# andrew-waters/orchard

A GUI for Apple Containers, (o)MLX and k8s, written in swift as a replacement for docker desktop

Repository: https://github.com/andrew-waters/orchard
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/orchard
Homepage: https://orchard.andon.dev
Language: Swift
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: apple, containerization, containers, swift, wwdc25, wwdc26, gui, ui, mlx-lm
Last push: 2026-08-25T08:27:34+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 85/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 99, longevity 31
- inputs: {"age_days": 442, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 8, "gap_med": 1.0, "n_releases_24m": 41}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1425, forks 42 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:41.421800+00:00)

## What it is
Orchard is a native Swift macOS GUI for Apple's container tooling, serving as a Docker Desktop replacement for managing containers, Linux VMs, and local Kubernetes clusters. It also bridges local MLX/Ollama/LM Studio model servers into containers and provides isolated no-egress sandboxes for running AI agents.

## Use cases
- manage apple containers without the cli
- replace docker desktop on mac
- run local mlx models and bridge them into containers
- run ai agents in isolated sandboxed containers
- create and manage local kubernetes clusters
- monitor container cpu memory and network usage
- pull and run docker hub images from a gui

## When to choose
- you use Apple's container tooling on macOS and want a native GUI
- you want a Docker Desktop alternative built on Apple containers
- you run local MLX models and want containers to reach them without manual networking
- you need isolated, no-egress sandboxes for coding agents

## When to avoid
- you need Docker Desktop features like Docker Compose or the Docker Engine itself
- you primarily work on Linux or Windows
- you need GPU access inside container VMs (inference runs on the host GPU)
- you require a cross-platform container management tool

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: container-runtime, container-orchestration, llm-inference, gui, developer-tools, monitoring
- domain: developer-tools, self-hosted, machine-learning, apple-ecosystem
- platform: -
- tags: apple-containers, docker-desktop-replacement, mlx, kubernetes, local-ai, sandboxed-agents, container-gui, containers, macos, swift, desktop

## Member repositories
- andrew-waters/orchard (main) score 85

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:41.421800+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 2026-08-30T04:37:29.620191+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/andrew-waters/orchard (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:41.421800+00:00, sha d9b986de0b2d)
  - homepage: https://orchard.andon.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T11:49:17.562596+00:00, sha a4d3568f8c35)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.