Docker & Linux containers, native to your Mac.
A free, open-source alternative to Docker Desktop and OrbStack. One lightweight SwiftUI app that runs every container in a single shared VM, for a fraction of the memory.

⭐ If Dory saves you memory (or money), please star the repo. It genuinely helps others find it.

• One VM, all your containers. Dory builds on Apple's open-source container stack and boots a single persistent Linux micro-VM that runs everything, instead of one VM per container. Measured ~4.7× less idle memory than per-container VMs (2 containers: ~122 MB vs ~574 MB), and the gap widens with every container you add (methodology).
• Small and silent, permanently. A ~6 MB native app with ~0% idle CPU. No indexers, no phone-home, no fans. That's a design constraint, not a version note.
• Free for everyone, forever. No per-seat license, no "commercial use" tier, no account, no sign-in. GPL-3.0, full source right here. (A sourced comparison exists if you want one, so judge for yourself.)
• Your docker CLI just works. Dory serves the Docker API on ~/.dory/dory.sock and registers a dory Docker context. docker run, docker compose, your existing scripts and tools drive it unchanged.
• Native, not Electron. One Swift/SwiftUI app: menu-bar agent + full dashboard, launch animation to launch-at-login, light and dark. No Chromium, no Node, no telemetry.

Docker, complete

• Containers with live stats, logs, embedded terminal, env inspection; create / start / stop / restart / delete from the UI or CLI.
• Images: pull, build from a context folder, run, prune, registry sign-in, full inspect.
• Volumes (with a file browser) and networks (subnet / gateway / attached-container inspect).
• Compose: up / down with .env + variable interpolation, depends_on ordering, and service_healthy waiting.

Kubernetes, one click

• k3s inside the shared VM with selectable Kubernetes versions.
• Cluster browser: pods, deployments, services, config maps, secrets, ingresses, all with live health, pod exec, scale / restart / rollout controls, and kubectl apply from the app.

Linux machines

• Full Ubuntu / Debian / Fedora / Alpine / Arch VMs with snapshots, terminal access, and use-case recipes (Node, Python, Go, Rust, …) that provision the machine ready-to-code, plus a composer to hand-pick runtimes, tools, and packages.
• Your home directory is shared into the engine, so docker run -v ~/project:/app just works.

Networking that disappears

• Published ports on localhost, automatic *.dory.local domains for every container, and local HTTPS issued by a local CA. All consent-gated, nothing installed silently.
• x86/amd64 images run on Apple silicon via emulation.

Zero-friction start

• First launch walks you through everything, including a one-click install of Apple's open-source container toolchain if it's missing.
• Migration imports your images and containers from Docker Desktop or OrbStack.

See COMPATIBILITY.md for the honest, per-feature status matrix.

brew install --cask Augani/dory/dory

…or download the notarized .dmg from Releases, drag Dory to Applications, and open it. First launch guides you through the rest.

Dory selects a backend automatically; DORY_RUNTIME overrides it. All share one ContainerRuntime protocol.

• macOS 15 or later, Intel or Apple silicon: the app ships as a universal binary. On Intel (or older macOS), Dory pairs with any Docker-compatible engine: Colima, Docker Desktop, Rancher Desktop, Podman, or OrbStack.
• macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later on Apple silicon for Dory's standalone Shared VM / Apple container backends
• Xcode 27 or later (to build from source)

scripts/build.sh        # compile-check
scripts/test.sh         # full test suite
scripts/shot.sh         # build, launch, and screenshot the window

Or open Dory.xcodeproj in Xcode and Run.

These need a one-time admin grant (the same one OrbStack asks for) and are run by you, never silently:

scripts/enable-networking.sh    # *.dory.local domains + trust the local CA
scripts/enable-kubernetes.sh    # bootstrap k3s in the shared VM

Dory.app (SwiftUI)
      │
      ▼
ContainerRuntime protocol ──► { Shared VM · Apple container · Docker API · Mock }
      │
      ├─ doryd shim          Docker REST API over ~/.dory/dory.sock
      ├─ Compose engine      YAML → dependency DAG → reconcile
      ├─ engine services     health state machine · event synthesis · anon-volumes
      └─ Net                 LocalCA (TLS) · DomainRouter (*.dory.local) · port forwarding

Everything is dependency-light: the HTTP / unix-socket transport, YAML parser, and Docker-API client and server are hand-rolled, so the build stays small and deterministic. The Packages/ContainerizationEngine package links Apple's containerization framework to boot the Linux VM in-process.

Portable dev machines you can back up and restore, remote access to your engine, and sandboxed environments for AI agents. Follow the releases, and open an issue if you want to shape what comes first.

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

GPL-3.0 © 2026 Dory contributors.