{"slug": "apple-container", "name": "Apple container", "category": "infra", "category_name": "Infrastructure and DevOps", "description": "Apple's open-source tool for running Linux containers as lightweight VMs on macOS.", "recommenders": 10, "commenters": 12, "warners": 2, "score": 7.28, "rising": -0.62, "first": "2026-01-23", "latest": "2026-08-10", "why": "HN commenters use it mainly to sandbox AI coding agents in lightweight Linux VMs on macOS, and as a replacement for Docker for Mac.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 11, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 4, 2, 2, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Agent sandboxing", "Docker replacement"], "caveat": "Work in progress", "short_quote": "apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/apple/container", "official_url": "https://github.com/apple/container", "pricing": "open source", "aliases": ["Apple container", "Apple Container", "Apple containers", "Apple Containers", "apple/container"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters use it mainly to sandbox AI coding agents in lightweight Linux VMs on macOS", "cites": [{"id": 787348896, "item_id": 49209306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49209306", "by": "gregwebs", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Mac you now have Apple Container which is a lightweight Linux VM.", "excerpt": "Sandboxes laregely solve this. The claude/codex built in sandboxes with prompting setup is not good enough. On Mac you now have Apple Container which is a lightweight Linux VM. You still need to block network access. For defense in depth, I also run it as a separate user. If you aren't using a VM/container you should defintitely do this. On Mac you can login as an LLM user (you need to create the user first), then sw", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "sandboxing AI agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Humans missed 1 in 3 threats approving AI agent commands across 40k game runs"}, {"id": 776046049, "item_id": 48502878, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502878", "by": "cohix", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple containers specifically, for better hypervisor-level isolation", "excerpt": "> But on the other hand... this is a robust reminder that coding agents can do anything you can do by typing commands into a terminal\u2014and frontier models know every trick in the book and evidently a few that nobody has ever written down before. > Running coding agents outside of a sandbox has always been a bad idea This is why I always run code agents inside containers (Apple containers specifically, for better hyper", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Fable is relentlessly proactive"}, {"id": 775534960, "item_id": 48470935, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470935", "by": "mkagenius", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple containers are great for providing a sandbox to your AI coding agents", "excerpt": "Apple containers are great for providing a sandbox to your AI coding agents I have made it a MCP so that it's easily discoverable by all the coding agents https://github.com/instavm/coderunner", "context": "", "use_case": "sandbox for AI coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}, {"id": 760851280, "item_id": 47553205, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47553205", "by": "te_chris", "date": "2026-03-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "on mac you can virtualise really easily into microvms now with https://github.com/apple/container", "excerpt": "This looks nice, but on mac you can virtualise really easily into microvms now with https://github.com/apple/container. I've built my own cli that runs the agent + docker compose (for the app stack) inside container for dev and it's working great. I love --dangerously-skip-permissions. There's 0 benefit to us whitelisting the agent while it's in flight. Anthropic's new auto mode looks like an untrustworthy solution i", "context": "", "use_case": "sandbox agents in microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Don't YOLO your file system"}, {"id": 749521392, "item_id": 46845087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845087", "by": "mkagenius", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The isolation it provides is superior than docker.", "excerpt": "> And with apple/container, it\u2019s very easy to launch a semi-sandboxed Linux environment on macOS too. I used apple containers and have put in a jupyter server in it and exposed it as an API/MCP. The isolation it provides is superior than docker. Everything works locally. Coderunner - https://github.com/instavm/coderunner", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxed Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The surprising attention on sprites, exe.dev, and shellbox"}]}, {"text": ", and as a replacement for Docker for Mac.", "cites": [{"id": 747724464, "item_id": 46732779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46732779", "by": "outcoldman", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months", "excerpt": "If somebody missed it, apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months, there are issues, but also team is actively developing it. https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "containers on macOS", "switched_from": "Docker for Mac", "story": "What Has Docker Become?"