diff --git a/core/internal/common/setup.go b/core/internal/common/setup.go
index 7a268ae..db00692 100644
--- a/core/internal/common/setup.go
+++ b/core/internal/common/setup.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 	MasterServicePort   = 7833
 	ExternalServicePort = 7836
 	DebugServicePort    = 7837
+	KubernetesAPIPort   = 6443
 )
 
 const (
diff --git a/core/internal/consensus/BUILD.bazel b/core/internal/consensus/BUILD.bazel
index c8b2f25..f0246f7 100644
--- a/core/internal/consensus/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/core/internal/consensus/BUILD.bazel
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
         "@io_etcd_go_etcd//pkg/types:go_default_library",
         "@io_etcd_go_etcd//proxy/grpcproxy/adapter:go_default_library",
         "@org_golang_x_sys//unix:go_default_library",
+        "@org_uber_go_atomic//:go_default_library",
         "@org_uber_go_zap//:go_default_library",
         "@org_uber_go_zap//zapcore:go_default_library",
     ],
diff --git a/core/internal/consensus/consensus.go b/core/internal/consensus/consensus.go
index 67bac1c..d401c1a 100644
--- a/core/internal/consensus/consensus.go
+++ b/core/internal/consensus/consensus.go
@@ -33,11 +33,6 @@
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
-	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common"
-	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common/service"
-
-	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/generated/api"
-
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/clientv3"
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/clientv3/namespace"
@@ -45,10 +40,14 @@
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/etcdserver/api/membership"
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/pkg/types"
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/proxy/grpcproxy/adapter"
+	"go.uber.org/atomic"
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
 	"go.uber.org/zap/zapcore"
 	"golang.org/x/sys/unix"
 
+	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/generated/api"
+	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common"
+	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common/service"
 	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/consensus/ca"
 )
 
@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@
 
 		etcd  *embed.Etcd
 		kv    clientv3.KV
-		ready bool
+		ready atomic.Bool
 
 		// bootstrapCA and bootstrapCert cache the etcd cluster CA data during bootstrap.
 		bootstrapCA   *ca.CA
@@ -192,6 +191,7 @@
 	go func() {
 		s.Logger.Info("waiting for etcd to become ready")
 		<-s.etcd.Server.ReadyNotify()
+		s.ready.Store(true)
 		s.Logger.Info("etcd is now ready")
 	}()
 
@@ -432,7 +432,7 @@
 
 // IsReady returns whether etcd is ready and synced
 func (s *Service) IsReady() bool {
-	return s.ready
+	return s.ready.Load()
 }
 
 // AddMember adds a new etcd member to the cluster
diff --git a/core/internal/kubernetes/BUILD.bazel b/core/internal/kubernetes/BUILD.bazel
index 6778845..f3304cc 100644
--- a/core/internal/kubernetes/BUILD.bazel
+++ b/core/internal/kubernetes/BUILD.bazel
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
     visibility = ["//core:__subpackages__"],
     deps = [
         "//core/api/api:go_default_library",
+        "//core/internal/common:go_default_library",
         "//core/internal/common/supervisor:go_default_library",
         "//core/internal/consensus:go_default_library",
         "//core/internal/kubernetes/reconciler:go_default_library",
diff --git a/core/internal/kubernetes/apiserver.go b/core/internal/kubernetes/apiserver.go
index dc48b96..9bc32f3 100644
--- a/core/internal/kubernetes/apiserver.go
+++ b/core/internal/kubernetes/apiserver.go
@@ -26,6 +26,8 @@
 	"os/exec"
 	"path"
 
+	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common"
+
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/clientv3"
 
