routeros-qemu-chrlisted
Install: claude install-skill aiskillstore/marketplace
# RouterOS CHR with QEMU
## What Is CHR
Cloud Hosted Router (CHR) is MikroTik's x86_64 and aarch64 RouterOS image designed for virtual machines. Free license allows unlimited use with 1 Mbps speed limit — sufficient for development, testing, and API work. Full-speed paid licenses also exist.
## Image Variants
| Image | Architecture | Boot method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| `chr-<ver>.img` | x86_64 | SeaBIOS (MBR chain-load) | download.mikrotik.com |
| `chr-<ver>-arm64.img` | aarch64 | UEFI (EDK2 pflash) | download.mikrotik.com |
| `chr-efi.img` (fat-chr) | x86_64 | UEFI (OVMF) | tikoci/fat-chr GitHub |
**Standard x86 image has a proprietary boot partition** — it looks like an EFI System Partition in GPT but is NOT FAT. UEFI firmware (OVMF) cannot read it. Only SeaBIOS can boot it via MBR chain-load.
The `fat-chr` repackaged image converts this to standard FAT16 with `EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI`, enabling UEFI boot. Required for Apple Virtualization.framework on X86 macOS, optional everywhere else.
**Disk layout** (128 MiB, both architectures): Hybrid GPT+MBR, partition 1 = boot (~33 MiB), partition 2 = ext4 root (~94 MiB).
## Downloading CHR Images
```typescript
// Resolve current version
const channel = "stable"; // or: long-term, testing, development
const version = await fetch(
`https://upgrade.mikrotik.com/routeros/NEWESTa7.${channel}`
).then(r => r.text()).then(s => s.trim());
// Download x86_64 image
const url = `https://download.mikrotik.com/routeros/${version