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Show HN: 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 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 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 https://github.com/trycua/cua
Docs: https://cua.ai/docs/lume https://cua.ai/docs/lume
We'll be here to answer questions!
- fartfeatures 8mo agoHow does this compare to something like Tart and shapehq/tartelet
- frabonacci 8mo agoBoth use Apple's Virtualization Framework, so core VM performance is similar. Main differences are around agent-first design (HTTP API, MCP server), unattended setup via VNC + OCR, and registry support for VM images. We've also built a broader ecosystem on top - the Cua computer and agent framework for building computer-use agents: https://cua.ai/docs https://cua.ai/docs We went through the comparison with Tart, Lima etc here: https://github.com/trycua/cua/issues/10 https://github.com/trycua/cua/issues/10
- fartfeatures 8mo agoThanks for answering, makes sense. Not seeing any reference to Tart at that link. Tart also has registry support for VM images it treats them very much like Docker images, is that what you are doing too? Is it worth putting a comparison up somewhere other than a Github thread? Seems to be a frequently asked question at this point. Also worth drawing attention to Tart being source available not open source.
- frabonacci 8mo agoThanks for the feedback! You're right that a proper comparison page beats hunting through GitHub issues. We just put one together (with some help from Claude Code, naturally): https://cua.ai/docs/lume/guide/getting-started/comparison https://cua.ai/docs/lume/guide/getting-started/comparison
- fartfeatures 8mo agoThanks much appreciated, the "Registry Support" section is weird though. Isn't GHCR an instance of an OCI registry? The when to choose Loom in the Tart section should also mention licensing, it is relevant at the choosing point.