 	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common/supervisor"
@@ -81,6 +83,7 @@
 			"--enable-admission-plugins=NodeRestriction,PodSecurityPolicy",
 			"--enable-aggregator-routing=true",
 			"--insecure-port=0",
+			fmt.Sprintf("--secure-port=%v", common.KubernetesAPIPort),
 			// Due to the magic of GRPC this really needs four slashes and a :0
 			fmt.Sprintf("--etcd-servers=%v", "unix:////consensus/listener.sock:0"),
 			args.FileOpt("--kubelet-client-certificate", "kubelet-client-cert.pem",
diff --git a/core/internal/kubernetes/auth.go b/core/internal/kubernetes/auth.go
index 25e2e4b..fe2fe59 100644
--- a/core/internal/kubernetes/auth.go
+++ b/core/internal/kubernetes/auth.go
@@ -34,6 +34,8 @@
 	"path"
 	"time"
 
+	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common"
+
 	"go.etcd.io/etcd/clientv3"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd"
 	configapi "k8s.io/client-go/tools/clientcmd/api"
@@ -381,7 +383,7 @@
 func makeLocalKubeconfig(ca, cert, key []byte) ([]byte, error) {
 	kubeconfig := configapi.NewConfig()
 	cluster := configapi.NewCluster()
-	cluster.Server = "https://127.0.0.1:6443"
+	cluster.Server = fmt.Sprintf("https://127.0.0.1:%v", common.KubernetesAPIPort)
 	cluster.CertificateAuthorityData = pem.EncodeToMemory(&pem.Block{Type: "CERTIFICATE", Bytes: ca})
 	kubeconfig.Clusters["default"] = cluster
 	authInfo := configapi.NewAuthInfo()
diff --git a/core/internal/kubernetes/service.go b/core/internal/kubernetes/service.go
index f95f03e..b2d340e 100644
--- a/core/internal/kubernetes/service.go
+++ b/core/internal/kubernetes/service.go
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@
 
