ArcBox Desktop
The same runtime, on your Mac.
ArcBox Desktop is a native macOS app for containers, Kubernetes, Linux machines, and agent sandboxes — everything the runtime runs, in one window.
The platform runs ArcBox Core on our hosts; Desktop runs the same open-source code on yours. The app bundle carries the daemon, the CLI, the guest kernel, and the Docker tools, so there is nothing else to install and no account to create.
brew install --cask arcboxmacOS 15 or later · Apple silicon · free for personal use
- 4
- surfaces, one window
- 1
- daemon behind them
- 0
- accounts to create
- 2
- repos, MIT or Apache-2.0
What it runs
Four things, one window. Containers, Kubernetes, Linux machines, and agent sandboxes — every one of them from the same daemon.
Containers
Full Docker Engine API compatibility. Compose projects group as one row, logs stream live, the terminal is interactive, and the file browser merges the overlay layers so you see what the process sees.
Docsk3s · kubectlKubernetes
Pods and services from the k3s cluster the daemon manages, with the same logs and the same terminal as a container. One command starts it; nothing to install.
Docsabctl machineLinux machines
Full virtual machines with their own kernel, a persistent disk, and the distribution you pick. Attach a terminal, browse the guest filesystem, or reach one at a name on your Mac.
Docsabctl sandboxSandboxes
Disposable microVMs for agents and untrusted code — published ports, checkpoints you boot copies from, file copy in and out, and a lifecycle event log.
DocsYour Docker CLI, unchanged.
The daemon serves a standard Docker Engine API socket, and the app bundle ships the client tools that talk to it.
# docker, buildx, and compose ship in the app bundle
abctl docker enable # creates the "arcbox" context
docker compose up -d
docker build -t my-app .
docker logs -f my-api
# containers register a name your Mac resolves
curl http://my-api.arcbox.local:8080/health
# and their filesystems are ordinary files
ls ~/ArcBox/volumes- docker · buildx · compose
- Bundled, and symlinked into /usr/local/bin by the privileged helper.
- /var/run/docker.sock
- The standard path, so a tool that hardcodes it finds ArcBox.
- ~/ArcBox
- Container, image, and volume filesystems, read-only in Finder.
- *.arcbox.local
- Every container and machine registers a name your Mac resolves.
One runtime, two places. What you debug on your Mac is the object the platform creates on its own hosts.
Same runtime
The VMM, the VirtIO device model, the userspace network datapath, the filesystem sharing, and the vsock guest agent are one codebase, whether it runs on your Mac or on our hosts.
Same CLI
Create, exec, snapshot, destroy. The verbs that drive a machine on your desk are the verbs that drive a Computer in a region.
Same objects
A sandbox you checkpoint locally and one the platform restores are the same object with the same lifecycle events. The app reads the streams the API exposes.
Open source
Both halves, MIT or Apache-2.0. No closed core, and no feature held back behind a paid tier.
The VMM and its device model, the daemon, the abctl CLI, the privileged helper, and the sandbox stack.
arcboxlabs/arcbox-desktopSwift · MIT OR Apache-2.0The app itself: SwiftUI over gRPC for ArcBox objects and the Docker Engine API for Docker ones.
FEX, Firecracker, k3s, and the upstream Docker CLI tools ship with it; their licences are listed in NOTICE.md.
Before you install
What it needs, and what it costs.
$ abctl doctor
ok daemon socket
ok system vm
ok docker api proxy
ok dns resolver
ok network bridge
ok container route
ok privileged helper
What you run once the helper is authorized.
- Requirements
- macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, on Apple silicon. Intel support is in progress.
- In the bundle
- The daemon, the abctl CLI, the guest kernel and root filesystem, and the Docker CLI tools. One app update moves the whole stack.
- amd64 images
- linux/amd64 runs beside native arm64 with nothing to configure — Rosetta on the default backend, FEX on the other.
- Account
- None. There is no sign-in, no licence key, and no cloud dependency; the daemon runs on your machine.
- Cost
- Free for personal use, and free for commercial use during the public beta.
- Usage data
- Anonymous feature-usage statistics are on by default and Settings → General → Privacy turns them off. No container data, filesystem content, or source code is collected.
Install it on your Mac.
Free for personal use, and free for commercial use during the public beta.
brew install --cask arcbox