}, {"id": 782501104, "item_id": 48906319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906319", "by": "mark_l_watson", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker.", "excerpt": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker. Alternatively: I am not enthusiastic about Anthropic as a company but I use Claude Code with the three best open coding models (for low cost and speed) and opus when I need it: if you configure Claude Code correctly you protect !/.ssh, etc. I would rather use OpenCode but I am more comfortable with CC (and of course turn off telemetry). re: this article", "context": "does Swift dev on the command line", "use_case": "sandboxing agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}, {"id": 781377024, "item_id": 48836064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836064", "by": "hirvi74", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me.", "excerpt": "I am not sure what you mean by \"completely separate from docker.\" I have been using Container for some time now, and oddly enough, it was my first real exposure to using containers. I can say this much though: 1. I do not have docker anything installed anywhere on my mac. I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me. 2. I can pull images from docker hub", "context": "", "use_case": "running LLM CLI tools in containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is that it is still a work in progress", "cites": [{"id": 787867312, "item_id": 49241707, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49241707", "by": "benguild", "date": "2026-08-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Container is an interesting work in progress", "excerpt": "Apple Container is an interesting work in progress: https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Docker Sandboxes \u2013 Disposable, isolated sandboxes for AI agents"}, {"id": 747724464, "item_id": 46732779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46732779", "by": "outcoldman", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months", "excerpt": "If somebody missed it, apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months, there are issues, but also team is actively developing it. https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "containers on macOS", "switched_from": "Docker for Mac", "story": "What Has Docker Become?"}]}, {"text": ", with reports of issues, slow filesystem performance and failures to run.", "cites": [{"id": 775523280, "item_id": 48470205, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470205", "by": "llimllib", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "container failed to run at all for me", "excerpt": "Is this new? I thought we had this already In my testing (iirc) filesystem performance was not good enough to be usable with node/rust dev where lots of small files get stat-ed update: what's new is the `container machine` subcommand. I went to test it out, but container failed to run at all for me: https://github.com/apple/container/issues/1681", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}, {"id": 747724464, "item_id": 46732779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46732779", "by": "outcoldman", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months", "excerpt": "If somebody missed it, apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months, there are issues, but also team is actively developing it. https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "containers on macOS", "switched_from": "Docker for Mac", "story": "What Has Docker Become?"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Agent sandboxing", "summary": "Commenters run AI coding agents and LLM CLI tools inside it to keep them away from the host.", "quotes": [{"id": 775534960, "item_id": 48470935, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470935", "by": "mkagenius", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple containers are great for providing a sandbox to your AI coding agents", "excerpt": "Apple containers are great for providing a sandbox to your AI coding agents I have made it a MCP so that it's easily discoverable by all the coding agents https://github.com/instavm/coderunner", "context": "", "use_case": "sandbox for AI coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}, {"id": 776046049, "item_id": 48502878, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502878", "by": "cohix", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple containers specifically, for better hypervisor-level isolation", "excerpt": "> But on the other hand... this is a robust reminder that coding agents can do anything you can do by typing commands into a terminal\u2014and frontier models know every trick in the book and evidently a few that nobody has ever written down before. > Running coding agents outside of a sandbox has always been a bad idea This is why I always run code agents inside containers (Apple containers specifically, for better hyper", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Fable is relentlessly proactive"}, {"id": 781377024, "item_id": 48836064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836064", "by": "hirvi74", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me.", "excerpt": "I am not sure what you mean by \"completely separate from docker.