microsoft
Support for the Containerization Framework on macOS
Containerization Framework is a new way supported by Apple to run Linux containers on macOS. Apple also releases a command line tool similar to Docker.
It will be a great benefit to developers if they can use it as a backend for VSCode remote development and devcontainer.
Since running macOS 26 beta Docker Desktop stopped working entirely. I understand the availability of alternative backends, but Apple's Container Framework offers unique benefits. I'm really keen on seeing native support for Apple's Containerization framework in Dev Containers.
Dev Containers 0.424.0-pre-release adds F1 > Dev Containers: Attach to Running Apple Container behind an experimental setting:
It seems to work with a basic Ubuntu container, but using, e.g., mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/typescript-node:latest hangs sometimes during startup. Not sure where that fails.
This is in an early state. Curious about your feedback, thanks!
Awesome!
As long as I test with a basic Docker image such as node:24, it seems to work fine. I was able to attach to the container I created with the command below and access a development server for a basic web app created with Svelte and Vite.
container run --rm -v ~/Developer:/workspace/VSCode --user node node:24 sleep infinity
Extensions and such appear to work. Port forwarding is not working, but that's not a big deal for me, since I can access it using the local address shown on Vite with the --host 0.0.0.0 option.
It seems to work with a basic Ubuntu container, but using, e.g., mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/typescript-node:latest hangs sometimes during startup. Not sure where that fails.
Having a similar problem with my ubuntu-based container. CMake build always hangs in some point. I've investigated this but didn't found a root cause :( Looks like a bug in the Apple Virtualization framework.
P.S. Extension works fine at least on the first look. Well done!
UPD: The same issue has been reported already: https://github.com/apple/container/issues/293
Port forwarding is not working, but that's not a big deal for me, since I can access it using the local address shown on Vite with the
--host 0.0.0.0option.
I had to add the port manually in the Ports panel. Then it worked. It looks like the automatic port discovery doesn't work.
I have Dev Containers 0.424.0-pre-release, container installed and running on my system and also enabled the experimental dev.containers.experimentalAppleContainerSupport setting. Still my VS Code complaints that Docker version 17.12.0 or later required. whenever I try to setup a dev container or attach my project to one (Docker Desktop is not anymore installed right now). Any idea?
@eckertj I am in the same boat. Fresh Tahoe install with only container and vscode installed. All docker related items in Container Tools will not show up. I believe those are separate issues:
- microsoft/vscode-containers#143
- microsoft/vscode-docker-extensibility#291
You can however connect directly to devcontainer via command palette:
