NTFS read/write on Apple Silicon macOS — no kernel extension, no SIP modification.

Wraps anylinuxfs (a libkrun microVM running ntfs-3g), exported to macOS over NFS on a host-only vmnet bridge. CLI first, GUI second.

macOS does not have native NTFS write support. The usual fixes are a kernel extension (blocked by newer SIP policy) or a paid third-party driver. ntfsmac takes a third path: a disposable Linux microVM does the actual NTFS write, and macOS just mounts it over NFS — no kext, no SIP toggle, no System Extension approval dance.

• Apple Silicon (arm64) only. No Intel fallback.
• macOS 13.0+.

CLI, via Homebrew tap:

brew tap khr898/ntfsmac
brew install ntfsmac
ntfsmac diagnose

GUI: download the latest ad-hoc-signed .dmg from Releases — not distributed as a Homebrew cask (see Signing & distribution).

ntfsmac mount <disk identifier>      # e.g. disk4s1 — mounts read/write by default
ntfsmac unmount <disk identifier>
ntfsmac diagnose                     # environment + bridge + helper health check
ntfsmac uninstall                    # removes CLI, runtime state, and the GUI's privileged helper
ntfsmac help

Device identifiers are validated against ^disk[0-9]+s[0-9]+$ before any command touches them — see SECURITY.md.

Menu-bar app (no Dock icon): pick a drive, mount it, get out of the way. Menu-bar icon color tells the whole story — grey idle, blue mounting, green mounted read/write, yellow mounted read-only (dirty journal), red error. Full button-level spec in GUI-PLAN.md.

macOS ── NFS (soft mount) ──> vmnet host-only bridge ──> libkrun microVM ── ntfs-3g ──> NTFS drive

Every control that mounts, unmounts, or touches pf/route state goes through a SMJobBless XPC helper — the GUI never shell-outs to sudo directly. Full architecture and phased build plan: docs/dev/PLAN.md.

Ad-hoc signed only (codesign -s -) — no paid Apple Developer account, no notarization. That's why the GUI ships as a DMG (never a Homebrew cask) and the CLI lives in a personal tap (never homebrew-core).

CLI-first build, currently in the Phase 3 GUI build-out. See docs/dev/PLAN.md for the full phase plan.

See CONTRIBUTING.md. Working with an AI coding agent? Start with CLAUDE.md (also readable as AGENTS.md).

Please report vulnerabilities per SECURITY.md rather than filing a public issue.

MIT — see LICENSE.