diff --git a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/virtual/VirtualMachineDefinition.kt b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/virtual/VirtualMachineDefinition.kt
index e16ffc4e1..6f4e5aec4 100644
--- a/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/virtual/VirtualMachineDefinition.kt
+++ b/codeCore/src/prog8/code/target/virtual/VirtualMachineDefinition.kt
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ import prog8.code.core.IMachineDefinition
 import prog8.code.core.Zeropage
 import java.io.File
 import java.nio.file.Path
+import kotlin.io.path.name
+import kotlin.io.path.readText
 
 
 class VirtualMachineDefinition: IMachineDefinition {
@@ -32,8 +34,15 @@ class VirtualMachineDefinition: IMachineDefinition {
         println("\nStarting Virtual Machine...")
         // to not have external module dependencies we launch the virtual machine via reflection
         val vm = Class.forName("prog8.vm.VmRunner").getDeclaredConstructor().newInstance() as IVirtualMachineRunner
-        val source = File("$programNameWithPath.p8virt").readText()
-        vm.runProgram(source, true)
+        val filename = programNameWithPath.name
+        if(filename.endsWith(".p8virt")) {
+            vm.runProgram(programNameWithPath.readText(), true)
+        } else if(File("$filename.p8virt").isFile) {
+            val source = File("$filename.p8virt").readText()
+            vm.runProgram(source, true)
+        }
+        else
+            throw IllegalArgumentException("vm can only run .p8virt or .p8ir files")
     }
 
     override fun isIOAddress(address: UInt): Boolean = false
diff --git a/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmAssemblyProgram.kt b/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmAssemblyProgram.kt
index d79412207..2e2673fd7 100644
--- a/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmAssemblyProgram.kt
+++ b/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmAssemblyProgram.kt
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@ import java.io.BufferedWriter
 import kotlin.io.path.bufferedWriter
 import kotlin.io.path.div
 
-internal class VmAssemblyProgram(override val name: String, val irProgram: IRProgram): IAssemblyProgram {
+internal class VmAssemblyProgram(override val name: String, private val irProgram: IRProgram): IAssemblyProgram {
 
-    override fun assemble(options: CompilationOptions): Boolean {
-        val outfile = options.outputDir / ("$name.p8virt")
+    override fun assemble(dummyOptions: CompilationOptions): Boolean {
+        val outfile = irProgram.options.outputDir / ("$name.p8virt")
         println("write code to $outfile")
 
         // at last, allocate the variables in memory.
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ internal class VmAssemblyProgram(override val name: String, val irProgram: IRPro
 
             out.write("------PROGRAM------\n")
 
-            if(!options.dontReinitGlobals) {
+            if(!irProgram.options.dontReinitGlobals) {
                 out.write("; global var inits\n")
                 irProgram.globalInits.forEach { out.writeLine(it) }
             }
diff --git a/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmCodeGen.kt b/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmCodeGen.kt
index 931c22da0..00a782cbd 100644
--- a/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmCodeGen.kt
+++ b/codeGenVirtual/src/prog8/codegen/virtual/VmCodeGen.kt
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import prog8.code.core.IErrorReporter
 import prog8.codegen.intermediate.IRCodeGen
 import prog8.intermediate.IRFileReader
 import prog8.intermediate.IRFileWriter
+import java.nio.file.Path
 
 class VmCodeGen(private val program: PtProgram,
                 private val symbolTable: SymbolTable,
@@ -26,4 +27,11 @@ class VmCodeGen(private val program: PtProgram,
         val irProgram2 = IRFileReader(options.outputDir, irProgram.name).readFile()
         return VmAssemblyProgram(irProgram2.name, irProgram2)
     }
+
+    companion object {
+        fun compileIR(listingFilename: String): IAssemblyProgram {
+            val irProgram = IRFileReader(Path.of(""), listingFilename).readFile()
+            return VmAssemblyProgram(irProgram.name, irProgram)
+        }
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/compiler/src/prog8/CompilerMain.kt b/compiler/src/prog8/CompilerMain.kt
index 4aa07c3cd..dc807d5c8 100644
--- a/compiler/src/prog8/CompilerMain.kt
+++ b/compiler/src/prog8/CompilerMain.kt
@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ package prog8
 