 // GetDebugKubeconfig issues a kubeconfig for an arbitrary given identity. Useful for debugging and testing.
 func (s *Service) GetDebugKubeconfig(ctx context.Context, request *schema.GetDebugKubeconfigRequest) (*schema.GetDebugKubeconfigResponse, error) {
+	if !s.consensusService.IsReady() {
+		return nil, status.Error(codes.Unavailable, "Consensus not ready yet")
+	}
 	idCA, idKeyRaw, err := getCert(s.getKV(), "id-ca")
 	idKey := ed25519.PrivateKey(idKeyRaw)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/core/internal/launch/BUILD.bazel b/core/internal/launch/BUILD.bazel
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..887932b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/internal/launch/BUILD.bazel
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+load("@io_bazel_rules_go//go:def.bzl", "go_library")
+
+go_library(
+    name = "go_default_library",
+    srcs = ["launch.go"],
+    importpath = "git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/launch",
+    visibility = ["//core:__subpackages__"],
+    deps = [
+        "//core/internal/common:go_default_library",
+        "@org_golang_google_grpc//:go_default_library",
+    ],
+)
diff --git a/core/internal/launch/launch.go b/core/internal/launch/launch.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9aa277c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/internal/launch/launch.go
@@ -0,0 +1,227 @@
+// Copyright 2020 The Monogon Project Authors.
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+//
+// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+// You may obtain a copy of the License at
+//
+//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+//
+// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+// limitations under the License.
+
+package launch
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net"
+	"os"
+	"os/exec"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+
+	"google.golang.org/grpc"
+
+	"git.monogon.dev/source/nexantic.git/core/internal/common"
+)
+
+// This is more of a best-effort solution and not guaranteed to give us unused ports (since we're not immediately using
+// them), but AFAIK qemu cannot dynamically select hostfwd ports
+func getFreePort() (uint16, io.Closer, error) {
+	addr, err := net.ResolveTCPAddr("tcp", "localhost:0")
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, nil, err
+	}
+
+	l, err := net.ListenTCP("tcp", addr)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0, nil, err
+	}
+	return uint16(l.Addr().(*net.TCPAddr).Port), l, nil
+}
+
+type qemuValue map[string][]string
+
+// qemuValueToOption encodes structured data into a QEMU option.
+// Example: "test", {"key1": {"val1"}, "key2": {"val2", "val3"}} returns "test,key1=val1,key2=val2,key2=val3"
+func qemuValueToOption(name string, value qemuValue) string {
+	var optionValues []string
+	optionValues = append(optionValues, name)
+	for name, values := range value {
+		if len(values) == 0 {
+			optionValues = append(optionValues, name)
+		}
+		for _, val := range values {
+			optionValues = append(optionValues, fmt.Sprintf("%v=%v", name, val))
+		}
+	}
+	return strings.Join(optionValues, ",")
+}
+
+func copyFile(src, dst string) error {
+	in, err := os.Open(src)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer in.Close()
+
+	out, err := os.Create(dst)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	defer out.Close()
+
+	_, err = io.Copy(out, in)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return out.Close()
+}
+
+// PortMap represents where VM ports are mapped to on the host. It maps from the VM port number to the host port number.
+type PortMap map[uint16]uint16
+
+// toQemuForwards generates QEMU hostfwd values (https://qemu.weilnetz.de/doc/qemu-doc.html#:~:text=hostfwd=) for all
+// mapped ports.
+func (p PortMap) toQemuForwards() []string {
+	var hostfwdOptions []string
+	for vmPort, hostPort := range p {
+		hostfwdOptions = append(hostfwdOptions, fmt.Sprintf("tcp::%v-:%v", hostPort, vmPort))
+	}
+	return hostfwdOptions
+}
+
+// DialGRPC creates a gRPC client for a VM port that's forwarded/mapped to the host. The given port is automatically
+// resolved to the host-mapped port.
+func (p PortMap) DialGRPC(port uint16, opts ...grpc.DialOption) (*grpc.ClientConn, error) {
+	mappedPort, ok := p[port]
+	if !ok {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("cannot dial port: port %v is not mapped/forwarded", port)
+	}
+	grpcClient, err := grpc.Dial(fmt.Sprintf("localhost:%v", mappedPort), opts...)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to dial port %v: %w", port, err)
+	}
+	return grpcClient, nil
+}
+
+// Options contains all options that can be passed to Launch()
+type Options struct {
+	// Ports contains the port mapping where to expose the internal ports of the VM to the host. See IdentityPortMap()
+	// and ConflictFreePortMap()
+	Ports PortMap
+
