diff --git a/crates/vm-manager/src/console.rs b/crates/vm-manager/src/console.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ba10e6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/vm-manager/src/console.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
+//! Serial console log tailing for VM backends.
+//!
+//! Provides an async interface to tail serial console output from a running VM.
+//! The console is accessed via the backend's [`ConsoleEndpoint`] — for QEMU this
+//! is a Unix domain socket, for Propolis a WebSocket.
+//!
+//! # Example
+//!
+//! ```rust,no_run
+//! use vm_manager::console::ConsoleTailer;
+//! use vm_manager::ConsoleEndpoint;
+//! use tokio::sync::watch;
+//!
+//! # async fn example() -> vm_manager::Result<()> {
+//! let endpoint = ConsoleEndpoint::UnixSocket("/tmp/vm/console.sock".into());
+//! let (stop_tx, stop_rx) = watch::channel(false);
+//! let (line_tx, mut line_rx) = tokio::sync::mpsc::channel(256);
+//!
+//! // Spawn the tailer
+//! tokio::spawn(ConsoleTailer::tail(endpoint, line_tx, stop_rx));
+//!
+//! // Receive lines
+//! while let Some(line) = line_rx.recv().await {
+//!     println!("console: {}", line);
+//! }
+//! # Ok(())
+//! # }
+//! ```
+
+use std::path::Path;
+
+use tokio::io::AsyncBufReadExt;
+use tokio::sync::{mpsc, watch};
+use tracing::{debug, warn};
+
+use crate::error::{Result, VmError};
+use crate::traits::ConsoleEndpoint;
+
+/// Tails a VM serial console and sends lines to a channel.
+pub struct ConsoleTailer;
+
+impl ConsoleTailer {
+    /// Connect to the console endpoint and stream lines to `tx` until `stop`
+    /// is signalled or the connection is closed.
+    ///
+    /// This function is designed to be spawned as a tokio task. It returns
+    /// `Ok(())` when the stop signal is received or the console stream ends.
+    pub async fn tail(
+        endpoint: ConsoleEndpoint,
+        tx: mpsc::Sender<String>,
+        mut stop: watch::Receiver<bool>,
+    ) -> Result<()> {
+        match endpoint {
+            ConsoleEndpoint::UnixSocket(path) => Self::tail_unix_socket(&path, tx, &mut stop).await,
+            ConsoleEndpoint::WebSocket(_url) => {
+                // TODO: WebSocket console tailing for Propolis
+                warn!("WebSocket console tailing not yet implemented");
+                Ok(())
+            }
+            ConsoleEndpoint::None => {
+                debug!("no console endpoint available, skipping tail");
+                Ok(())
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Tail a QEMU serial console via Unix domain socket.
+    ///
+    /// QEMU's chardev socket is configured with `server=on,wait=off`, meaning
+    /// QEMU listens and we connect as a client. The socket emits serial output
+    /// as raw bytes — we buffer and split on newlines.
+    async fn tail_unix_socket(
+        path: &Path,
+        tx: mpsc::Sender<String>,
+        stop: &mut watch::Receiver<bool>,
+    ) -> Result<()> {
+        // Wait for the socket to appear (QEMU may not have created it yet)
+        let stream = Self::connect_with_retry(path, stop).await?;
+        let reader = tokio::io::BufReader::new(stream);
+        let mut lines = reader.lines();
+
+        debug!(path = %path.display(), "console tailer connected");
+
+        loop {
+            tokio::select! {
+                _ = stop.changed() => {
+                    if *stop.borrow() {
+                        debug!("console tailer stopped by signal");
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+                result = lines.next_line() => {
+                    match result {
+                        Ok(Some(line)) => {
+                            if tx.send(line).await.is_err() {
+                                // Receiver dropped — stop tailing
+                                debug!("console line receiver dropped, stopping tailer");
+                                break;
+                            }
+                        }
+                        Ok(None) => {
+                            // EOF — socket closed (VM stopped or QEMU exited)
+                            debug!("console socket closed (EOF)");
+                            break;
+                        }
+                        Err(e) => {
+                            // I/O error — log and stop
+                            warn!(error = %e, "console read error");
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
+    /// Try to connect to the Unix socket, retrying until the socket appears
+    /// or the stop signal is received. Retries every 500ms for up to 30s.
+    async fn connect_with_retry(
+        path: &Path,
+        stop: &mut watch::Receiver<bool>,
+    ) -> Result<tokio::net::UnixStream> {
+        let max_attempts = 60;
+        let interval = std::time::Duration::from_millis(500);
+
+        for attempt in 1..=max_attempts {
+            if *stop.borrow() {
+                return Err(VmError::Io(std::io::Error::new(
+                    std::io::ErrorKind::Interrupted,
+                    "stopped before console connected",
+                )));
+            }
+
+            match tokio::net::UnixStream::connect(path).await {
+                Ok(stream) => return Ok(stream),
+                Err(e) if attempt < max_attempts => {
+                    debug!(
+                        attempt,
+                        path = %path.display(),
+                        error = %e,
+                        "console socket not ready, retrying"
+                    );
+                    tokio::select! {
+                        _ = tokio::time::sleep(interval) => {}
+                        _ = stop.changed() => {
+                            if *stop.borrow() {
+                                return Err(VmError::Io(std::io::Error::new(
+                                    std::io::ErrorKind::Interrupted,
+                                    "stopped while waiting for console socket",
+                                )));
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                Err(e) => {
+                    warn!(
+                        path = %path.display(),
+                        error = %e,
+                        "console socket connect failed after {max_attempts} attempts"
+                    );
+                    return Err(VmError::Io(e));
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+        unreachable!()
+    }
+}
+
+/// Read the console log file (if it exists) and return all lines.
+///
+/// This is a fallback for when the Unix socket is not available or the VM
+/// has already stopped. QEMU writes console output to a log file alongside
+/// the socket (configured via `logfile=` in the chardev).
+pub async fn read_console_log(work_dir: &Path) -> Result<Vec<String>> {
+    let log_path = work_dir.join("console.log");
+    if !log_path.exists() {
+        return Ok(vec![]);
+    }
+
+    let content = tokio::fs::read_to_string(&log_path).await?;
+    Ok(content.lines().map(|l| l.to_string()).collect())
+}
diff --git a/crates/vm-manager/src/lib.rs b/crates/vm-manager/src/lib.rs
index c04bfd0..cb9c1f6 100644
--- a/crates/vm-manager/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/vm-manager/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 pub mod backends;
 pub mod cloudinit;
+pub mod console;
 pub mod error;
 pub mod image;
 pub mod oci;