New0.1.17 Mac · Windows · Linux written in Rust

8× faster than Docker.

Share your localhost publicly with one click.

Built from scratch in Rust, not on top of Docker's parts. Kiri runs Docker containers with one daemon. The docker CLI, Compose and the Docker API work as they do today.

The 8×: docker run takes 22 ms on Kiri and 178 ms on Docker Desktop (152 ms on Colima, 279 ms on OrbStack), every engine on 2 CPUs and 8 GB.

CPU and memory · 10 containers running

CPUMemory
Kiri
OrbStack
Colima
Docker Desktop

Sample One Apple-silicon Mac, one runtime at a time. Measured numbers replace these soon. Benchmarks →

Download for Mac Watch the race

Free, and in beta on Mac, Windows and Linux. Something broken or annoying? Tell us with Feedback in Kiri's window, and we fix it.

Works with what
you already use

  • docker
  • docker compose
  • docker buildx
  • Docker Engine API
  • Docker Hub
  • OCI images
  • ghcr.io
  • Dockerfiles

What's in it

Everything you'd reach for Docker Desktop for.

Containers were the start. Kiri now builds and scans images, runs Kubernetes and whole Linux machines, and puts any container on the internet with one click.

  • Containers and Compose

    Every docker command you use, Compose projects grouped in the window, and a page for each container with live logs, a shell and its files.

  • Images from Docker Hub

    Search Docker Hub from the window and watch each layer pull. amd64 images run through Rosetta.

  • Builds, with a scan

    docker build through BuildKit, a Builds view of every build, and a vulnerability scan of each image on its own page.

  • Kubernetes

    kiri k8s start gives you a k3s cluster in about 20 seconds, with Pods and Services in the window. kind runs too.

  • Linux machines

    kiri machine create dev --distro ubuntu: your user, sudo, and your Mac folders at the same paths.

  • Share

    A public link for any container on runkiri.cloud, from the window or kiri share web. More.

  • Names and HTTPS

    Apps open at web.kiri.local, Compose services at api.myapp.kiri.local, with HTTPS from Kiri's own narrow certificate authority.

  • Light on your Mac

    Unused memory goes back while it runs, and the VM sleeps after a minute idle. The daemon stays around 15 MB; waking takes 0.15 s.

  • Move over in one go

    Bring your images, volumes and containers from OrbStack or Docker Desktop, then switch docker to Kiri from the window.

Prefer the terminal?

The commands you already type.

With Kiri open, the ordinary docker command runs on Kiri, and kiri adds what Docker doesn't have: a name for every container, Kubernetes, Linux machines and a public link.

  • kiri run, kiri ps work like their docker twins.
  • web.kiri.localhost reaches a container by name, no port to remember.
  • kiri k8s start and kiri machine create for a cluster or a Linux box.
  • kiri share web puts it on the internet.

$ kiri run --rm alpine echo "kiri" prints kiri. $ kiri run -d --name web nginx prints a container ID. $ kiri ps lists the running web container. $ curl http://web.kiri.localhost reaches it by name, with no port to remember. $ docker ps shows the same container, because Kiri answers the Docker API. $ kiri share web gives it a public link at web.runkiri.cloud.

Illustrative session. With Kiri open, the ordinary docker command runs on Kiri.

Kiri Share

Send anyone a link to a container.

Press Share on a running container and it answers at a public address on runkiri.cloud, over HTTPS, until you press Disconnect. Show a client the branch you're on, test a webhook, or open your app on your phone.

  • Keep your name. Reserve myapp.runkiri.cloud and it's yours next time too.
  • Every computer, one list. Shares from your other Macs and PCs show up too, coloured by the machine they run on.
  • Visitors are warned. The first visit to a share shows a Kiri warning page before it opens, so a link can't pass itself off as your bank. View the warning page →

All about Kiri Share

Getting started

From download to a public link in four steps.

  1. Step 1

    Install

    Open the disk image and drag Kiri to Applications. It sets up docker for you.

