Docker-OSX
Run macOS VM in a Docker! Run near native OSX-KVM in Docker! X11 Forwarding! CI/CD for OS X Security Research! Docker mac Containers. (by sickcodes)
lima
Linux virtual machines, with a focus on running containers (by lima-vm)
| Docker-OSX | lima | |
|---|---|---|
| 137 | 120 | |
| 50,634 | 17,389 | |
| 0.8% | 2.8% | |
| 6.2 | 9.8 | |
| 12 days ago | 7 days ago | |
| Shell | Go | |
| GNU General Public License v3.0 only | Apache License 2.0 |
The number of mentions indicates the total number of mentions that we've tracked plus the number of user suggested alternatives.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
Stars - the number of stars that a project has on GitHub. Growth - month over month growth in stars.
Activity is a relative number indicating how actively a project is being developed. Recent commits have higher weight than older ones.
For example, an activity of 9.0 indicates that a project is amongst the top 10% of the most actively developed projects that we are tracking.
Docker-OSX
Posts with mentions or reviews of Docker-OSX.
We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives
and similar projects. The last one was on 2025-05-14.
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Show HN: Lumier – Run macOS VMs in a Docker
Exactly, both https://github.com/dockur/macos and https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX rely on x86 and KVM for HW acceleration
- Instant macOS install on Proxmox including AMD patches
- Docker-OS X image removed because Apple claims infringes copyright
- macOS in Docker Container
-
PEP 730 – Adding iOS as a supported platform
https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX
Not sure about the law but I’ve been running MacOS in a VM for a while for compiling things
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GitHub Actions as a time-sharing supercomputer
Running macOS legally requires real mac servers and a bespoke storage solution: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/not-just-stac...
A self-hosted macOS runner will be more economical in the long-run, if you have a spot you can hook it up at, or if you're fine doing things less than legally, you can use https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX.
- Docker-OSX · Follow @sickcodes on Twitter
- É caro programar do jeito “honesto”
-
Caso você não queira comprar um Mac mas ainda queira o sistema, agora dá pra rodar MacOS dentro do Docker
Repositório Docker-OSX - Guidelines, troubleshooting, comandos
- Can i run a Hackintosh VM on my homelab and stream it to my pc ?
lima
Posts with mentions or reviews of lima.
We have used some of these posts to build our list of alternatives
and similar projects. The last one was on 2025-06-09.
-
Container: Apple's Linux-Container Runtime
Lima makes this really straightforward and supports vz virtualization. I particularly like that you can run x86 containers through rosetta2 via those Linux VMs with nerdctl. If you want to implement it yourself of course you can, but I appreciate the work from this project so far and have used it for a couple of years.
https://lima-vm.io/
- Linux on macOS
- The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open source
-
Stop using Docker like it’s your first dev job
Want a Docker-compatible CLI that works without Docker Desktop? Nerdctl plus Lima gives you containers without licensing drama.
-
Top 8 Docker Alternatives to Consider in 2025
Lima provides a lightweight alternative to Docker Desktop for macOS users, offering better resource efficiency and native Apple Silicon support.
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Day 3: What is Docker and why should I care?
Docker is a company that maintains the Docker software and also offers a cloud service to run Docker containers in the cloud. They run DockerHub, which is a platform to store share and run Docker images. The actual standard for Docker containers is called OCI (Open Container Initiative). Because Docker is based on OCI there are many other tools that can interact with Docker containers, like Podman or Lima. If you want to go really deep, I really recommend reading the OCI specification! It's long but super interesting.
- Lima v1.0.0
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Docker Desktop Alternative
I'm currently using colima, and none of the other alternatives that I have found support forwarding UDP ports, which I use a lot, so that's a bummer!
Thankfully, lima has landed a new port forwarder with UDP support! [0]. I'm hoping to be able to use it soon once it makes into a release.
[0]: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/commit/13e9cbcabc6a0a05ec389...
- Podman Desktop 1.11: Light mode and new Kubernetes features
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Linux virtual machines, with a focus on running containers
Lima can launch Ubuntu VMs easily: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/blob/master/examples/ubuntu....
What are some alternatives?
When comparing Docker-OSX and lima you can also consider the following projects:
HomeBrew - 🍺 The missing package manager for macOS (or Linux)
multipass - Multipass orchestrates virtual Ubuntu instances
redroid-doc - redroid (Remote-Android) is a multi-arch, GPU enabled, Android in Cloud solution. Track issues / docs here
colima - Container runtimes on macOS (and Linux) with minimal setup
quickemu - Quickly create and run optimised Windows, macOS and Linux virtual machines
UTM - Virtual machines for iOS and macOS