+	// If set to true, reboots are honored. Otherwise all reboots exit the Launch() command. Smalltown generally restarts
+	// on almost all errors, so unless you want to test reboot behavior this should be false.
+	AllowReboot bool
+}
+
+var requiredPorts = []uint16{common.ConsensusPort, common.NodeServicePort, common.MasterServicePort,
+	common.ExternalServicePort, common.DebugServicePort, common.KubernetesAPIPort}
+
+// IdentityPortMap returns a port map where each VM port is mapped onto itself on the host. This is mainly useful
+// for development against Smalltown. The dbg command requires this mapping.
+func IdentityPortMap() PortMap {
+	portMap := make(PortMap)
+	for _, port := range requiredPorts {
+		portMap[port] = port
+	}
+	return portMap
+}
+
+// ConflictFreePortMap returns a port map where each VM port is mapped onto a random free port on the host. This is
+// intended for automated testing where multiple instances of Smalltown might be running. Please call this function for
+// each Launch command separately and as close to it as possible since it cannot guarantee that the ports will remain
+// free.
+func ConflictFreePortMap() (PortMap, error) {
+	portMap := make(PortMap)
+	for _, port := range requiredPorts {
+		mappedPort, listenCloser, err := getFreePort()
+		if err != nil {
+			return portMap, fmt.Errorf("failed to get free host port: %w", err)
+		}
+		// Defer closing of the listening port until the function is done and all ports are allocated
+		defer listenCloser.Close()
+		portMap[port] = mappedPort
+	}
+	return portMap, nil
+}
+
+// Launch launches a Smalltown instance with the given options. The instance runs mostly paravirtualized but with some
+// emulated hardware similar to how a cloud provider might set up its VMs. The disk is fully writable but is run
+// in snapshot mode meaning that changes are not kept beyond a single invocation.
+func Launch(ctx context.Context, options Options) error {
+	// Pin temp directory to /tmp until we can use abstract socket namespace in QEMU (next release after 5.0,
+	// https://github.com/qemu/qemu/commit/776b97d3605ed0fc94443048fdf988c7725e38a9). swtpm accepts already-open FDs
+	// so we can pass in an abstract socket namespace FD that we open and pass the name of it to QEMU. Not pinning this
+	// crashes both swtpm and qemu because we run into UNIX socket length limitations (for legacy reasons 108 chars).
+	tempDir, err := ioutil.TempDir("/tmp", "launch*")
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Failed to create temporary directory: %w", err)
+	}
+	defer os.RemoveAll(tempDir)
+
+	// Copy TPM state into a temporary directory since it's being modified by the emulator
+	tpmTargetDir := filepath.Join(tempDir, "tpm")
+	tpmSrcDir := "core/tpm"
+	if err := os.Mkdir(tpmTargetDir, 0644); err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Failed to create TPM state directory: %w", err)
+	}
+	tpmFiles, err := ioutil.ReadDir(tpmSrcDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("Failed to read TPM directory: %w", err)
+	}
+	for _, file := range tpmFiles {
+		name := file.Name()
+		if err := copyFile(filepath.Join(tpmSrcDir, name), filepath.Join(tpmTargetDir, name)); err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("Failed to copy TPM directory: %w", err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	qemuNetConfig := qemuValue{
+		"id":        {"net0"},
+		"net":       {"10.42.0.0/24"},
+		"dhcpstart": {"10.42.0.10"},
+		"hostfwd":   options.Ports.toQemuForwards(),
+	}
+
+	tpmSocketPath := filepath.Join(tempDir, "tpm-socket")
+
+	qemuArgs := []string{"-machine", "q35", "-accel", "kvm", "-nographic", "-nodefaults", "-m", "2048",
+		"-cpu", "host", "-smp", "sockets=1,cpus=1,cores=2,threads=2,maxcpus=4",
+		"-drive", "if=pflash,format=raw,readonly,file=external/edk2/OVMF_CODE.fd",
+		"-drive", "if=pflash,format=raw,snapshot=on,file=external/edk2/OVMF_VARS.fd",
+		"-drive", "if=virtio,format=raw,snapshot=on,cache=unsafe,file=core/smalltown.img",
+		"-netdev", qemuValueToOption("user", qemuNetConfig),
+		"-device", "virtio-net-pci,netdev=net0",
+		"-chardev", "socket,id=chrtpm,path=" + tpmSocketPath,
+		"-tpmdev", "emulator,id=tpm0,chardev=chrtpm",
+		"-device", "tpm-tis,tpmdev=tpm0",
+		"-device", "virtio-rng-pci",
+		"-serial", "stdio"}
+
+	if !options.AllowReboot {
+		qemuArgs = append(qemuArgs, "-no-reboot")
+	}
+
+	tpmCtx, tpmStop := context.WithCancel(
+		ctx)
+	tpmEmuCmd := exec.CommandContext(tpmCtx, "swtpm", "socket", "--tpm2", "--tpmstate", "dir="+tpmTargetDir, "--ctrl", "type=unixio,path="+tpmSocketPath)
+	systemCmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "qemu-system-x86_64", qemuArgs...)
+
+	tpmEmuCmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+	tpmEmuCmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+	systemCmd.Stderr = os.Stderr
+	systemCmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
+	go tpmEmuCmd.Run()
+	err = systemCmd.Run()
+	tpmStop()
+	return err
+}