CatClaw.Qemu

Project Overview

CatClaw.Qemu is the virtualization suite component of CatClawVideo, not a standalone app. It combines a C# host engine, QEMU virtual machines and a Java bridge to run TVBox-style crawler shells and the Thunder download engine inside a VM, keeping them away from the host system. It must be used together with the main CatClawVideo app.

A VM-based isolation layer that runs crawler shells and download engines safely.

Key Features

• QEMU process management: starts, stops and maintains the full VM lifecycle
• ART bridge: connects the Android runtime with the host engine through a Java bridge
• Isolated crawler shells: runs TVBox-style crawler shells inside the VM so their side effects never touch the host
• Thunder download engine: drives the Thunder engine for downloads from within the VM
• Magnet link parsing: built-in magnet DTO handling wired into the download pipeline
• Stream proxying: a stream proxy routes playback addresses through the host
• Sparse block devices: virtual disks use sparse block format to save space
• WHPX detection: automatically probes WHPX hardware acceleration on Windows
• Guarded unpacking VM: a dedicated guarded VM environment for the shell-unpacking flow

Target Audience

• Users of CatClawVideo
• Developers building TVBox-style clients
• Engineers exploring Android virtualization
• Technical users who need isolated crawler shells

Quick Start

1. Install the CatClawVideo main app first
2. Add this suite to the app following its instructions
3. Enable crawler shells or the download engine in the app; the suite launches the VM automatically

Core Advantages

• Isolation by design: third-party shells and engines live in a VM, the host stays clean
• Balanced performance: WHPX probing plus sparse disks trade speed against space
• Ready integration: the bridge layer to the main app works out of the box

System Requirements

Item	Requirement
Host app	CatClawVideo (.NET MAUI)
Runtime	.NET 11
Virtualization	QEMU, WHPX acceleration on Windows

Notes

• This repository is a component library and cannot run without the CatClawVideo main app
• Host virtualization support is required; real-world performance depends on hardware acceleration