Free tools · Docker

A managed Docker engine that lives beside your machines

Run Docker containers on an Apple silicon Mac through a managed Debian engine that 1VMTool provisions and owns. Socket activation starts a stopped engine when a client connects, and the selected global Docker context is never changed behind you.

macOS 26 or later · Apple silicon · free on both tiers

Step by step

  1. 1vm engine setup

    Download and provision the managed Debian engine. `--no-start` prepares its disk before first boot.

  2. 1vm engine status --json

    Engine state, its socket, and the Docker context it owns.

  3. 1vm docker ps

    The Docker CLI through the private engine socket. A stopped engine starts on first connection.

  4. 1vm docker system df

    Where the disk went. The same figures back the usage overview in the app's Docker workspace.

Worth knowing

  • The engine can run containers alongside a regular VM, including on Free. Its RAM counts toward the library memory budget you set in Settings → Resources or `1vm config-global`.
  • `1vm engine service-stop` stops socket activation without deleting any container data; `1vm engine delete --force` removes the engine and its data for good.
  • The app's Docker workspace covers containers, images, volumes and networks, grouped by Compose project, with multi-select and bulk delete.

The long version

This page is the short path. For the whole area in prose — the options, the edge cases and what to do when it does not work — read Docker.

Download 1VMToolWhat Pro lifts

Related

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Run Windows on Apple silicon

The first-party 1VM engine boots Windows on ARM without QEMU — installed from your own ISO, with the virtio drivers attached.

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Snapshot and restore a VM

A snapshot is an APFS clone, not a copy — take and restore finish in well under a millisecond no matter how big the disk.

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Frequently asked questions

Does this replace Docker Desktop?

It covers the same job on this Mac — a Linux engine, the Docker CLI and a GUI over containers, images, volumes and networks — without a second VM stack of its own, since the engine is just another machine in your library.

Will it change my Docker context?

No. `1vm docker` talks to the private engine socket directly and never modifies the selected global context, so an existing Docker setup keeps working untouched.

How much memory does the engine take?

Whatever you budget for it. It is a machine like any other and counts against the library memory budget, so it cannot quietly crowd out the VM you are actually working in.