For years, KDE users had to use Virtual Machine Managers outside the KDE ecosystem, like GNOME Boxes. Now that’s changing with a new native VMM in development for KDE.
If you spend most of your time in GNOME, you’ve probably used something like GNOME Boxes to spin up virtual machines without much hassle. We actually gave it a shoutout in our list of essential Linux apps for newcomers this year. KDE users, however, have often found themselves relying on tools such as virt-manager or even GNOME Boxes itself. While functional, these don’t always feel perfectly at home within the Plasma desktop, and the old qt-virt-manager, a Qt-based alternative, has seen its development stall for years.
Now, a new Virtual Machine Manager is in the works for KDE Plasma. The project, named Karton, has roots dating back to Aaron Rainbolt’s original effort to build a QEMU frontend using its command line interface. Later, KDE developer Harald Sitter took over and developed it as a Google Summer of Code project.
Currently, Karton is actively developed by Derek Lin, a University of Waterloo student participating in Google Summer of Code 2025. His primary aim is to deliver a virtual machine manager that truly belongs in the KDE ecosystem.
