# arcboxlabs/arcbox

Run AI agents on real and isolated machines — own kernel, filesystem, and network — with <100ms boot. Local first, OCI compatible, pure Rust.

Repository: https://github.com/arcboxlabs/arcbox
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/arcbox
Homepage: https://arcbox.dev
Language: Rust
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: ai-agents, computer-use, containers, docker, firecracker, microvm, rust, sandbox, virtual-machine, virtualization
Last push: 2026-08-26T04:53:24+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 78/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:39:23.370411+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 86, longevity 17
- inputs: {"age_days": 241, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 18, "gap_med": 0.0, "n_releases_24m": 97}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1102, forks 17 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:35.837400+00:00)

## What it is
ArcBox is an open-source container and VM runtime for macOS written from scratch in Rust, providing a drop-in Docker engine, native Kubernetes, disposable microVM sandboxes for AI agents, and full Linux/macOS VMs. It combines its own VMM, VirtIO devices, filesystem sharing, and network datapath with Apple's Virtualization.framework to run isolated environments with millisecond boot times.

## Use cases
- run docker containers on mac without docker desktop
- sandbox untrusted code or ai agents in isolated microvms
- give ai agents a full isolated computer with own kernel and filesystem
- run ephemeral clean environments for ci jobs
- spin up full linux vms on macos quickly
- replace orbstack with an open-source alternative
- snapshot and resume persistent agent machines
- run kubernetes locally on a mac

## When to choose
- you need an open-source Docker Desktop or OrbStack alternative on macOS
- you want VM-level isolation for running AI agents or untrusted code
- you need sub-100ms boot microVM sandboxes for ephemeral workloads
- you want containers, sandboxes, and full VMs on one runtime and CLI
- you want snapshot/resume of persistent agent environments

## When to avoid
- you need a production-proven container runtime on Linux servers
- you require Windows or iOS guest support today (waitlist/contact sales only)
- you depend on a mature, long-stable tool — ArcBox is in public beta
- you need Docker Desktop features like extensions or GUI management beyond the basic desktop app

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: experimental
- function: container-runtime, cli, developer-tools, security
- domain: developer-tools, security, self-hosted
- platform: rust, cli
- tags: microvm, firecracker, docker-desktop-alternative, orbstack-alternative, agent-sandbox, computer-use, kubernetes, vmm, virtio, oci-compatible, virtualization, sandbox, containers, ai-agents, macos, docker

## Member repositories
- arcboxlabs/arcbox (main) score 78

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:35.837400+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T06:45:36.593949+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/arcboxlabs/arcbox (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:35.837400+00:00, sha bba97fca911a)
  - homepage: https://arcbox.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T12:48:26.652304+00:00, sha 934b4f0269df)
  - site_page: https://arcbox.dev/docs (fetched 2026-08-29T12:48:26.664231+00:00, sha 57532ae4ed6e)
  - registry_crates: https://crates.io/api/v1/crates/arcbox (fetched 2026-08-29T12:48:26.667786+00:00, sha 14ff5027af48)
  - site_page: https://arcbox.dev/pricing (fetched 2026-08-29T12:48:26.662172+00:00, sha 180ceac203ad)
  - site_page: https://arcbox.dev/blog/arcbox-desktop-launch (fetched 2026-08-29T12:48:26.666003+00:00, sha 345fc15704f4)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.