Box of Apples

Mac VM labs, neatly boxed.

Create, manage, run, and automate Apple Silicon macOS virtual machines from one focused workspace. Restore images, VM bundles, disposable runs, guest-agent automation, and runbook history stay organized instead of scattered across Finder and scripts.

Download Box of Apples
Version
1.0.2
Package
8.4 MB
Platform
Apple Silicon
Box of Apples runtime workflow preview.
Why It Exists

macOS VM labs get messy fast.

Apple Virtualization gives you the primitives. Box of Apples turns them into a repeatable lab workflow: restore images are tracked, VM bundles carry their runtime state, persistent baselines can become disposable test machines, and repeatable guest actions live as runbooks.

01

Image Library

Discover Apple-supported restore images, import local IPSWs, download from direct URLs, and track version, build, source, support state, and local path.

02

Virtual Machines

Create macOS VMs from IPSWs, run interactive or headless, boot into Recovery, configure hardware, and review lifecycle logs when something gets interesting.

03

Disposable Templates

Seal persistent VMs as reusable templates, launch temporary APFS copy-on-write clones, and convert useful disposable machines back into persistent ones.

04

Runbooks

Stage files, execute guest processes, wait for screen text, collect artifacts, and keep runbook status and results attached to the VM workflow.

Capability Highlights

Turn Apple Silicon VMs into reusable workflows.

VM Runtime

  • Interactive console, headless CLI starts, and Recovery boot.
  • CPU, RAM, disk format, NAT or bridged networking, and audio configuration.
  • Serial randomization, lifecycle logs, Finder reveal, and bundle cleanup.

Templates

  • Seal and unseal persistent VMs as reusable baselines.
  • Fast temporary runtime clones with APFS copy-on-write support.
  • Disposable VMs can become persistent when an experiment is worth keeping.

Console & Capture

  • Pop-out console windows with remembered size and position.
  • Keyboard capture, guest clipboard sync, screenshots, and screen recordings.
  • Recording indicators plus configurable save folders and capture presets.

Guest Agent

  • Installable package with LaunchAgent-based guest service setup.
  • Guest-side process execution, host-to-guest file staging, and artifact pickup.
  • Clipboard integration for console and automation workflows.

Automation & CLI

  • Reusable runbook library with ordered steps and argument editing.
  • OCR waits, artifact sources, execution results, and guest process steps.
  • boa image, vm, template, and settings commands with JSON output.
Screenshots

A closer look at the workspace.

Click any screenshot to zoom into the app surface.

Track restore images before creating a VM.
Create persistent machines and disposable lab runs.
Browse reusable runbooks and live guest-agent targets.
Build ordered steps and execution targeting.
Workflow

From restore image to repeatable lab run.

The app stays focused on the sequence that matters: prepare an image, create a VM, seal useful baselines, and run repeatable guest automation when a machine is live.

1

Prepare IPSWs

Download the latest supported restore image or import one you already trust.

2

Create VMs

Build persistent machines with the disk, network, audio, and sharing defaults you want.

3

Clone Disposable Labs

Seal a baseline and spawn short-lived machines for tests, samples, or investigations.

4

Run Automation

Use runbooks and the guest agent to execute steps and bring artifacts back to the host.

boa CLI 
$ boa image discover-latest
SUCCESS  Discovered macOS restore image

$ boa vm create --image 8F3... --name clean-baseline
SUCCESS  Created VM clean-baseline

$ boa template create-disposable --id 0A4...
SUCCESS  Created disposable VM clean-baseline-1
Command Line Included

One VM library, from window to shell.

The bundled boa CLI can list images, create and install VMs, manage sealed templates, start or stop machines, and emit JSON for scripts that need the same source of truth.

Download

Install Box of Apples

The package includes the macOS app, the boa command-line tool, the helper services, and the bundled Boa guest agent package for virtual machines. It is codesigned and notarized for macOS.

Requires an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 26 or later. Bridged networking is awaiting an Apple entitlement; NAT networking remains the default workflow.

Box-of-Apples-1.0.2.pkg macOS package, 8.4 MB
Download Box of Apples
SHA-256 3989b76b334854cdbf8aa70bb0b4a072d7634a26673b77826538d97c31251e9b