diff --git a/nix/vm/create.nix b/nix/vm/create.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8aea5d19d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/nix/vm/create.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+{
+  system,
+  nixpkgs,
+  overlay,
+  path,
+  uid ? 1000,
+  gid ? 1000,
+}: let
+  pkgs = import nixpkgs {
+    inherit system;
+    overlays = [
+      overlay
+    ];
+  };
+in
+  nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
+    system = builtins.replaceStrings ["darwin"] ["linux"] system;
+    modules = [
+      {
+        virtualisation.vmVariant = {
+          virtualisation.host.pkgs = pkgs;
+        };
+
+        nixpkgs.overlays = [
+          overlay
+        ];
+
+        users.groups.ghostty = {
+          gid = gid;
+        };
+
+        users.users.ghostty = {
+          uid = uid;
+        };
+
+        system.stateVersion = "24.11";
+      }
+      ./common.nix
+      path
+    ];
+  }