OrbStack

Last year I wrote how I’d switched from Docker Desktop to Colima, but later that same year I stumbled across a brand new solution that was in development, called OrbStack. The author was pretty communicative on Mastodon and so I downloaded it during the beta to take it for a spin, and was immediately blown away.

Containers should be a joy to use, not something you have to put up with. Let’s build the future of dev envs.

https://twitter.com/kdrag0n/status/1750965469518176438

So what makes it so special? Well let’s start with the performance. OrbStack is fast. How fast is it? Well I’ll let one of my Mastodon posts answer that question:

That’s right, after rebooting my Mac, the OrbStack user interface was up and running before the macOS Dock had even finished sliding up from the bottom of the screen. Everything about OrbStack is so fast you never feel like you’re waiting for it, it just gets out of the way and let’s you get on with things.

Another thing I really appreciate is the entire user interface is native SwiftUI. There’s no slow clunky Electron code to be found here. This means not only does the app perform faster, it also feels right at home on macOS. Controls behave how you’d expect, and it follow the system conventions properly.

Like Colima, OrbStack is a drop-in replacement for Docker Desktop. This means you can install it over the top of your existing Docker Desktop setup, and it will Just Work™. In fact it will offer to automatically import your existing container images and stotage volumes when you first run it, which is a nice touch.

Value added

There are a ton of features in OrbStack that really demonstrate the attention to detail and care, which shines throughout the product. They’re so numerous in fact I could spend a week talking about them, but instead I’m going to list a few of them here:

• Automatic HTTPS certificates and DNS for your containers
• Rosetta support for transparent x86 emulation
• Start/stop containers from the macOS menubar (including Compose projects)
• Explore Docker images directly using Finder (they can even show up as disk mounts)
• Two-way file sync between containers and your local filesystem
• Easily search through logs with a native log viewer (supports clickable links in the output)
• Automatic cleanup of unused build-caches to save disk space
• Much lower energy usage

The list goes on! Check out the feature comparison between OrbStack and Docker Desktop to see a more complete list.

Kubernetes and Linux

OrbStack also provides the best local Kubernetes story out there.

You get a single-node Kubernetes cluster which has been optimised for development, and because it uses the same container engine as the rest of OrbStack, all your Docker images are immediately available for use in pods, without needing to push to a registry. You also benefit from the other OrbStack features, for example automatic DNS names for your pods and services, no need to mess around with port forwarding. Ingress resources will Just Work™. It’s super slick.

As if all that weren’t enough, OrbStack even allows you to spin up Linux virtual machines, again with a level of polish that really sets it apart from other solutions.

Summary

I’ve been using OrbStack since the early beta, and immediately subscribed when v1.0 was launched back in September last year. In that time, it’s gone from strength to strength, continually adding great new features that really sets it apart from the competition. I love the proper native macOS application, the sheer speed, and all the nice “quality of life” features that make it a joy to use, and recommend you give it a try today.

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