MacVisor
Free 30-day trial
Native VM management with snapshots, templates, flexible storage, advanced networking, guest tools, and CLI automation for Macs. Operate as desktop virtualization, headless hypervisor or CI automation. Designed for Mac as Infrastructure.
Run AI agents safely in a disposable Linux or macOS VM (AI sandboxes), or let your agent use the VMs you open to it (MCP).
Free 30-day trial · macOS 27 · Secured by Polar
Promotional offer: $10 off with code
MacVisor 27 Pro: a one-time license for one Mac, covering every MacVisor 27.x update.
Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc.
Linux distribution logos are trademarks of their respective owners.
Install with Homebrew
DeltaSnap 
DriveSync 
Noject 
DeltaSync $ brew tap scaleninja/tap && brew trust --tap scaleninja/tap$ brew install --cask macvisorFrom early users
Ok, that’s the best and most out of the box thing I’ve ever seen. Brilliant and kudos!
“Ran Ventura on MacVisor to debug and fix an issue in Scribbble app. Was such a breeze working with it, thanks for making it”
“that is super! … You just got yourself a long term loyal customer.”
Early adopter
Shared with us privately
“Loving it so far. Really smooth experience.”
Early adopter
Shared with us privately
“managed to install and use it, looking great.”
Early adopter
Shared with us privately
Screenshots
Linux VM
Account, containers, port forwards, guest tools, and live readings on one Overview tab.
macOS 27 guest
Installed from Apple's image, signed in, with the MacVisor Agent running.
Windows 11 (Tech Preview)
Installed unattended, with Remote Desktop, guest tools, and Windows in its own window.
AI sandbox
An agent's sandbox with its model, allow list, and changes to review, beside the AI settings.
Dashboard
The Mac at a glance: background service, resources given to VMs, inventory, and auto-start.
New VM
Pick a cloud image or installer; everything else has a default.
Templates
Cloud images, macOS installers, and your own templates, with their sizes.
Storage
Every bundle with its logical, on-disk, and private size.
Networks
Custom networks, VLANs, port groups, and which VM is attached where.
Guest operating systems
Native ARM64 guests on Apple's Virtualization framework. MacVisor downloads each image or installer once, verifies it, and keeps it for every VM you make from it.
Supported Native macOS VMs from Apple's own installers.
Supported Ready-to-use VMs from a signed catalogue of Linux distro vendor cloud images.
Tech Preview Windows 11 on ARM for Windows-only apps, PowerShell and .NET work.
Experimental: 
FreeBSD 15.1 and 16.0-CURRENT, used over SSH only.
Mac and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc.
Linux distribution and FreeBSD logos are trademarks of their respective owners.
Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
Built-in feature set
MacVisor brings desktop VM ergonomics and virtualization-platform controls into one native app. These features reflect the current implementation, not roadmap items.
MacVisor 27 requires macOS 27. Some features additionally depend on supported Apple Silicon hardware.
In 11 languages
The app, the VM window and the permission prompts follow your Mac's language: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Romanian, Swedish and Simplified Chinese. The mvz CLI stays in English.
The MacVisor Architecture
MacVisor separates management, clients, and VM execution. An always-running
control plane owns orchestration and policy. The native GUI and
mvz
CLI act as independent clients, while every VM runs in its own isolated process.
That same architecture works as a desktop app, a persistent local host, or a
CLI-driven virtualization platform.
MacVisor process model
One host, independent lifecycles
Restart the GUI, close a display, or run only the CLI without making those client lifecycles the VM lifecycle.
Each VM has a dedicated runtime owner, so one runner failure does not take down every workload or the control plane.
GUI and CLI issue the same typed requests and receive the same state events from the service.
After a control-plane restart, MacVisor reconciles live runner records and removes stale processes from its registry.
One architecture, three operating modes
The same VM can move between interactive and unattended workflows without moving to a different runtime or management stack.
Interactive
Open a VM in its own Mac window with dynamic display sizing, input capture, clipboard, shared folders, file transfer, audio, and USB passthrough.
Best for development, OS testing, and hands-on lab work.
Persistent
Start VMs headlessly, keep them running after windows close, enable login autostart, and connect services through named networks and port forwards.
Best for always-on services, clusters, and multi-VM environments.
Programmable
Create a Linux dev VM from a cloud image in one command, open a shell
in it, and script lifecycle, snapshots, networks, port forwards,
autostart, and serial-console access through the bundled
mvz CLI.
Best for repeatable environments, automation, and local CI workflows.
AI Sandboxes Tech Preview
Coding agents like Claude Code and Codex do their best work when they can run commands without asking you first. On your Mac that is risky: they can reach your files, your keys and your network. MacVisor runs each agent in its own VM instead, and you check what it changed before anything touches your project.
An agent on your Mac
The same agent in a sandbox
Can read your SSH keys, passwords and other projects.
Sees one copy of one project, and nothing else from your Mac.
Needs your API keys in its environment.
Never gets a key. MacVisor adds it to each request on the way out.
Can reach the internet, your network and the apps on your Mac.
Reaches only the sites you allow. Your Mac and your network are off limits.
Changes your files directly.
You see a diff first, and apply it when you are happy with it.
How it works
Your keys, your code and your models stay on the Mac
Five steps
mvz sandbox create ~/src/app --agent claude Makes a Linux or macOS VM, copies your project in and installs the agent.
mvz sandbox run app-1 -- "fix the failing test" The agent works on its own. Watch it, or open a shell next to it.
mvz sandbox diff app-1 See every changed file. Scripts, hooks and CI files are flagged.
mvz sandbox apply app-1 Bring the changes into your project, or onto a new branch.
mvz sandbox discard app-1 Throw the VM away, or roll back to a checkpoint and try again.
