Berthly v1.2.0 is out · Free & open source

Apple's container,
finally with a face.

Berthly is a native macOS app for Apple's container tool — build images, run containers and machines, manage networks and volumes, and tail logs from a real GUI instead of the command line.

Apple Silicon · macOS 26 or later · works with Apple's container daemon

Apple's container runs Linux containers in lightweight VMs on Apple Silicon — fast, native, and built by Apple. It ships as a command-line tool. Berthly is the GUI it's missing: the Docker Desktop-style experience, driving the same daemon underneath.

Command palette

⌘K, and you're there

Every action — run a container, start a machine, pull an image — is a keystroke away. Berthly is keyboard-first throughout: ⌘K opens the palette, ⌘1–6 switch sections, ⌘⌥1–3 jump between a container's Overview, Logs, and Terminal.

See all keyboard shortcuts →

The command palette (⌘K) matching lifecycle actions for a container
Live monitoring

Watch without watching

Live CPU, memory, and network charts for every container — something the CLI simply can't show you. Pin your favorites to the menu bar and get a notification when one changes state while you're elsewhere.

Inspect status, ports, mounts, networks, and environment at a glance.

A container's detail view: live CPU, memory, and network charts above the inspect table
Drag-and-drop builds

Drag it in, and Berthly takes it from there

Drag a Dockerfile or Containerfile from Finder onto the window or sidebar — Berthly resolves the context and path and opens the Build sheet already pointed at them, ready to tag and run.

Context and flags are remembered too, so re-running a build later never means re-entering anything — right-click the image and Rebuild. Read how it handles symlinks and race conditions →

A Dockerfile mid-drag from Finder over Berthly's Compute view, with the 'Drop to build an image' overlay showing
Image updates, Watchtower-style

Know when your images fall behind

Berthly checks your registries in the background and badges any image — or the container running it — whose registry digest has moved past your local copy. Recreate with Latest Image does the pull-stop-delete-create-start dance for you, volumes untouched.

Read how the update check works →

The Compute list showing an update badge on the datastore row, and the Recreate with Latest Image context menu item open
Features

Everything the CLI does, without the CLI

Berthly drives the same container daemon you already use — it just gives you eyes and hands.

Images

List, pull from a registry, build from a Dockerfile, and inspect layers and metadata.

Containers

Create and run containers, view details, and stream logs live as they happen.

Machines

Create and manage VMs, set the kernel, and inspect resources.

Networks & volumes

Create, list, and remove them without touching a terminal.

Registries

Sign in to private registries; credentials live in your macOS Keychain.

Integrated terminal

A real terminal attached to your containers, built on SwiftTerm.

Command palette

Jump to any action with a keystroke — ⌘K and go.

Right-click, everywhere

Every row — containers, images, volumes, networks — carries its full action set in a context menu, no detail pane required.

Menu-bar presence

Quick status and controls without leaving what you're doing.

Drag-and-drop builds

Drag a Dockerfile or Containerfile from Finder onto the window to open the Build sheet, pre-filled and ready to go.

Rebuild in one click

Every build's context and flags are remembered, so re-running one never means re-entering anything.

Builds keep going

Close the build sheet and keep working — the toolbar indicator tracks progress and surfaces failures.

Disk hygiene at a glance

Reclaimable-space badges on Images and Volumes, with confirmed one-click pruning.

Image updates, Watchtower-style

Berthly checks your registries in the background and badges anything stale — recreate a container in one click, volumes untouched.

Get started

Running in 30 seconds

1

Download the DMG

Grab Berthly-1.2.0.dmg from the latest release. It's Developer ID–signed and notarized by Apple — no warnings, no workarounds.

2

Drag to Applications

Open the DMG and drag Berthly.app into Applications. Updates arrive in-app from then on — Berthly → Check for Updates.

3

Launch — that's it

No daemon yet? Berthly installs Apple's signed container toolchain and starts and monitors the daemon for you.

Read the full getting-started guide →

Privacy

Everything stays on your Mac

Berthly is a local tool, and it behaves like one. It talks only to the local container daemon over XPC — no telemetry, no analytics, no calls home.

No telemetry

No analytics, no crash reporting, no calls home. The only network traffic is your own image pulls and pushes.

Keychain-only credentials

Registry sign-ins live in the same macOS Keychain items the CLI uses. Nowhere else, ever.

Open code

Apache-2.0 on GitHub. Not sandboxed by necessity — so audit exactly what it does.

Found a vulnerability? Report it privately →