 import kotlinx.cli.*
 import prog8.ast.base.AstException
-import prog8.code.core.CbmPrgLauncherType
-import prog8.code.core.toHex
+import prog8.code.core.*
 import prog8.code.target.*
 import prog8.code.target.virtual.VirtualMachineDefinition
+import prog8.codegen.virtual.VmCodeGen
 import prog8.compiler.CompilationResult
 import prog8.compiler.CompilerArguments
 import prog8.compiler.compileProgram
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ private fun compileMain(args: Array<String>): Boolean {
     val experimentalCodegen by cli.option(ArgType.Boolean, fullName = "expericodegen", description = "use experimental/alternative codegen")
     val compilationTarget by cli.option(ArgType.String, fullName = "target", description = "target output of the compiler (one of '${C64Target.NAME}', '${C128Target.NAME}', '${Cx16Target.NAME}', '${AtariTarget.NAME}', '${VMTarget.NAME}')").default(C64Target.NAME)
     val sourceDirs by cli.option(ArgType.String, fullName="srcdirs", description = "list of extra paths, separated with ${File.pathSeparator}, to search in for imported modules").multiple().delimiter(File.pathSeparator)
-    val startVm by cli.option(ArgType.Boolean, fullName = "vm", description = "load and run a p8-virt listing in the VM instead")
+    val startVm by cli.option(ArgType.Boolean, fullName = "vm", description = "load and run a p8-virt or p8-ir listing in the VM instead")
     val symbolDefs by cli.option(ArgType.String, fullName = "D", description = "define assembly symbol(s) with -D SYMBOL=VALUE").multiple()
     val evalStackAddrString by cli.option(ArgType.String, fullName = "esa", description = "override the eval-stack base address (must be page aligned)")
     val moduleFiles by cli.argument(ArgType.String, fullName = "modules", description = "main module file(s) to compile").multiple(999)
@@ -242,12 +242,27 @@ private fun processSymbolDefs(symbolDefs: List<String>): Map<String, String>? {
 }
 
 fun runVm(listingFilename: String): Boolean {
-    val name =
-        if(listingFilename.endsWith(".p8virt"))
-            listingFilename.substring(0, listingFilename.length-7)
-        else
-            listingFilename
+    if(listingFilename.endsWith(".p8ir")) {
+        val withoutSuffix = listingFilename.substring(0, listingFilename.length-5)
+        val compiled = VmCodeGen.compileIR(withoutSuffix)
+        if (!compiled.assemble(CompilationOptions(  // these are just dummy options, the actual options are inside the .p8ir file itself:
+                OutputType.PRG,
+                CbmPrgLauncherType.NONE,
+                ZeropageType.DONTUSE,
+                emptyList(),
+                floats = true,
+                noSysInit = true,
+                compTarget = VMTarget(),
+                loadAddress = VMTarget().machine.PROGRAM_LOAD_ADDRESS
+            ))
+        ) {
+            return false
+        }
+        val vmdef = VirtualMachineDefinition()
+        vmdef.launchEmulator(0, Paths.get(withoutSuffix))
+        return true
+    }
     val vmdef = VirtualMachineDefinition()
-    vmdef.launchEmulator(0, Paths.get(name))
+    vmdef.launchEmulator(0, Paths.get(listingFilename))
     return true
 }
diff --git a/docs/source/building.rst b/docs/source/building.rst
index f3e95f346..650d82e06 100644
--- a/docs/source/building.rst
+++ b/docs/source/building.rst
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ One or more .p8 module files
     Use experimental code generation backend (*incomplete*).
 
 ``-vm``
-    load and run a p8-virt listing in the internal VirtualMachine instead of compiling a prog8 program file..
+    load and run a p8-virt or p8-ir listing in the internal VirtualMachine instead of compiling a prog8 program file..
 
 ``-D SYMBOLNAME=VALUE``
     Add this user-defined symbol directly to the beginning of the generated assembly file.