diff --git a/scripts/apply-mbps-caps.sh b/scripts/apply-mbps-caps.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000..9913f94e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/apply-mbps-caps.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# Apply per-VM I/O caps via qm set on the PVE host.
+# - Reads each VM's current boot-disk options
+# - Appends mbps_rd=<N>,mbps_wr=<N>
+# - Re-applies via qm set (live, no reboot needed)
+# - Verifies with qm config | grep mbps
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# vmid:disk_slot:mbps_rd:mbps_wr  (Linux VMs only — skipping 101 pfsense BSD, 300 Windows)
+TARGETS=(
+  "102:scsi0:60:60"      # devvm
+  "103:sata0:40:40"      # home-assistant
+  "200:scsi0:100:60"     # k8s-master (alloy storm origin — firmest clip)
+  "201:scsi1:150:120"    # k8s-node1 (GPU + many CSI disks; boots from scsi1)
+  "202:scsi0:150:120"    # k8s-node2
+  "203:scsi0:150:120"    # k8s-node3
+  "204:scsi0:150:120"    # k8s-node4 (currently doing write recovery)
+  "220:scsi0:40:40"      # docker-registry
+)
+
+for spec in "${TARGETS[@]}"; do
+  IFS=: read -r vmid slot rd wr <<<"$spec"
+  printf '\n=== VMID %s slot=%s rd=%s MB/s wr=%s MB/s ===\n' "$vmid" "$slot" "$rd" "$wr"
+
+  current=$(qm config "$vmid" | awk -v s="$slot:" '$1==s {sub(/^[^ ]+ /, ""); print; exit}')
+  if [[ -z "$current" ]]; then
+    echo "  ERROR: could not read $slot for vmid $vmid — skipping"
+    continue
+  fi
+
+  # Strip any existing mbps_rd / mbps_wr from the current string (idempotent)
+  cleaned=$(echo "$current" | sed -E 's/,mbps_rd=[0-9]+//g; s/,mbps_wr=[0-9]+//g')
+  newvalue="${cleaned},mbps_rd=${rd},mbps_wr=${wr}"
+
+  echo "  before: $current"
+  echo "  after:  $newvalue"
+
+  qm set "$vmid" "--$slot" "$newvalue"
+  echo "  verify: $(qm config "$vmid" | awk -v s="$slot:" '$1==s {print; exit}')"
+done
+
+echo
+echo "=== Final verification — mbps on all targets ==="
+for spec in "${TARGETS[@]}"; do
+  IFS=: read -r vmid slot _ _ <<<"$spec"
+  echo "vmid $vmid: $(qm config "$vmid" | awk -v s="$slot:" '$1==s {print; exit}')"
+done