diff --git a/build.py b/build.py
index 387d8e9..ccf3d29 100644
--- a/build.py
+++ b/build.py
@@ -1,3 +1,44 @@
 from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+import getpass
+from pathlib import Path
+import argparse
 
-print("meow")
+def vm_start(nographic=False):
+        home = Path.home()
+        user = getpass.getuser()
+        image_src = "var/lib/debian.qcow2"
+        vm_storage_location = f"/home/arvp/virtual_machines/{user}.qcow2"
+        image_dest = f"{home}/debian.qcow2"
+
+        initialize = [
+                "qemu-system-x86_64",
+                "-enable-kvm",
+                "-m", RAM, # ram allocation
+                "-nic", f'user,hostfwd=tcp::{PORT}-:22', #forward port 5555 in host to port 22 in vm
+                "-drive", "file=%s,media=disk,if=virtio" % image_dest,
+        ]
+
+        if nographic:
+                initialize.append("-nographic")
+                initialize.append("-serial")
+                initialize.append("mon:stdio")
+        else:
+                initialize.append("-vga")
+                initialize.append("virtio")
+                initialize.append("-display")
+                initialize.append("sdl")
+        #copy the base image to a directory with everyones virtual machines. -n should not overwrite any existing vms.
+        #subprocess.run(["cp", "-n", image_src, vm_storage_location])
+        Popen(initialize)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+        parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(
+                description="ARVP Onboarding Virtual Machine Launcher! Don't use --nographic if you are in a tmux session. it might explode :3")
+        parser.add_argument(
+                "-nographic",
+                action="store_true",
+                help="Run QEMU in nographic mode (runs the VM embedded in your terminal instead of opening a new window)",)
+        parser.add_argument("-port", help="Port to forward to the VM for ssh", default=5555)
+        parser.add_argument("-ram", help="Amount of RAM to allocate to the VM", default="4G")
+        args = parser.parse_args()
+        vm_start(nographic=args.nographic)