README.md2 min read

ArcBox

A fast, open-source container and VM runtime for macOS.

Built from scratch in Rust. Drop-in Docker, agent sandboxes, native Kubernetes, and full Linux and macOS VMs.

Why ArcBox

ArcBox is an open-source alternative to Docker Desktop and OrbStack on macOS. OrbStack set the bar for running Docker on a Mac quickly and with little overhead, but it is closed-source. ArcBox is open source under MIT/Apache-2.0 and written from scratch in Rust — its own VMM, VirtIO devices, filesystem sharing, and network datapath — and aims to match it.

One daemon, one CLI, four kinds of workload on the same runtime:

Tier	What it is	Where to start
Containers	A drop-in Docker engine, plus native Kubernetes	`docker …`, `abctl k8s`
Sandboxes	Disposable microVMs for AI agents and untrusted code	`abctl claude`, `abctl sandbox`
Linux machines	Full VMs with their own kernel, disk, and distro	`abctl machine`
macOS guests	Throwaway macOS VMs, cloned from a base image	`abctl macos`

The sandbox you run locally is the same primitive ArcBox Platform runs in the cloud, so you can build against local sandboxes and scale to a fleet without changing your code.

ArcBox is in public beta. Join us on Discord, or open an issue.

Quick start

# Install with Homebrew
brew install --cask arcboxlabs/tap/arcbox

# or with the install script
curl -fsSL https://get.arcbox.dev | bash

# Start the daemon and enable Docker compatibility
abctl daemon start
abctl docker enable

# Run a container
docker run -d -p 8080:80 nginx
curl http://localhost:8080

Run abctl doctor to check the runtime, and abctl --help to see every command.

Containers

ArcBox is a drop-in Docker engine. It exposes a Docker-compatible socket and proxies to a guest dockerd, so the Docker CLI, your scripts, and your Compose files work without changes.

abctl docker enable        # creates and activates the "arcbox" Docker context
docker run -d -p 8080:80 nginx
docker compose up
docker build -t myapp .

Containers, images, builds (BuildKit/Buildx), Compose, port forwarding, bind mounts, named volumes, and interactive exec all work today. abctl docker setup installs and manages the matching docker, buildx, and compose binaries for you.

amd64 and arm64 images

ArcBox runs linux/amd64 images on Apple Silicon next to native arm64. x86-64 is translated inside the guest by FEX, an open-source emulator, with nothing to configure.

docker run --platform linux/amd64 alpine uname -m
# x86_64

Native Kubernetes

A local k3s cluster, managed by the daemon, with host integration for kubectl.

abctl k8s start
abctl k8s enable      # installs kubectl, merges the kubeconfig, switches context
kubectl get nodes

abctl k8s kubeconfig prints the managed kubeconfig on its own, if you would rather wire it into your own tooling than let enable touch ~/.kube/config.

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