\" I have been using Container for some time now, and oddly enough, it was my first real exposure to using containers. I can say this much though: 1. I do not have docker anything installed anywhere on my mac. I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me. 2. I can pull images from docker hub", "context": "", "use_case": "running LLM CLI tools in containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI"}]}, {"label": "Docker replacement", "summary": "Some use it instead of Docker for Mac, and it can pull and run Docker Hub images.", "quotes": [{"id": 747724464, "item_id": 46732779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46732779", "by": "outcoldman", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months", "excerpt": "If somebody missed it, apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months, there are issues, but also team is actively developing it. https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "containers on macOS", "switched_from": "Docker for Mac", "story": "What Has Docker Become?"}, {"id": 782501104, "item_id": 48906319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906319", "by": "mark_l_watson", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker.", "excerpt": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker. Alternatively: I am not enthusiastic about Anthropic as a company but I use Claude Code with the three best open coding models (for low cost and speed) and opus when I need it: if you configure Claude Code correctly you protect !/.ssh, etc. I would rather use OpenCode but I am more comfortable with CC (and of course turn off telemetry). re: this article", "context": "does Swift dev on the command line", "use_case": "sandboxing agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}, {"id": 781377024, "item_id": 48836064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836064", "by": "hirvi74", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me.", "excerpt": "I am not sure what you mean by \"completely separate from docker.\" I have been using Container for some time now, and oddly enough, it was my first real exposure to using containers. I can say this much though: 1. I do not have docker anything installed anywhere on my mac. I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me. 2. I can pull images from docker hub", "context": "", "use_case": "running LLM CLI tools in containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI"}]}, {"label": "Strong isolation", "summary": "Its hypervisor-level isolation is described as better than Docker's.", "quotes": [{"id": 776046049, "item_id": 48502878, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502878", "by": "cohix", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple containers specifically, for better hypervisor-level isolation", "excerpt": "> But on the other hand... this is a robust reminder that coding agents can do anything you can do by typing commands into a terminal\u2014and frontier models know every trick in the book and evidently a few that nobody has ever written down before. > Running coding agents outside of a sandbox has always been a bad idea This is why I always run code agents inside containers (Apple containers specifically, for better hyper", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Fable is relentlessly proactive"}, {"id": 749521392, "item_id": 46845087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845087", "by": "mkagenius", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The isolation it provides is superior than docker.", "excerpt": "> And with apple/container, it\u2019s very easy to launch a semi-sandboxed Linux environment on macOS too. I used apple containers and have put in a jupyter server in it and exposed it as an API/MCP. The isolation it provides is superior than docker. Everything works locally. Coderunner - https://github.com/instavm/coderunner", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxed Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The surprising attention on sprites, exe.dev, and shellbox"}]}, {"label": "Ease of use", "summary": "Commenters call it easy and convenient to use, with a neat UX.", "quotes": [{"id": 760851280, "item_id": 47553205, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47553205", "by": "te_chris", "date": "2026-03-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "on mac you can virtualise really easily into microvms now with https://github.com/apple/container", "excerpt": "This looks nice, but on mac you can virtualise really easily into microvms now with https://github.com/apple/container. I've built my own cli that runs the agent + docker compose (for the app stack) inside container for dev and it's working great. I love --dangerously-skip-permissions. There's 0 benefit to us whitelisting the agent while it's in flight. Anthropic's new auto mode looks like an untrustworthy solution i", "context": "", "use_case": "sandbox agents in microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Don't YOLO your file system"}, {"id": 782501104, "item_id": 48906319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906319", "by": "mark_l_watson", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker.", "excerpt": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker. Alternatively: I am not enthusiastic about Anthropic as a company but I use Claude Code with the three best open coding models (for low cost and speed) and opus when I need it: if you configure Claude Code correctly you protect !