Features

Everything 1VMTool does

One page per capability, with the limits stated rather than buried. If something is experimental it says so here, on the same page as the feature itself.

24 features5 categories

Speed and disposability

The reason the app exists: a snapshot is an APFS clone, so resetting a machine costs less than cleaning one.

Sub-millisecond snapshots

Take and restore a snapshot in well under a millisecond, no matter how large the disk has grown, because a snapshot is an APFS clone rather than a copy.

Rollback mode

Discard everything written since boot when the machine powers off, so it returns to a known-good state every single time it starts.

Branching snapshot tree

Real branching history with tree glyphs and per-node unique data, so you can see where a machine diverged and what each branch costs on disk.

Creating and running machines

Getting from an ISO, an installer or a bundled image to a booted guest, with the limits stated before you commit.

Installation Assistant

Four routes into a new machine, drag-and-drop an ISO anywhere in the window, and the limits for each guest stated before you commit to anything.

Profiles fitted to your Mac

Hardware profiles that scale themselves down to what your Mac can actually spare, with a live split meter showing exactly what macOS is keeping for itself.

Linux guests

ARM64 Linux on Apple's Virtualization.framework or on the 1VM engine, with virtio devices, shared NAT networking and a Metal-backed console.

macOS guests

Run macOS inside macOS on Apple's Virtualization.framework — a clean system for testing installers, upgrades and anything you would rather not do to your real one.

Windows on ARM

Windows on ARM runs on the first-party 1VM engine with NVMe and xHCI. This one is genuinely limited rather than finished, and the app says so on the same screen.

Omarchy in one click

A prebuilt ARM64 Omarchy system ships inside the app. Create the machine and the Arch plus Hyprland desktop comes up signed in, with no ISO, no installer and no command line.

Golden image library

Pin a configured machine as a golden and linked-clone a fleet from it. Every clone shares the original's blocks until it writes.

The engine underneath

What actually executes guest code — Apple's Virtualization.framework and 1VMTool's own Hypervisor.framework engine.

The 1VM engine

A first-party virtual machine monitor on Hypervisor.framework with a Metal console, used where Apple's Virtualization.framework does not go.

Zero dependencies

No QEMU, no bundled hypervisor, no third-party runtime. The package graph is empty on purpose, and swift build is the whole build.

Control and inspection

Seeing what a machine is doing and changing it, from the window, the menu bar or the terminal.

Control Center

A grouped machine list with live host CPU and memory, and per-machine figures at a glance.

Metal console

The guest display in a Metal-backed window with a status strip, full screen and picture-in-picture — and a clear statement that this is scanout, not a virtual GPU.

Storage view

Allocated, on-disk and reclaimable space on one volume bar, so you can see where the space actually went and get it back.

Configuration

Six panes covering CPU, graphics, devices, network, sharing and security — where no control appears without saying what it costs.

Menu bar control

Start, stop, snapshot and watch host memory without ever opening the main window.

The 1vm command line

A complete CLI covering create, start, snapshot, inspect and reset — a peer of the GUI rather than a paid tier or an afterthought.

MCP server for coding agents

A local MCP endpoint that lets Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or any other client create, run, snapshot and destroy machines — inside a blast radius you set.

Disposable task machines

`1vm task run` clones a golden, waits for it to be ready, runs your command and disposes of the machine — with a snapshot on each side of the work.

Archive and reclaim

Park a stopped machine as a compressed bundle and get the disk space back. Run the same command again to restore it.

Automatic port forwarding

Linux guests' listening TCP and UDP ports are discovered and published on your Mac's loopback without being declared in advance, and a collision is reported rather than silently taken.

Docker on the same Mac

Containers beside the machines: an engine you set up, start and delete like any other VM, and a workspace for everything running inside it.

Managed Docker engine

A Debian VM running upstream Docker, provisioned by one command and removed by another. Its memory counts against the same library budget as your machines, and it never changes the Docker context you already use.

Docker workspace

Containers, images, volumes and networks in the app, grouped by Compose project, each page opening with what is live, what it costs on disk and what can be reclaimed.