insidegui/VirtualBuddy
Virtualize macOS 12 and later on Apple Silicon, VirtualBuddy is a virtual machine GUI for macOS M1, M2, M3, M4 observed · 2026-08-28
Health v2 · maintenance only
77/100
- Activity 99
- Release rhythm 35
- Longevity 100
How is this computed?
round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10) — computed 2026-09-03. Adoption (stars, forks) is never an input.
- gap_med: 80.5
- age_days: 1605
- days_rel: 353
- days_push: 7
- n_releases_24m: 5
Adoption not part of the score
8516 stars · 251 forks observed · 2026-08-28
What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded
VirtualBuddy is a free, open-source macOS application that virtualizes macOS 12 and later on Apple Silicon Macs, with a GUI for creating and managing virtual machines. It includes an installation wizard for downloading macOS restore images and supports running some ARM Linux distros.
Use cases
- test my app on multiple macOS versions
- run a macOS beta in a VM on an older macOS host
- spin up a clean macOS virtual machine on my M1 Mac
- boot an Ubuntu ARM virtual machine on Apple Silicon
- disable SIP in a macOS VM via recovery mode
- try macOS betas without touching my main system
When to choose
- you need a simple GUI to run macOS VMs on Apple Silicon
- you're a developer testing apps across macOS versions and betas
- you want a free, open-source alternative to paid VM tools like Parallels for macOS-on-macOS testing
When to avoid
- you need to run Windows or x86 guests
- you're on an Intel Mac
- you need advanced virtualization features like snapshots, GPU passthrough, or enterprise management
Facets
application · maturity active
gui developer-tools simulation developer-tools operating-systems virtual-machine apple-silicon macos-virtualization hypervisor vm-manager virtualization macos
1 source
- readme: https://github.com/insidegui/VirtualBuddy · fetched 2026-08-28 · 9ac3b8edb249
Member repositories
| Repository | Role | Health v2 |
|---|---|---|
| insidegui/VirtualBuddy | main | 77 |
For agents
markdown · JSON · MCP: product_card(name="insidegui/VirtualBuddy")
Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00 · Report a problem