/.ssh, etc. I would rather use OpenCode but I am more comfortable with CC (and of course turn off telemetry). re: this article", "context": "does Swift dev on the command line", "use_case": "sandboxing agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}, {"id": 775549056, "item_id": 48471816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48471816", "by": "rakel_rakel", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "UX wise it looks kinda neat though!", "excerpt": "It's funny that the system config page (https://github.com/apple/container/blob/main/docs/container-system-config.md) lists pebibytes for RAM configurations... in this day and age where buying a 16GB stick for workstation would cause me to eat instant ramen for a couple of months because my dentist needs an LLM chatbot on their page to stay competitive! UX wise it looks kinda neat though!", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Work in progress", "summary": "Users describe it as unfinished, with known issues.", "quotes": [{"id": 787867312, "item_id": 49241707, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49241707", "by": "benguild", "date": "2026-08-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Container is an interesting work in progress", "excerpt": "Apple Container is an interesting work in progress: https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Docker Sandboxes \u2013 Disposable, isolated sandboxes for AI agents"}, {"id": 747724464, "item_id": 46732779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46732779", "by": "outcoldman", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months", "excerpt": "If somebody missed it, apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months, there are issues, but also team is actively developing it. https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "containers on macOS", "switched_from": "Docker for Mac", "story": "What Has Docker Become?"}]}, {"label": "Reliability", "summary": "One user found that the new container machine subcommand failed to run at all.", "quotes": [{"id": 775523280, "item_id": 48470205, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470205", "by": "llimllib", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "container failed to run at all for me", "excerpt": "Is this new? I thought we had this already In my testing (iirc) filesystem performance was not good enough to be usable with node/rust dev where lots of small files get stat-ed update: what's new is the `container machine` subcommand. I went to test it out, but container failed to run at all for me: https://github.com/apple/container/issues/1681", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}]}, {"label": "Filesystem performance", "summary": "One user found filesystem performance too slow for Node and Rust work that stats many small files.", "quotes": [{"id": 775523280, "item_id": 48470205, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470205", "by": "llimllib", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "container failed to run at all for me", "excerpt": "Is this new? I thought we had this already In my testing (iirc) filesystem performance was not good enough to be usable with node/rust dev where lots of small files get stat-ed update: what's new is the `container machine` subcommand. I went to test it out, but container failed to run at all for me: https://github.com/apple/container/issues/1681", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}]}, {"label": "x86 images", "summary": "x86 containers require Rosetta, so one user sticks to AArch64 images.", "quotes": [{"id": 781377024, "item_id": 48836064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836064", "by": "hirvi74", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me.", "excerpt": "I am not sure what you mean by \"completely separate from docker.\" I have been using Container for some time now, and oddly enough, it was my first real exposure to using containers. I can say this much though: 1. I do not have docker anything installed anywhere on my mac. I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me. 2. I can pull images from docker hub", "context": "", "use_case": "running LLM CLI tools in containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI"}]}, {"label": "Network access", "summary": "When sandboxing agents, you still need to block network access yourself.", "quotes": [{"id": 787348896, "item_id": 49209306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49209306", "by": "gregwebs", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Mac you now have Apple Container which is a lightweight Linux VM.", "excerpt": "Sandboxes laregely solve this. The claude/codex built in sandboxes with prompting setup is not good enough. On Mac you now have Apple Container which is a lightweight Linux VM. You still need to block network access. For defense in depth, I also run it as a separate user. If you aren't using a VM/container you should defintitely do this. On Mac you can login as an LLM user (you need to create the user first), then sw", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "sandboxing AI agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Humans missed 1 in 3 threats approving AI agent commands across 40k game runs"}]}, {"label": "Not truly native", "summary": "One commenter argues it is just a Linux VM, not a native Apple solution.", "quotes": [{"id": 782441392, "item_id": 48902587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48902587", "by": "NamlchakKhandro", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It's just a linux vm running normal docker engine.", "excerpt": "\"Apple Containers\" I love how people say this like Apple finally created a native solution... They didn't. It's just a linux vm running normal docker engine.", "context": "", "use_case": "running containers on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}]}], "who": [{"by": "gregwebs", "context": "Mac user", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49209306", "date": "2026-08-07"}, {"by": "mark_l_watson", "context": "does Swift dev on the command line", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906319", "date": "2026-07-14"}], "tags": ["for