## PlasmaVMC qcow artifact plan (for integration gate e2e)

- Goal: provide a reproducible qcow2 image + env wiring so plasmavmc e2e (QEMU-backed) can run in the integration matrix without manual prep.
- Constraints: small (<150MB), no network during gate run, works under nix develop; use virtio drivers; avoid licensing issues.

### Candidate image
- Alpine cloud image (latest stable) is small and permissively licensed; includes virtio modules.
- Fallback: Build a 1G qcow2 via `qemu-img create -f qcow2 plasma-mini.qcow2 1G` + `virt-make-fs` on a tiny rootfs (busybox/alpine base).

### Provisioning steps (once, cacheable)
1) In nix shell (has qemu-img): `qemu-img convert -f qcow2 -O qcow2 alpine-cloudimg-amd64.qcow2 plasma-mini.qcow2` or `qemu-img create -f qcow2 plasma-mini.qcow2 1G`.
2) Inject default user+ssh key (optional) via cloud-init seed ISO or `virt-make-fs` (avoid during gate).
3) Store artifact under `.cccc/work/artifacts/plasma-mini.qcow2` (or cache bucket if available).
4) Record SHA256 to detect drift.

### Gate wiring
- Env vars: `PLASMAVMC_QEMU_PATH` (e.g., `/run/current-system/sw/bin/qemu-system-x86_64` in nix shell), `PLASMAVMC_QCOW2_PATH` (absolute path to plasma-mini.qcow2).
- Update `scripts/integration-matrix.sh` docs to mention envs; optionally add `just integration-matrix [--skip-plasma]` wrapper that injects defaults when present.

### Time/budget
- Download + convert: ~2-3 minutes once; gate runs reuse artifact (no network).
- If artifact absent, plasmavmc e2e remain ignored; matrix still green on unit/integration subsets.

### Open questions
- Where to store the qcow2 artifact for CI (git LFS? remote cache?) to avoid repo bloat.
- Is cloud-init desirable for tests (SSH into VM) or is raw boot enough for current e2e?