Dory

One Mac. Your whole development world.
Docker, Compose, Kubernetes, Linux virtual machines, and policy-bound agent sandboxes
in one native, open-source local development system.

Website · Download · Compatibility · Architecture · Performance evidence · Sponsor · Agent reference

Dory is built and qualified for Apple Silicon. Intel Mac support will follow after dedicated hardware validation. Current downloads and the Homebrew cask do not include an Intel build.

Dory 0.4.6 is one smaller Docker Core app with optional, signed Kubernetes, Linux Machines, Linux Desktop, Debian, Ubuntu, and Kali components. The website shows the exact total before download, carries that choice into Dory for confirmation, and can remove optional payloads later without deleting containers, volumes, cluster state, machine disks, snapshots, or exports.

Explore the interactive Dory interface

What Dory is

Dory is a self-contained local runtime for software development on macOS. It gives standard Docker tools a native Apple Silicon engine, adds one-click Kubernetes, full graphical Linux desktops, and persistent headless servers, and keeps the whole workspace operable from both a SwiftUI app and a versioned command-line interface.

There is no required Docker Desktop, external VM manager, account, cloud control plane, telemetry, or commercial-use tier. Dory is GPL-3.0 software and stores workload data on your Mac.

Why it is different

• A complete runtime, not a dashboard. Docker Core includes its engine, guest, Docker tools, Compose, Buildx, networking, file sharing, and recovery tools. Kubernetes and Linux machine payloads are signed components rather than permanent app weight.
• One shared container VM. Containers use one persistent Linux engine. Its memory ceiling is configurable, and free guest pages can be returned to macOS.
• Linux machines beside containers. Machines are separate VMs with their own disk, address, resources, shell, shares, and snapshots. They are not disguised containers.
• Install custom arm64 Linux. Choose an installer ISO and virtual-disk size in the desktop creation flow. Dory fingerprints the exact media, reports architecture compatibility separately from runtime qualification, and privately imports accepted bytes. It preserves the VM's EFI identity and NVRAM; eject or reattach the ISO from the machine menu after installation. A private bidirectional serial console supplies durable boot diagnostics and recovery input. Snapshots preserve the disk and EFI firmware state together, including across export/import.
• Desktops update without recreation. Signed Debian, Ubuntu, Kali, and graphical-kernel component updates are applied to existing persistent guests. Dory creates a last-good snapshot, preserves installed applications and user data, reboots and qualifies the desktop, and restores the snapshot automatically if installation, boot, or qualification fails.
• Every important setting is in the app. Engine resources, storage, migration, automatic and custom domains, low ports, LAN access, Auto-Idle, machine environment policy, USB, and managed defaults all have a graphical path.
• Automation is a product surface. JSON schemas, safe dry runs, event streams, wait commands, a machine-readable guide, and MCP let coding agents operate Dory without scraping the UI.
• Recovery preserves data. Repairs are targeted, cleanup is a dry run by default, engine restarts require clear intent, and ordinary uninstall keeps the selected data drive.

Install

Homebrew

brew install --cask Augani/dory/dory

The Homebrew cask installs Docker Core. Add Kubernetes, Linux Machines, or individual graphical desktop packs from Dory after it opens.

Open Dory once. The daemon keeps docker, docker compose, and dory available in ~/.dory/bin, creates the dory Docker context, and points it at ~/.dory/dory.sock. Installing the Kubernetes component adds kubectl. Docker Desktop and a separate Docker CLI install are not required.

Direct download

Start with the one Apple Silicon Dory 0.4.6 Docker Core DMG. The signed catalog shows its exact download and installed sizes. Drag Dory to Applications, open it, then add only the components you want. The website's component selector can open the same selection in Dory after installation. Dory shows the signed sizes again and waits for explicit confirmation before downloading any optional payload.

Focused components

Docker Core contains Dory.app, the Docker engine and CLI, Compose, Buildx, networking, storage, migration, diagnostics, and recovery. The signed component catalog offers:

Component download and installed sizes come from the signed release catalog, not estimates. Dory stores installed payloads inside the selected .dorydrive/components directory. Removing a component reclaims only its installed payload. Workload data on the selected drive is preserved. The Kubernetes component size covers kubectl; the selected k3s container image is downloaded on first cluster creation and then remains in Docker storage on the selected data drive.

The native Components screen and dory component commands install, update, verify, and remove the same catalog entries. Components are transactional, digest-verified, architecture-checked, and activated atomically. A cached catalog is used offline only after its signature is verified again. The Core app reuses its signed engine kernel and rootfs for its macOS 14 fallback through internal aliases, so compatibility does not make users download duplicate VM payloads.

Dory.app uses one signed update feed while optional components update independently on the selected data drive, so an app update cannot silently add a large Linux payload.

Upgrading from an older release

Use Settings > Updates for the normal in-place upgrade. Dory verifies the Sparkle feed and signed archive, free space, selected data drive, component compatibility, and readable data-schema path; records the exact app, configuration, component generation, and verified snapshot reference; then runs Docker API, volume-marker, pre-existing container/port, and optional Kubernetes smoke tests on the next launch.

If that smoke test fails, Dory restores the exact last-known-good app, configuration, and verified component generation without blindly downgrading durable data. An unsafe schema rollback