Mac users", "for sandboxing AI agents", "Docker alternative"], "use_cases": ["sandboxing coding agents", "linux containers on macos", "sandboxing containers", "sandboxing ai agents", "sandboxing agents", "running containers on mac"], "compared": [{"slug": "docker", "name": "Docker", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "claude-code", "name": "Claude Code", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "docker-desktop", "name": "Docker Desktop", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "opencode", "name": "OpenCode", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "orbstack", "name": "OrbStack", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 775524225, "item_id": 48470264, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470264", "by": "egernst", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "We'd recommend using a base image for the guest that includes systemd.", "excerpt": "Thanks for the info kdrag0n! Big fan of OrbStack; good call out on dynamic memory. If the guest image has /sbin/init, we use that. We'd recommend using a base image for the guest that includes systemd. ie: https://github.com/apple/container/blob/main/docs/container-machine.md#bring-your-own-container-machine-image", "context": "", "use_case": "container machines on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48469658", "title": "macOS Container Machines", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48896665", "title": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49239751", "title": "Docker Sandboxes \u2013 Disposable, isolated sandboxes for AI agents", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49195468", "title": "Humans missed 1 in 3 threats approving AI agent commands across 40k game runs", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48821848", "title": "Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48518969", "title": "AI Coding at Home Without Going Broke", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1, "recommend": 4}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 2}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 787867312, "item_id": 49241707, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49241707", "by": "benguild", "date": "2026-08-10", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple Container is an interesting work in progress", "excerpt": "Apple Container is an interesting work in progress: https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Docker Sandboxes \u2013 Disposable, isolated sandboxes for AI agents"}, {"id": 787348896, "item_id": 49209306, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49209306", "by": "gregwebs", "date": "2026-08-07", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "On Mac you now have Apple Container which is a lightweight Linux VM.", "excerpt": "Sandboxes laregely solve this. The claude/codex built in sandboxes with prompting setup is not good enough. On Mac you now have Apple Container which is a lightweight Linux VM. You still need to block network access. For defense in depth, I also run it as a separate user. If you aren't using a VM/container you should defintitely do this. On Mac you can login as an LLM user (you need to create the user first), then sw", "context": "Mac user", "use_case": "sandboxing AI agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Humans missed 1 in 3 threats approving AI agent commands across 40k game runs"}, {"id": 782501104, "item_id": 48906319, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48906319", "by": "mark_l_watson", "date": "2026-07-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker.", "excerpt": "Well you can use Apple Containers - more convenient than Docker. Alternatively: I am not enthusiastic about Anthropic as a company but I use Claude Code with the three best open coding models (for low cost and speed) and opus when I need it: if you configure Claude Code correctly you protect !/.ssh, etc. I would rather use OpenCode but I am more comfortable with CC (and of course turn off telemetry). re: this article", "context": "does Swift dev on the command line", "use_case": "sandboxing agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}, {"id": 782441392, "item_id": 48902587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48902587", "by": "NamlchakKhandro", "date": "2026-07-13", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It's just a linux vm running normal docker engine.", "excerpt": "\"Apple Containers\" I love how people say this like Apple finally created a native solution... They didn't. It's just a linux vm running normal docker engine.", "context": "", "use_case": "running containers on Mac", "switched_from": "", "story": "Building and Shipping Mac and iOS Apps Without Ever Opening Xcode"}, {"id": 781377024, "item_id": 48836064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48836064", "by": "hirvi74", "date": "2026-07-08", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me.", "excerpt": "I am not sure what you mean by \"completely separate from docker.