apple-container

name	apple-container
description	Run Linux containers on Apple silicon Macs using Apple's native Swift-based container tool
version	1.0.0
author	Hermes Agent
license	Apache-2.0
platforms	["macos"]
metadata	{"hermes":{"tags":["containers","docker","macos","apple-silicon","devops"],"related_skills":["vps-infra"]}}

Apple Container — Native Linux Containers on Mac

Apple's official tool for running Linux containers as lightweight virtual machines on Apple silicon Macs. OCI-compatible, Swift-native, optimized for Apple silicon.

Prerequisites

• Mac with Apple silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
• macOS 26 or later
• Download from GitHub releases

Usage

Getting Started

# Start the system service
container system start

# Pull an image
container pull ubuntu:latest

# Run a container
container run ubuntu:latest /bin/bash

# List running containers
container ps

Building Images

# Build from Dockerfile
container build -t myapp:latest .

# Tag for registry
container tag myapp:latest registry.example.com/myapp:latest

# Push to registry
container push registry.example.com/myapp:latest

Management

# Stop a container
container stop <container_id>

# View logs
container logs <container_id>

# Execute command in running container
container exec <container_id> ls -la

Common Pitfalls

• Requires macOS 26 — does not work on older versions.
• Apple silicon only — no Intel Mac support.
• OCI-compatible but not Docker CLI compatible — different command syntax.
• System service must be running before container operations.

Verification

# Verify installation
container --version

# Test with a simple container
container run --rm alpine echo "Hello from Apple Container"