Support for the Containerization Framework on macOS

[nexryai]

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.

[buelbuel]

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.

[chrmarti]

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!

[nexryai]

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.

[yerseg]

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: apple/container#293

[chrmarti]

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.

I had to add the port manually in the Ports panel. Then it worked. It looks like the automatic port discovery doesn't work.

[eckertj]

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?

[firien]

Jacob Eckert (@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:

• Support for coming macOS container runtime vscode-containers#143
• Apple container support in vscode-container-client vscode-docker-extensibility#291

You can however connect directly to devcontainer via command palette:

[gravelfreeman]

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?

You have to manually spin a container in Terminal. Something like this worked for me 👍

container run --name talos \
  -d \
  --workdir /workspace/talos\
  --volume "$PWD":/workspace/talos\
  --volume "$HOME/.kube":/home/vscode/.kube \
  mcr.microsoft.com/devcontainers/base:ubuntu@sha256:8d68bbf458958747a7f41756f60de95d5b404f374f05cd42969957653fad0cfe \
  sleep infinity

Then in vscode you can press F1 and then choose Dev Containers: Attach to Running Apple Container... and then choose the container you just created.

You'll have to navigate by yourself to your mounted container path project which isn't convenient.

This isn't ideal because your devcontainer.json file will not be read at all. You can add the suggested extensions in /.vscode/extensions.json file of your project. But that's all.

In my case I was running a post install script with everything my container requires and now I have to run this script manually in a vscode devcontainer terminal.

If you're fine with manually doing this whole process everytime you want to open a project you might want to be aware of the frequent crashes resulting in vscode unable to connect to your container anymore. The container system is now unable to stop container, kill container, stop system. The only way is to reboot the computer.

I'll hope devcontainer will begin officially supporting apple containers as soon as possible since in theory it's a much better solution for Mac than anything else.

Maybe I had something off in my container creation command. I'm open to try this another time.