gocker

gocker

Docker-compatible CLI and API daemon for Apple Container on macOS 26+.

Every container runs as a lightweight Linux microVM backed by Apple's Virtualization.framework — hardware-level isolation, not just namespaces.

Requirements

• macOS 26+ (Tahoe) on Apple Silicon
• Apple's container CLI

Install

go install github.com/lunguini/gocker@latest

Getting Started

# Check prerequisites and install Apple Container if needed
gocker setup

# Run a container
gocker run ubuntu:latest echo "hello from a microVM"

# Run an interactive container
gocker run -it ubuntu:latest /bin/bash

Usage

gocker mirrors Docker's CLI interface:

gocker run -d --name web -p 8080:80 nginx     # Run in background
gocker ps                                       # List containers
gocker logs web                                 # View logs
gocker exec -it web /bin/sh                     # Exec into container
gocker stop web                                 # Stop container
gocker rm web                                   # Remove container

Images, networks, and volumes work the same way:

gocker pull ubuntu:latest
gocker images
gocker network create mynet
gocker volume create mydata

Use --format json on any command for JSON output.

AI Agent Sandboxing

The killer feature. Run AI agents in hardware-isolated sandboxes with their host configs mounted automatically:

# Run a Claude sandbox
gocker sandbox run --agent claude --name my-sandbox

# Run a Codex sandbox
gocker sandbox run --agent codex --name my-sandbox

# Manage sandboxes
gocker sandbox ls
gocker sandbox attach my-sandbox
gocker sandbox logs my-sandbox
gocker sandbox stop my-sandbox
gocker sandbox rm my-sandbox

Docker API Compatibility

gocker includes a Docker-compatible REST API daemon that lets existing Docker tools work out of the box:

# Start the API daemon
gocker daemon start

# Now tools like lazydocker, Portainer, and Testcontainers
# can connect via ~/.gocker/gocker.sock

Building

make build     # Build the binary
make install   # Build and install to /usr/local/bin
make test      # Run tests
make lint      # Run linter

License

Apache 2.0