> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.malbox.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Providers

> Infrastructure providers for creating and managing machines

## What are providers?

Providers are the foundation of Malbox's machinery system. They handle the creation and allocation of compute infrastructure where analysis takes place.

A provider is a component that implements a set of capability traits to interact with different infrastructure platforms. Providers abstract away the complexity of different technologies, giving you a consistent interface regardless of your underlying infrastructure.

Providers register themselves at compile time using the `inventory` crate, so you can develop new providers independently of Malbox's codebase.

## Architecture

Malbox's provider system is built on a capability-based architecture:

* **`ProviderHandle`** - a struct that wraps trait objects for each capability a provider supports. Created by the `#[derive(RegisterProvider)]` macro.
* **`ProviderMetadata`** - registered at compile time via the `inventory` crate. Contains the provider name and a factory function that creates a `ProviderHandle` from provider-specific TOML configuration.

Malbox looks up providers by name at runtime using `create_provider(name, config)`, which finds the registered metadata and calls the factory function.

### Capabilities

Providers declare which capabilities they support. One capability is mandatory; the rest are optional:

| Capability      | Required | Description                                                     |
| --------------- | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Allocate**    | Yes      | Create and destroy machines. All providers must implement this. |
| **Snapshot**    | No       | Create, restore, and manage machine snapshots.                  |
| **Clone**       | No       | Clone existing machines to create new instances.                |
| **Migrate**     | No       | Move machines between hosts.                                    |
| **GuestAccess** | No       | Transfer files and execute commands inside guest VMs.           |

You can query a provider's capabilities at runtime via `has_capability("snapshot")` or `list_capabilities()`.

## Supported providers

### libvirt

The built-in libvirt provider supports the **Allocate**, **Snapshot**, and **Clone** capabilities. It manages VMs through libvirt's API and is enabled via the `provider-libvirt` feature flag on the daemon.

Configuration in `malbox.toml`:

```toml theme={null}
[providers.libvirt]
uri = "qemu:///system"
```

## Next steps

* Read about [Provisioners](/machinery/provisioners) for configuring machines after creation
* Read about [Packer](/machinery/packer) for building machine images