System requirements

This page lists what you need on your Mac to run Pomme and to build it from source.

Host hardware

Pomme runs only on a Mac with Apple silicon. The pomme executable is built for the arm64 architecture, and Virtualization.framework can run macOS guests only on Apple silicon.

Host operating system

Pomme requires macOS 15 or later on the host.

The host version affects how Pomme installs its guest agent:

On a macOS 27 host that creates a fresh macOS 27 guest, Pomme uses Apple’s first-boot provisioning to create the guest’s pomme account and installs the agent over SSH.
On older hosts, with older guests, and with templates that already have an owner account, Pomme installs the agent through macOS Recovery.

For details, see Durable creation and journals.

Guest operating system

Pomme can attempt to install any restore image that Apple signs for your Mac model. Some macOS versions are reviewed, and other versions are treated as experimental attempts. For the current list, see Supported macOS versions.

Memory and disk

Each VM uses its own memory and disk space. Keep the following limits in mind when you size your VMs:

Guest memory: Every VM needs at least 4 GiB of memory. If the restore image declares a higher minimum, Pomme applies that minimum instead. The default is 8GB.
Disk size: The default virtual disk size is 60GB. A VM cloned from a template inherits the template’s disk size.
Running guests: Virtualization.framework runs at most two macOS guests at the same time.

For short-lived test VMs on a host with 16 GB of memory, use --memory 4GB --disk-size 40GB. Increase these values only when the workload needs more.

Keychain

Pomme stores each VM’s agent credential and generated owner password in your login Keychain. The login Keychain must be unlocked when you run Pomme. Pomme doesn’t unlock the Keychain for you and doesn’t read your host password.

Network access

Pomme downloads restore images from Apple’s servers and looks up available versions in the public restore-image catalog. The host needs internet access unless you create VMs from a local restore image or an installed template.

Requirements for building from source

To build and install Pomme from source, you also need:

A full installation of Xcode. The Command Line Tools package alone isn’t enough.
The Developer ID Application certificate that the project is configured to sign with, including its private key, in your Keychain.

For the build procedure, see Install Pomme.