Prefer the app? Click New AI Sandbox… next to + in the sidebar. The sandbox's Overview has buttons to run the agent, review its changes and apply them.
Use Ollama, LM Studio, oMLX or llama.cpp on your Mac. The model gets the Mac’s GPU and memory, and every sandbox shares it.
Use Claude, GPT or OpenRouter models. Your API keys stay in the Mac’s Keychain.
Claude Code, Codex, Goose, Aider and OpenCode are installed and set up for you. Or bring your own.
npm, PyPI, GitHub and your distribution’s mirrors are allowed. Add or remove sites at any time.
Checkpoints save the whole VM, memory included. Roll back when an agent goes off track.
An MCP server lets agents on your Mac use sandboxes too, with screenshots and clicks in a macOS one, and the VMs you open to them.
A Tech Preview. AI sandboxes are tested in every build, but commands and defaults may still change. Models run on your Mac rather than in the VM, where they get the full GPU and memory.
Read the guideAI agents over MCP Tech Preview
MacVisor’s MCP server gives an agent on your Mac, such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex or Cursor, the VMs you open to it. Ask it to reproduce a bug on a clean Ubuntu VM, try a change on two macOS versions, or set up three VMs for a test and remove them afterwards. Every other VM stays out of its sight.
The default, for every VM
Look, don’t touch
Use it like you would
# Connect Claude Code (once)
$ claude mcp add macvisor -- mvz mcp serve
# Open one VM to agents
$ mvz set ubuntu-dev --agents control
Let AI agents control "ubuntu-dev"? ... [y/N] y
ubuntu-dev: AI agents control.
# Later: what did the agent do?
$ mvz agents log
2026-10-27 14:03:11 claude-code vm_power ubuntu-dev ok start
2026-10-27 14:03:52 claude-code checkpoint ubuntu-dev ok before-upgrade
2026-10-27 14:04:10 claude-code run_command ubuntu-dev ok sudo apt-get -y upgrade
2026-10-27 14:06:31 claude-code run_command ubuntu-dev ok make testGuardrails
Each VM starts closed, and no tool can open one. Copies, clones and imports start closed too.
A rollback names its snapshot, and MacVisor takes a safety snapshot first.
Only a request to start a VM starts it, and only at Control.
Agents can’t delete snapshots, change settings or delete a VM they didn’t make.
With --allow-create, agents make VMs from a cloud image or a template you opened, and can delete those.
Which app, which tool, which VM, and whether it worked. Never what was typed or a file’s contents.
For agents that write code, use an AI sandbox. Opening a VM lets an agent on your Mac work with the VMs you already have. To keep an agent you don’t trust away from your Mac, run it in a sandbox instead.
Read the guidePricing
MacVisor is licensed by the Mac, with no limit on VMs or users. The licenses differ only in how they're billed and the support that comes with them. Start with the free 30-day trial: the full app, with no payment details.
For one Mac, paid once.
$59 for one Mac, one-time
For teams, billed yearly.
$79 per Mac per year
Running Macs as infrastructure?
From $59 per Mac per month
Billed annually, 10+ Macs, by quote
Prices are in US dollars, with tax included or added at checkout depending on your country. We may offer periodic promotional pricing and discounts. Pro and Business come with a 14-day money-back guarantee. Compare licenses
ROI calculator
MacVisor's setups run unattended, so what you save is your hands-on time.
Minutes of your own time per task. Change them to match yours.
| Task | By hand (min) | With MacVisor (min) |
|---|---|---|
| Linux dev VM with your SSH keys and Docker | ||
| macOS VM: Setup Assistant, Remote Login, guest tools The install itself runs about 25 min unattended. | ||
| Windows 11 on ARM: install, setup, drivers, Remote Desktop, OpenSSH The install runs about 10 min unattended. | ||
| Rebuilding a broken environment A snapshot revert or a fresh linked clone. |
No hands-on time saved at these numbers. Add a VM or a rebuild per month to compare.
Enterprise is quoted. Ask us
Estimates of hands-on time. Yours will vary. MacVisor's times come from our own tests.
Compare macOS Virtualization
MacVisor is not a cross-architecture emulator, and its Windows 11 support is a Tech Preview rather than a Windows desktop product with accelerated graphics. See where it fits against desktop hypervisors, native macOS VM apps, and CI-focused runtimes.
Privacy
MacVisor has no analytics and no telemetry. On its own it connects for two things only: checking your license with ScaleNinja's licensing server, and checking whether a new version exists. Cloud images and macOS installers are downloaded when you ask, from the vendor, and verified. Disks, snapshots, and your guests' traffic never pass through us.
Legal
Exactly what MacVisor sends, when, and what never leaves your Mac.
Read policyDocs
The free trial, MacVisor 27 Pro, Business, and Enterprise compared. How activation and the regular license check work.
Compare licensesLegal
The end user license agreement you accept when you first run MacVisor.
Read agreementOfficial music video
Two and a half minutes of macOS, Linux and Windows VMs on Apple silicon, set to music. Turn the sound up.
Further reading
Notes from the team behind MacVisor: why a Mac makes a good virtualization host, how the app is built around a background service, and what it can do today.
MacVisor 27.2.0 is our first general release after the public beta: macOS, Linux, Windows 11 and FreeBSD VMs on Apple Silicon, set up for you, with host-grade networking, snapshots and an always-on background service.
Rohit Yadav Why we built MacVisor, how it runs macOS, Linux and Windows VMs on Apple Silicon, and what the public beta can do today.
Rohit Yadav Run macOS, Linux and Windows guests with full-machine snapshots, lab networks and sandboxes for AI agents, from one native app or the mvz CLI.
Free 30-day trial, no payment details. 14-day money-back guarantee.
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