Lume 0.2 – Build and Run macOS VMs with unattended setup
Hey HN, Lume is an open-source CLI for running macOS and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon. Since launch (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42908061), we've been using it to run AI agents in isolated macOS environments. We needed VMs that could set themselves up, so we built that. Here's what's new in 0.2: *Unattended Setup* – Go from IPSW to a fully configured VM without touching the keyboard. We built a VNC + OCR system that clicks through macOS Setup Assistant automatically. No more manual setup before pushing to a registry: lume create my-vm --os macos --ipsw latest…
In plain words
Lume is an open-source CLI tool for creating and running macOS and Linux virtual machines on Apple Silicon. Version 0.2 introduces unattended setup using VNC and OCR to automatically configure macOS without manual interaction, and adds an HTTP API that runs as a background daemon for script and CI pipeline integration. The tool is designed for developers and teams running AI agents in isolated macOS environments.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN, Lume is an open-source CLI for running macOS and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon. Since launch (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42908061), we've been using it to run AI agents in isolated macOS environments. We needed VMs that could set themselves up, so we built that. Here's what's new in 0.2: *Unattended Setup* – Go from IPSW to a fully configured VM without touching the keyboard. We built a VNC + OCR system that clicks through macOS Setup Assistant automatically. No more manual setup before pushing to a registry: lume create my-vm --os macos --ipsw latest --unattended tahoe You can write custom YAML configs to set up any macOS version your way. *HTTP API + Daemon* – A REST API on port 7777 that runs as a background service. Your scripts and CI pipelines can manage VMs that persist even if your terminal closes: curl -X POST localhost:7777/lume/vms/my-vm/run -d '{"noDisplay": true}' *MCP Server* – Native integration with Claude Desktop and AI coding agents. Claude can create, run, and execute commands in VMs directly: # Add to Claude Desktop config "lume": { "command": "lume", "args": ["serve", "--mcp"] } # Then just ask: "Create a sandbox VM and run my tests" *Multi-location Storage* – macOS disk space is always tight, so from user feedback we added support for external drives. Add an SSD, move VMs between locations: lume config storage add external-ssd /Volumes/ExternalSSD/lume lume clone my-vm backup --source-storage default --dest-storage external-ssd *Registry Support* – Pull and push VM images from GHCR or GCS. Create a golden image once, share it across your team. We're seeing people use Lume for: - Running Claude Code in an isolated VM (your host stays clean, reset mistakes by cloning) - CI/CD pipelines for Apple platform apps - Automated UI testing across macOS versions - Disposable sandboxes for security research To get started: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/trycua/cua/main/libs/lume/scripts/install.sh)" lume create sandbox --os macos --ipsw latest --unattended tahoe lume run sandbox --shared-dir ~/my-project Lume is MIT licensed and Apple Silicon only (M1/M2/M3/M4) since it uses Apple's native Virtualization Framework directly—no emulation. Lume runs on EC2 Mac instances and Scaleway if you need cloud infrastructure. We're also working on a managed cloud offering for teams that need macOS compute on demand—if you're interested, reach out. We're actively developing this as part of Cua (https://github.com/trycua/cua), our Computer Use Agent SDK. We'd love your feedback, bug reports, or feature ideas. GitHub: https://github.com/trycua/cua Docs: https://cua.ai/docs/lume We'll be here to answer questions!
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