diff --git a/src/aleph/vm/controllers/__main__.py b/src/aleph/vm/controllers/__main__.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b6394a0fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/aleph/vm/controllers/__main__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+import argparse
+import asyncio
+import logging
+import json
+import sys
+from pathlib import Path
+
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+try:
+    import sentry_sdk
+except ImportError:
+    sentry_sdk = None
+
+from aiohttp.web_exceptions import HTTPBadRequest, HTTPInternalServerError
+
+from aleph_message.models import ItemHash, InstanceContent
+
+from aleph.vm.controllers.firecracker.program import (
+    FileTooLargeError,
+    ResourceDownloadError,
+    VmSetupError,
+)
+from aleph.vm.hypervisors.firecracker.microvm import MicroVMFailedInit
+
+from aleph.vm.orchestrator.conf import settings, Settings
+from aleph.vm.orchestrator.pool import VmPool
+from aleph.vm.orchestrator.utils import HostNotFoundError
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+pool = VmPool()
+
+
+class Configuration(BaseModel):
+    vm_hash: ItemHash
+    instance_configuration: InstanceContent
+    settings: Settings
+
+
+def configuration_from_file(path: Path):
+    with open(path) as f:
+        data = json.load(f)
+        return Configuration.parse_obj(data)
+
+
+def parse_args(args):
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(prog="instance", description="Aleph.im Instance Client")
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-c",
+        "--config",
+        dest="config_path",
+        required=True
+    )
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "-p",
+        "--print-settings",
+        dest="print_settings",
+        action="store_true",
+        default=False,
+    )
+    return parser.parse_args(args)
+
+
+async def run_instance(config: Configuration):
+    vm_hash = config.vm_hash
+    try:
+        execution = await pool.create_a_vm(
+            vm_hash=vm_hash,
+            message=config.instance_configuration,
+            original=config.instance_configuration,
+        )
+    except ResourceDownloadError as error:
+        logger.exception(error)
+        pool.forget_vm(vm_hash=vm_hash)
+        raise HTTPBadRequest(reason="Code, runtime or data not available")
+    except FileTooLargeError as error:
+        raise HTTPInternalServerError(reason=error.args[0])
+    except VmSetupError as error:
+        logger.exception(error)
+        pool.forget_vm(vm_hash=vm_hash)
+        raise HTTPInternalServerError(reason="Error during vm initialisation")
+    except MicroVMFailedInit as error:
+        logger.exception(error)
+        pool.forget_vm(vm_hash=vm_hash)
+        raise HTTPInternalServerError(reason="Error during runtime initialisation")
+    except HostNotFoundError as error:
+        logger.exception(error)
+        pool.forget_vm(vm_hash=vm_hash)
+        raise HTTPInternalServerError(reason="Host did not respond to ping")
+
+    if not execution.vm:
+        msg = "The VM has not been created"
+        raise ValueError(msg)
+
+    return execution
+
+
+def main():
+    args = parse_args(sys.argv[1:])
+
+    config_path = Path(args.config_path)
+    if not config_path.is_file():
+        logger.error(f"Configuration file {config_path} not found")
+        exit(1)
+
+    config = configuration_from_file(config_path)
+
+    log_format = "%(asctime)s | %(levelname)s | %(message)s"
+    logging.basicConfig(
+        level=args.loglevel,
+        format=log_format,
+    )
+
+    settings.update(**config.settings)
+
+    settings.setup()
+    if args.print_settings:
+        print(settings.display())
+
+    settings.check()
+
+    asyncio.run(run_instance(config))