    Download for Mac

  2. Step 2

    Pull an image

    Search Docker Hub in Images and press Pull, or:

    docker pull nginx

  3. Step 3

    Run a container

    Press Run and give it a port. It starts in milliseconds.

    docker run -p 80:80 nginx

  4. Step 4

    Share

    Press Share on the container for a public link, or:

    kiri share 80

Compare

Same command, three routes.

OrbStack and Docker Desktop pass every container start through five programs, each with its own socket. Kiri passes it through one daemon that calls the kernel itself. Same docker command on all three.

docker run --rm alpine true
OrbStackMeasured0 ms

Five hops. One shim process stays resident for every running container.

Docker DesktopMeasured0 ms

The same five hops, and a shim per running container.

KiriMeasured0 ms

One daemon creates namespaces, cgroups and mounts itself. Nothing per container is left running. Most of this time is the docker CLI starting up. Through the Docker API, a whole container lifecycle takes 3.1 ms.

Medians from one full run on one Apple Silicon Mac, every engine limited to 2 CPUs and 8 GB, all three through the same docker CLI with Docker's default bridge networking. Stops are drawn evenly; only the totals are figures. Windows has its own race.

Full benchmarks: p99s, the Docker API path and every raw figure

How it works

One small VM. One daemon. A socket between them.

On macOS, Kiri boots a single Linux VM through Apple's Virtualization.framework, with a custom kernel and a small Rust init as PID 1. The host and guest talk over vsock. Inside, the Kiri daemon creates each container with clone3. On Linux the same daemon runs on your own kernel with no VM at all, and on Windows it runs inside WSL2.

Kiri architecture on macOS On the Mac host, the kiri CLI, the Docker CLI and later Stormglass talk to the kiri host process, which runs the VM through Virtualization.framework. A vsock channel connects it to the Linux guest, where kiri-init is PID 1 and the kiri daemon creates containers with clone3. macOS host Stormglass later docker / kiri CLI kiri hostDocker API socket · 409 KB Virtualization.framework One VM for every container. No per-container process on the host. vsock 31 µs round trip, p50 Linux VM custom minimal kernel kiri-init · PID 1 · 360 KB kiri daemon clone3 containers: namespaces + cgroup + overlay Kiri architecture on macOS: host, vsock, Linux VM with kiri-init, kiri daemon and containers macOS host Stormglass later docker / kiri CLI kiri hostDocker API socket · 409 KB Virtualization.framework vsock 31 µs p50 Linux VM custom minimal kernel kiri-init · PID 1 · 360 KB kiri daemon clone3 → containers

One VM, one daemonSee the numbers

Boot once

One VM serves every container. Cold boot to ready takes 112 ms, down from 810 ms on a stock kernel.

Talk directly

Requests cross one vsock channel into the VM, not a chain of Unix sockets. A round trip takes 31 µs.

Leave nothing behind

No process stays per container. OrbStack keeps a shim for each one: 143 running containers held 1.13 GB in shims on our test Mac.

Measured on one Apple Silicon Mac. Method and raw numbers are on the benchmarks page.

The app

A native app, not a web wrapper.

AppKit and the system WebKit on the Mac, Win32 and WebView2 on Windows, so no Electron and no bundled browser. Manage containers, images, volumes, networks and Compose projects, with live stats, logs, a terminal and files for each container. Running apps open by name at myapp.kiri.local. On the Mac it brings your images and volumes over from OrbStack or Docker Desktop, and lives in the menu bar.

Download

Kiri for Mac is out.

Every number on this page was measured on it. Kiri sets up a kiri docker context and brings its own docker, Compose and buildx, so there's nothing else to install. Coming from OrbStack or Docker Desktop? Kiri brings your images and volumes over.

Download for Mac All platforms

Then, in a new terminal:

$ docker run --rm hello-world

Same docker and docker compose you use today.

0.1.17 · Apple silicon · macOS 14+