Running Linux Containers Natively on macOS with Apple's Container CLI
Apple now ships a native container CLI tool for macOS — and yes, that means you can run Linux containers without Docker Desktop. Built on top of Apple’s Containerization Swift package and the Virtualization.framework, it spins up lightweight Linux VMs that run OCI-compatible container images with sub-second startup times. It feels native because it is native. In this post, I’ll walk you through installing the container CLI, running your first container, allocating resources for heavy AI workloads, and troubleshooting a common macOS firewall issue that tripped me up the first time I used it. ...