andrew-waters/orchard

The native UI for Apple Containers and (o)MLX sandboxes, written in swift as a replacement for docker desktop

What it solves

Orchard provides a native macOS desktop interface for managing Apple's container runtime. It bridges the gap between the command-line interface and a visual dashboard, enabling users to manage containers, Linux virtual machines (container machines), Kubernetes clusters, and local AI model integration without needing to manually parse CLI output.

How it works

Orchard is built in Swift and communicates directly with the Apple container daemon using the native XPC API. This allows for real-time monitoring and control without the overhead of spawning CLI processes. For AI workflows, it detects local model servers (like Ollama or MLX) and injects the necessary environment variables into containers, allowing them to access local models as if they were remote OpenAI-compatible endpoints. It also provides isolated "sandboxes" for running agents securely.

Who it’s for

It is designed for macOS engineers and developers who use Apple's container tooling and want a performant, native GUI for managing their local development environments, Kubernetes clusters, and AI agent sandboxes.

Highlights

  • Native AI Integration: Automatically bridges local MLX/Ollama model servers to containers, enabling secure, local agent development.
  • Container Machines: Manage persistent, stateful Linux VMs with live resource monitoring (CPU, memory, disk) directly from the app.
  • Kubernetes Support: Create and manage local Kubernetes clusters with one-click access to kubectl contexts.
  • Compose Projects: Run docker-compose stacks using the native container runtime, with visual feedback on service status and configuration issues.
  • Command Palette: A fuzzy-searchable interface (Cmd+K) to manage all resources and perform actions like stopping containers or viewing logs.

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