LazyOS

Self-hosted apps for your Mac — without ever seeing the words container, compose, or Docker.

LazyOS is a native macOS app + CLI that lets non-technical people (or yourself, when you're tired) run things like Mixpost, Postiz, n8n, Ghost locally — on demand, or on a schedule — with no Docker Desktop, no OrbStack, no separate daemon to babysit.

Open the app. Click Start on Mixpost. Open it in your browser. Click Stop when you're done. That's the whole product.

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ LazyOS                       ⌘K  Browse… ⚙   │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ RUNNING (1)                                  │
│ ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
│ │ ✉  Mixpost              ● Running        │ │
│ │    Schedule social posts                 │ │
│ │    CPU 3%  ·  RAM 412 MB                 │ │
│ │  ╔══════════════╗  Stop                  │ │
│ │  ║   Open  ↗    ║                        │ │
│ │  ╚══════════════╝                        │ │
│ └──────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
│                                              │
│ INSTALLED (3)                                │
│ ┌────────┐  ┌────────┐  ┌────────┐           │
│ │ Postiz │  │  n8n   │  │ Ghost  │           │
│ │ Start  │  │ Start  │  │ Start  │           │
│ └────────┘  └────────┘  └────────┘           │
│ ────────────────────────────────────────     │
│ 1 running · 3 containers · 3% CPU · 412 MB   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Why not just use OrbStack?

You can. LazyOS is the user version of OrbStack — same idea, different audience. OrbStack gives you containers; LazyOS gives you apps. Your friend who wants to schedule Instagram posts shouldn't have to learn what a container is.

LazyOS also runs the runtime itself invisibly (a tiny Linux VM via Apple's Virtualization.framework, driven by Lima). One app to install, no extra dependencies, no Docker Desktop.

Features

• Curated catalog. Mixpost, Postiz, MeTube, Excalidraw built in. n8n, Ghost coming. One click installs.
• Custom apps. Drag any folder containing a docker-compose.yml onto LazyOS to add it.
• Schedules. "Run Mixpost weekdays 9 AM – 7 PM." Translated to launchd plists under the hood.
• Power tiers. Light / Normal / Heavy. Plain English for CPU + RAM caps.
• Auto-stop on sleep. Closing your laptop stops the apps. They resume on demand.
• Backups. One click → ~/Documents/LazyOS Backups/<app>-<date>.tar.zst.
• Usage at a glance. CPU + RAM bars on each card and a global footer. Know when you're bloating your Mac.
• Menu bar. 📦 icon to start/stop without opening the window.
• CLI for AI coders. lazyos start mixpost, lazyos schedule mixpost "0 9 * * 1-5" "0 19 * * 1-5". Designed so Claude Code / Cursor / etc. can drive it programmatically.

Quick start

Requires macOS 14+ on Apple Silicon.

git clone https://github.com/wojtekwoz/lazyos.git
cd lazyos

# Until the bundled runtime ships, the dev build uses Homebrew Lima:
brew install lima

# Run the GUI:
swift run -c release LazyOSApp

# Or the CLI:
swift run -c release lazyos list
swift run -c release lazyos start mixpost
swift run -c release lazyos open mixpost

The first start downloads ~1.2 GB of images (Mixpost + MySQL + Redis). Subsequent starts take a few seconds.

CLI reference

lazyos list                              # show installed apps with status
lazyos catalog                           # show the catalog of available apps
lazyos install <slug>                    # install from catalog (e.g. mixpost)
lazyos add-folder <path>                 # add a custom app from a compose folder
lazyos start  <slug>                     # start an app
lazyos stop   <slug>                     # stop an app
lazyos status <slug>                     # off / starting / running / stopping
lazyos open   <slug>                     # open in default browser
lazyos remove <slug>                     # remove (volumes preserved)
lazyos schedule  <slug> "<startCron>" "<stopCron>"
lazyos unschedule <slug>
lazyos tier   <slug> light|normal|heavy  # set resource cap
lazyos backup  <slug>                    # → ~/Documents/LazyOS Backups/
lazyos restore <slug> <file.tar.zst>
lazyos usage                             # CPU/RAM by app + totals

Architecture

LazyOSApp (SwiftUI)          lazyos (CLI)
        │                         │
        └──────── LazyOSCore ─────┘
                      │
              ContainerEngine protocol
                      │
              ┌───────┴────────┐
              │  LimaEngine    │   (Apple `container` framework coming next)
              └───────┬────────┘
                      │ docker socket (vsock-forwarded)
                      ▼
              lazyos VM (Lima)
              Ubuntu + containerd + Docker
                      │
        ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐
        ▼             ▼             ▼
     Mixpost       MySQL          Redis     (Mixpost stack)

• Sources/LazyOSCore — shared library (models, runtime, store, scheduler, catalog).
• Sources/LazyOSApp — SwiftUI macOS app.
• Sources/lazyos — CLI (ArgumentParser).
• Sources/LazyOSCore/Catalog/Templates/<slug>/ — bundled compose templates.

Per-user state lives at ~/Library/Application Support/LazyOS/ (services.json, materialized compose files). Backups go to ~/Documents/LazyOS Backups/.

Adding an app to the catalog

1. Create Sources/LazyOSCore/Catalog/Templates/<slug>/docker-compose.yml. Use ${LAZYOS_PORT} for the host port; use ${LAZYOS_APP_KEY} if the app needs a unique per-install secret.
2. Create Sources/LazyOSCore/Catalog/Templates/<slug>/meta.json:

   {
     "slug": "ghost",
     "name": "Ghost",
     "blurb": "Self-hosted blogging",
     "iconSymbol": "newspaper.fill",
     "accentHex": "#15171A",
     "defaultPort": 30030,
     "healthcheckPath": "/",
     "needsAppKey": false,
     "firstRunHintMB": 500
   }

3. swift build — Package.swift already copies Catalog/Templates as a bundle resource.
4. PR welcome.

Status

Early. Mixpost / Postiz / MeTube / Excalidraw run end-to-end. CLI + GUI are wired. The bundled .app (signed/notarized DMG) and the migration from "depends on host Lima" → "bundled VM image inside the app" are the next two milestones. See ROADMAP.md for what's next and docs/embedded-runtime-plan.md for the runtime plan.

Security model

LazyOS runs each app's containers inside an Apple Virtualization-framework VM, so a container exploit doesn't reach macOS directly. Two things to keep in mind:

• Container processes can still read your home directory via Lima's default ~/ mount and can reach the public internet. Treat any catalog template (including ours) the same way you'd treat any docker-compose.yml — only run apps you trust.
• Custom folders are not sandboxed. Drag-and-drop install runs whatever the compose file says, including bind-mounts of host paths. Audit the YAML before adding.

Tighter mounts, image-digest pinning, and a custom-folder confirmation flow are all on the roadmap.

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. Areas where help would be immediately useful:

• More catalog templates (Postiz, n8n, Ghost, Nextcloud, Plausible, Umami, ...)
• A first-run "Setting up runtime…" sheet with proper progress
• Image-pull progress parsing on the card during Starting
• macOS 15 path using Apple's container framework (behind the same ContainerEngine protocol)
• Linux-style menu bar polish (icon when something's running, etc.)

License

MIT — see LICENSE.