# container

A tool for creating and running Linux containers using lightweight virtual machines on a Mac. It is written in Swift, and optimized for Apple silicon.

Repository: https://github.com/apple/container
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/containerization
Homepage: https://apple.github.io/container/documentation/
Language: Swift
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T17:24:26+00:00
Link (homepage): https://apple.github.io/containerization/documentation/

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 86/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 32
- inputs: {"age_days": 460, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 9, "gap_med": 24.0, "n_releases_24m": 21}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 49427, forks 1747 (observed 2026-08-28T04:12:11.600673+00:00)

## What it is
Apple's tool for creating and running Linux containers as lightweight virtual machines on Macs with Apple silicon, written in Swift. It consumes and produces OCI-compatible images, allowing pull and push from any standard container registry.

## Use cases
- run linux containers on a mac
- pull and run images from a container registry
- build and publish oci images locally
- run containers in lightweight vms on apple silicon
- replace docker desktop for local container development
- test linux workloads on macos

## When to choose
- you have a Mac with Apple silicon running macOS 26
- you want an OCI-compatible container runtime optimized for Apple silicon
- you prefer lightweight per-container VMs over shared-VM runtimes

## When to avoid
- you use Intel Macs or macOS versions older than 26
- you need Kubernetes or multi-node container orchestration
- you need Windows containers

## Facets
- artifact type: cli-tool
- maturity: active
- function: container-runtime, cli, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools
- platform: cli
- tags: oci-images, apple-silicon, lightweight-vms, linux-containers, containerization, virtualization, containers, devops, command-line, macos, swift

## Member repositories
- apple/container (main) score 86
- apple/containerization (sdk) score 71

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:11.600673+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 2026-08-29T16:20:13.553705+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/apple/container (fetched 2026-08-28T04:12:11.600673+00:00, sha 2ad9e3d0e00a)
  - homepage: https://apple.github.io/containerization/documentation/ (fetched 2026-08-28T18:13:44.967863+00:00, sha c9d659cb806f)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.