apple_virt
Native Apple Virtualization.framework virtual machines, via the avfbind crate.
Runs on Apple Silicon and requires the com.apple.security.virtualization
entitlement (handled by make sign — see
Installing From Source). Guests boot via EFI + GRUB.
Images are auto-downloaded from S3: default (Alpine), ubuntu-24.04, and the
-rust, -node, and -elixir variants.
Backend name: apple_virt.
apple_container
Uses Apple's container CLI tool to run Linux guests as lightweight VMs. This is
the default backend on macOS.
Backend name: apple_container (aliases apple-container, apple_vf, apple-vf;
API JSON additionally accepts applevf, which is not valid on the CLI or in
MVM_BACKENDS).
Note the alias collision:
apple_vfmaps to the Apple Container backend, whileapple_virtis the native Virtualization.framework backend.
sandbox_exec
Native macOS process sandboxing via sandbox-exec. No VM — it confines a process
with a sandbox profile. Lightweight, with weaker isolation than a VM.
Backend name: sandbox_exec.