The native GUI for
Apple Containers

Orchard is a native macOS app for Apple's container tooling - manage containers and machines, bridge local AI models into them, and run agents in isolated sandboxes, all without dropping to the CLI.

Download for macOS View on GitHub

brew install orchard

Orchard - container detail with CPU, memory, network and disk over time

Everything, without dropping to the CLI

Orchard puts Apple's container tooling behind a first-class Mac interface - signed, notarized, and native Swift.

Container machines

Create, run and monitor persistent Linux VMs, with a stop → apply → restart config editor and init-system guardrails. Learn more →

Kubernetes clusters

Create and manage local k8s clusters on the container runtime, load local images into them, and open a kubectl-ready terminal. Learn more →

Local AI & sandboxes

Run MLX models on the host and bridge them into containers, with isolated no-egress sandboxes for agents. Learn more →

Command palette

Cmd+K fuzzy-searches every resource and runs actions from the keyboard - "stop db", "logs api", "console web".

Container management

Create, start, stop, force-stop and delete containers, with live status and sortable lists.

Image management

Pull, delete and search Docker Hub directly, and run containers straight from an image.

Multi-pane logs

Stream logs from several containers side by side, with split panes, filtering and per-container colour.

Live stats

Watch CPU, memory, disk and network usage in real time, with sortable columns.

Networks & DNS

Manage networks, DNS domains, published ports and hostnames from the app.

Automatic updates

Orchard keeps itself up to date via Sparkle - signed updates delivered in place.

See everything at a glance

A system-wide dashboard sums CPU, memory, network and disk across every container, with headline disk-usage tiles and per-container sparklines.

Everything is a keystroke away

Press Cmd+K and type: fuzzy-ranked results across containers, images, mounts, machines, Kubernetes clusters, AI models, sandboxes, DNS domains and networks, plus actions - run a container, pull an image, stop a workload, open its logs or a shell - without touching the mouse.

The Orchard command palette: fuzzy search across every resource with keyboard-reachable actions

Glance from the menu bar

CPU and memory rings across running containers, per-container start/stop controls, and one-click access back to the app.

Persistent Linux machines

Create, run and monitor container machines - stateful Linux VMs with your home directory mapped in - with live resource usage, a stop → apply → restart config editor and init-system guardrails. Learn more →

Managing a container machine in Orchard, with live resource usage

Local Kubernetes, grouped and clickable

Cluster nodes from the container k8s plugin are grouped into named clusters with per-node role, status, IP and resources - create, start and delete clusters, load local images into containerd, and open a terminal with the kubectl context selected. Learn more →

The Clusters view in Orchard: a local Kubernetes cluster with its control-plane node, kubectl access and per-node details

Bridge local models into containers

Discover MLX, Ollama and LM Studio servers on your Mac - or run your own - and see the endpoint containers use to reach them. Inference stays on the Apple GPU. Learn more →

The AI Models view in Orchard: a detected local model server with its on-Mac and container-reachable endpoints

Run agents in isolated sandboxes

A sandbox is a container wired to a local model on a host-only network: it can reach the model but not the internet, with a local endpoint instead of an API key - and a kill-switch when you're done.

A sandboxed agent in Orchard with the Isolated badge, model endpoint, and chat, terminal and stop controls

Search and pull images

Browse Docker Hub, inspect image metadata, and pull without memorising CLI flags.

Debug across services

Split-pane log viewer with text filtering and per-container colour coding keeps multi-service output readable.

Networking without port-mapping

Every container gets its own IP. See addresses and hostnames per network, and create or remove networks from the app.

Friendly DNS domains

Give containers real hostnames. Set the default DNS domain and add or remove domains without root gymnastics.

Track every mount

See which host paths and volumes each container mounts, and jump straight to them in Finder.

Install Orchard

Every release is code-signed with a registered Apple Developer ID and notarized by Apple, so it installs cleanly - no Gatekeeper warnings.

Homebrew