Orchard

Spec sheet

Purpose

Orchard is a native macOS interface for managing Apple Containers, machines, local Kubernetes clusters, local AI models, and agent sandboxes.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

License

Orchard is open source under the MIT license.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

AI integrations

Orchard discovers Ollama, LM Studio, and MLX model servers and can bridge their endpoints into containers.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

AI limits

Orchard manages MLX servers it starts, while detected Ollama, LM Studio, and user-launched MLX servers are read-only in Orchard.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

AI scope

Orchard manages and bridges model servers; it does not include its own inference engine, chat playground, or fine-tuning tool.Read 7 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Compose

Orchard can bring up and take down projects from compose.yaml files and lists projects based on container labels.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Container management

Orchard supports live container filtering, grouping, bulk actions, image management, and side-by-side logs.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Distribution

The maker provides a Homebrew install command and a direct macOS .dmg download.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Kubernetes

Orchard groups local Kubernetes cluster nodes and supports cluster lifecycle actions, kubeconfig access, and loading local images into a cluster.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Kubernetes limits

The documented Apple container k8s plugin creates single-node clusters, and Orchard directs workload management to tools such as kubectl, k9s, or Lens.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Local AI integrations

It discovers Ollama, LM Studio, and MLX model servers and can bridge them into containers using OPENAI_BASE_URL or OLLAMA_HOST.Read 7 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Machines

Orchard can create, configure, run, and monitor persistent Linux virtual machines through Apple’s container machine service.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Native app

The app is written in Swift, uses XPC, and has no Electron shell or web views.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Network limitation

A no-egress sandbox requires a host-only network, which the guide says must currently be created from the CLI.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Notable cluster limitation

The cluster guide reports that Apple container 1.2.2 cluster creation can fail during kubeadm init because of an upstream iptables-nft issue, and that the plugin currently creates single-node clusters.Read 7 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Notable machine limitation

Machine images need an init system such as systemd or openrc, and deleting a machine permanently removes its disk without an undo option.Read 7 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Open source

Orchard is open source under the MIT license.Read 7 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Requirements

Orchard requires macOS 26 and Apple Container installed.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Sandbox isolation

Sandbox isolation relies on Apple’s per-container VM boundary and the chosen network; Orchard says it adds no isolation of its own.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Security and signing

The site says Orchard is a signed native Swift app using XPC, and each release is code-signed with a registered Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple.Read 7 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Signing

The maker says every release is code-signed with a registered Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple.Read 8 Oct 2026 · orchard.andon.dev

Where Specifiction places it

• Local Kubernetes Tools#23 of 236.8