\" I have been using Container for some time now, and oddly enough, it was my first real exposure to using containers. I can say this much though: 1. I do not have docker anything installed anywhere on my mac. I run LLMs CLI tools out of containers with mounted directories. Absolutely zero issues in my workflow for me. 2. I can pull images from docker hub", "context": "", "use_case": "running LLM CLI tools in containers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Davit, a Apple Containers UI"}, {"id": 776426497, "item_id": 48526656, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48526656", "by": "dofm", "date": "2026-06-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "", "excerpt": "> I'm guessing the next thing I should probably look into is some sort of machine vm I can tunnel my codex-gui requests to so I don't have to deal with the sandbox approvals (I don't want to give it \"dangerous\" access to my entire mac). Docker sbx is worth looking at here, possibly; essentially a canned VM with a file system mount and layers for installing various agentic coding environments that cannot work outside ", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "AI Coding at Home Without Going Broke"}, {"id": 776046049, "item_id": 48502878, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502878", "by": "cohix", "date": "2026-06-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple containers specifically, for better hypervisor-level isolation", "excerpt": "> But on the other hand... this is a robust reminder that coding agents can do anything you can do by typing commands into a terminal\u2014and frontier models know every trick in the book and evidently a few that nobody has ever written down before. > Running coding agents outside of a sandbox has always been a bad idea This is why I always run code agents inside containers (Apple containers specifically, for better hyper", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxing coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "Claude Fable is relentlessly proactive"}, {"id": 775549056, "item_id": 48471816, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48471816", "by": "rakel_rakel", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "UX wise it looks kinda neat though!", "excerpt": "It's funny that the system config page (https://github.com/apple/container/blob/main/docs/container-system-config.md) lists pebibytes for RAM configurations... in this day and age where buying a 16GB stick for workstation would cause me to eat instant ramen for a couple of months because my dentist needs an LLM chatbot on their page to stay competitive! UX wise it looks kinda neat though!", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}, {"id": 775534960, "item_id": 48470935, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470935", "by": "mkagenius", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Apple containers are great for providing a sandbox to your AI coding agents", "excerpt": "Apple containers are great for providing a sandbox to your AI coding agents I have made it a MCP so that it's easily discoverable by all the coding agents https://github.com/instavm/coderunner", "context": "", "use_case": "sandbox for AI coding agents", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}, {"id": 775523280, "item_id": 48470205, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48470205", "by": "llimllib", "date": "2026-06-09", "stance": "warn", "quote": "container failed to run at all for me", "excerpt": "Is this new? I thought we had this already In my testing (iirc) filesystem performance was not good enough to be usable with node/rust dev where lots of small files get stat-ed update: what's new is the `container machine` subcommand. I went to test it out, but container failed to run at all for me: https://github.com/apple/container/issues/1681", "context": "", "use_case": "Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "macOS Container Machines"}, {"id": 760851280, "item_id": 47553205, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47553205", "by": "te_chris", "date": "2026-03-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "on mac you can virtualise really easily into microvms now with https://github.com/apple/container", "excerpt": "This looks nice, but on mac you can virtualise really easily into microvms now with https://github.com/apple/container. I've built my own cli that runs the agent + docker compose (for the app stack) inside container for dev and it's working great. I love --dangerously-skip-permissions. There's 0 benefit to us whitelisting the agent while it's in flight. Anthropic's new auto mode looks like an untrustworthy solution i", "context": "", "use_case": "sandbox agents in microVMs", "switched_from": "", "story": "Don't YOLO your file system"}, {"id": 749521392, "item_id": 46845087, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46845087", "by": "mkagenius", "date": "2026-02-01", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The isolation it provides is superior than docker.", "excerpt": "> And with apple/container, it\u2019s very easy to launch a semi-sandboxed Linux environment on macOS too. I used apple containers and have put in a jupyter server in it and exposed it as an API/MCP. The isolation it provides is superior than docker. Everything works locally. Coderunner - https://github.com/instavm/coderunner", "context": "", "use_case": "sandboxed Linux containers on macOS", "switched_from": "", "story": "The surprising attention on sprites, exe.dev, and shellbox"}, {"id": 747724464, "item_id": 46732779, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46732779", "by": "outcoldman", "date": "2026-01-23", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months", "excerpt": "If somebody missed it, apple/container is a good replacement for Docker for Mac on macOS. I have been using it for the last 6 months, there are issues, but also team is actively developing it. https://github.com/apple/container", "context": "", "use_case": "containers on macOS", "switched_from": "Docker for Mac", "story": "What Has Docker Become?"}]}