A modern, native macOS application for managing Linux containers using Apple's container runtime. Containers pulls, builds and runs OCI images, and manages the containers and volumes made from them, from a dashboard and the menu bar. It is built on Apple's Containerization package: each container runs in its own lightweight virtual machine, started directly by the app, with no daemon or command-line tools to install.
Important
Containers is an early version under active development, so you may run into bugs and rough edges. If you do, please report them. Contributions are encouraged and welcome, whether it's a fix, a feature or an improvement to the documentation: see the Contribution Guide to get started.
- A Mac with Apple silicon
- macOS 26 or later
Download Containers from the Mac App Store. On first launch it sets up the container system, downloading the Linux kernel and init image it needs, and then opens the dashboard.
Guides and reference live in the Containers wiki:
- Getting started with images, containers and volumes
- Building images from a Dockerfile
- Reports, logs and troubleshooting
- Settings and storage
- Building the app from source
- Report a bug or request a feature by opening an issue.
- Read the Contribution Guide before sending a pull request.
This is a community-led effort, so we welcome as many contributors who can help.
- Open
Containers.xcodeprojin Xcode 26 or later. CopyConfiguration/Local.xcconfig.exampletoConfiguration/Local.xcconfigand set your team ID to sign the app. - AGENTS.md describes the architecture, conventions and commands, for contributors and coding agents alike.
Containers is free, and will always be free.
Download it from the Mac App Store and use it however you like — personally, at work, or across your company. The released app is licensed to you under Apple's standard end user terms, and costs nothing.
The code in this repository is licensed under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0:
- ✅ Read it, build it, and modify it
- ✅ Fork it and contribute changes back
- ✅ Use it for personal projects, study, and research
- ✅ Use it at nonprofits, schools, and government institutions
- ❌ Use it, or any part of it, for commercial purposes
- ❌ Sell it, or sell anything built from it
The intent is simple: development tools should be free. You should never have to pay for this, and neither should anyone else — so nobody gets to take this work, in whole or in part, and sell it.
Donations are welcome and unaffected by the license. If you need a commercial license, open an issue.
Releases published before this change were licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 and remain available under those terms.
Containers is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Apple Inc. Apple, Mac, macOS and Mac App Store are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.
Copyright © 2026 Axel Martinez.