Quick Start

Quick start

From nothing to a running web app, in about five minutes.

1. Install

Download and open ContainerManager.dmg, drag the app to Applications, and launch it.

You also need Apple's container tool (1.2.0 or later). If it isn't installed, the app says so and offers to fetch and run the official installer for you — Install container on the gate screen. That's a .pkg, so macOS will ask for your password.

2. Start the services

If container's background services aren't running, the app shows a gate screen with a Start button. Click it.

The first start downloads a Linux kernel and base filesystem — a few minutes, with progress shown. After that, starting takes seconds.

You can see the state at any time in the bottom-left of the window: a status dot, the running version, and a Stop button.

3. Run your first container

Containers ▸ +. The only field you must fill in is the image:

Field	Try
Name	leave blank for a random one, or hello
Image	docker.io/library/nginx:latest
Published ports	8080:80

Leave Start after create on, click Create, and the image pulls with progress. When it's running, open http://localhost:8080 and you'll get the nginx welcome page.

Select the container to see its address, logs, and a Terminal tab with a shell inside it.

On macOS 27 beta, published ports currently accept a connection and then reset it. Use the container's own address instead — it's shown in the detail pane. See Troubleshooting.

4. Stand up a stack

A single container is rarely the whole job. Stacks ▸ + ▸ WordPress + MariaDB:

Field	Default
Stack name	mysite
Database password	wordpress
Web port	8080

Click Create. The app makes a private network, two volumes, and two containers — the database first, then WordPress pointed at it — and shows progress as it goes. When it finishes, Open in Browser takes you to the WordPress installer, already talking to its database.

That's the thing worth understanding about stacks: you didn't configure any addresses. See Stacks for what it built and why.

5. Clean up

• Stop a stack from its detail pane; it keeps everything and can be started again.
• Delete removes the containers and the network, but keeps the volumes — so your database survives. Remove those from Volumes if you want the data gone.
• Containers and machines keep running after you quit the app; they're managed by container's background services. After a reboot they come back stopped.

Where next

• Examples — Gitea with a CI runner, a static site from a folder on your Mac, importing a compose file.
• Stacks — templates, custom stacks, editing one after the fact.
• Machines — if what you actually want is a Linux workspace rather than an app.
• Settings and updates — update checks, restarting the services, reaching containers by name.