented commands

From the skill directory, run:

./tests/smoke.sh

Useful options:

./tests/smoke.sh --require-vm   # fail if VM tests cannot run
./tests/smoke.sh --keep         # keep test resources for debugging