omvm runs macOS as a virtual machine on Omarchy on an M1 Max
A new open source wrapper boots macOS guests under KVM with a paravirtual GPU and Xcode. It’s experimental, has been tested on one Mac, and still needs a real macOS install to get started.
Image: Omarchy (omarchy.org)
“I was able to run macOS in a VM on Omarchy on my M1 Max,” Izzy Mansurov wrote on X on November 9, 2026, and the code is already public as omvm. DHH quote-posted it later that day: “macOS running inside Omarchy as a VM on a MacBook!!”
According to the README, omvm is a “thin, Omarchy-specific wrapper” around aquarat’s macOS guest project. It builds a patched kernel from Omarchy’s own linux-aurora recipe, installs it next to the stock one, takes care of Limine and m1n1, and wraps the guest lifecycle in a few commands such as omvm start, omvm ssh and omvm stop. Your stock kernel stays “one menu entry away.”
The README’s numbers are strong: CPU-bound work runs at 95 to 99% of the host’s speed, and a guest boots to SSH in about 25 seconds. Every omvm run starts from a throwaway copy of the image, which the README says is instant on btrfs thanks to reflinks. Those are the author’s own figures, from a single machine.
It goes well beyond a headless shell. omvm gui boots a guest with a paravirtual GPU that translates Metal to Vulkan on the host’s GPU and serves the screen over VNC. omvm virt registers a persistent VM in virt-manager, and Sunshine lets Moonlight clients drive a VM from a phone, tablet or computer. Text clipboard is shared both ways with the Wayland host, and sound goes through PipeWire. Mansurov says in the X thread that the GPU path isn’t optimized yet and that more work on it is coming.
The README’s warning is right at the top: “Status: experimental.” One person has tested it on one machine, an M1 Max running Omarchy M and linux-aurora 7.2.11, with a macOS 26.4 guest and Xcode 27.2. The project targets M1 and M2 Macs, but that M1 Max is the only setup the README reports.
The setup isn’t light either. macOS has to stay installed on the same Mac and gets used once, because “only real macOS can create the VM.” Plan on about 100 GB free in macOS, which can be reclaimed afterwards, about 60 GB in Linux per guest image, and 30 to 60 minutes for the kernel build. Apple Account sign-in isn’t expected to work, since the guest has no Secure Enclave identity. Mansurov says that rules out Apple ID, iCloud and iMessage, and that “Xcode builds fine without an account.”
The legal side is spelled out too. omvm ships no Apple software: the boot ROM and Xcode come from your own Mac, and the restore image comes from Apple’s servers. It allows at most two guests at once, which the README ties to Apple’s licence and says the QEMU fork enforces. On the host itself, the README is blunt: “Running the VMs with Linux as the host on that same Apple hardware is a setup Apple doesn’t specifically address, so judge it for yourself.” omvm is GPL-2.0-or-later and isn’t affiliated with or endorsed by Apple, Omarchy or 37signals.
The credit gets shared widely. “The hard parts are other people’s work,” Mansurov wrote, crediting steelbrain (Anees Iqbal, per the README) for the original macOS-on-Asahi KVM bring-up, aquarat for the QEMU and Reims forks, and Mohamed Mediouni for the vmapple KVM RFC.
None of this is part of Omarchy, and as of November 10, 2026, no issue or pull request in the Omarchy repository mentions omvm. The Omarchy M team has noticed, though. “We were receiving so many requests from people who wanted to run some macOS apps inside Omarchy. This could be a step towards that,” Naeem Malik replied on November 9, adding: “I’ve shared your work with the team.” Scott Jones, who also lists the Omarchy M team in his X bio, had one request: “Please open pull request(s)!!!”
