From what I understand VM does _not_ run in docker. The management interface does and connects to the VM running on macOS ARM host via Apple Virtualization Framework.
replies(2):
When building virtualized environments for AI agents, we needed a reproducible way to package and distribute macOS VMs. Inspired by projects like dockur/windows (https://github.com/dockur/windows) that pioneered running Windows in Docker, we wanted to create something similar but optimized for Apple Silicon. The existing solutions either didn't support M-series chips or relied on KVM/Intel emulation, which was slow and cumbersome. We realized we could leverage Apple's Virtualization Framework to create a much better experience.
Lumier takes a different approach: it uses Docker as a delivery mechanism (not for isolation) and connects to a lightweight virtualization service (lume) running on your Mac. This creates true hardware-accelerated VMs using Apple's native virtualization capabilities.
With Lumier, you can: - Launch a ready-to-use macOS VM in minutes with zero manual setup - Access your VM through any web browser via VNC - Share files between your host and VM effortlessly - Use persistent storage or ephemeral mode for quick tests - Automate VM startup with custom scripts
All of this works natively on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) - no emulation required.
To get started:
1. Install Docker for Apple Silicon: https://desktop.docker.com/mac/main/arm64/Docker.dmg
2. Install lume background service with our one-liner:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trycua/cua/main/libs/lume/scripts/install.sh)"
docker run -it --rm \
--name lumier-vm \
-p 8006:8006 \
-e VM_NAME=lumier-vm \
-e VERSION=ghcr.io/trycua/macos-sequoia-cua:latest \
-e CPU_CORES=4 \
-e RAM_SIZE=8192 \
trycua/lumier:latest
For persistent storage (so your changes survive container restarts):
mkdir -p storage docker run -it --rm \ --name lumier-vm \ -p 8006:8006 \ -v $(pwd)/storage:/storage \ -e VM_NAME=lumier-vm \ -e HOST_STORAGE_PATH=$(pwd)/storage \ trycua/lumier:latest
Want to share files with your VM? Just add another volume:
mkdir -p shared docker run ... -v $(pwd)/shared:/shared -e HOST_SHARED_PATH=$(pwd)/shared ...
You can even automate VM startup by placing an on-logon.sh script in shared/lifecycle/.
We're seeing people use Lumier for: - Development and testing environments that need macOS - CI/CD pipelines for Apple platform apps - Disposable macOS instances for security research - Automated UI testing across macOS versions - Running AI agents in isolated environments
Lumier is 100% open-source under the MIT license. We're actively developing it as part of our work on C/ua (https://github.com/trycua/cua), and we'd love your feedback, bug reports, or feature ideas.
We'll be here to answer any technical questions and look forward to your comments!
What’s the difference between this vs just using your lume CLI? Right now it feels like a worse interface to lume, but maybe I’m not getting a use case for this.
Also, any thoughts on https://github.com/cirruslabs/tart? (alas, not open source)
On a comparison with Tart, UTM, Lima, we actually touch it in this GitHub discussion: https://github.com/trycua/cua/issues/10
> aligning to a container interface here seems a natural step for us
It might be tricky since you do have to escape from the container to run the actual VM, though I guess you can figure something out here. I still think it’s the wrong layer to build your abstractions upon, but let’s see how it goes! Just don’t discontinue the CLI, it’s really cool :-)