macOS host system configuration

Automatic installation using install.py

The install.py script will attempt to guide you through the installation of Docker and Docker Compose if they are not present, similar to how it’s illustrated in the Installation example using Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. If that works, skip ahead to Configure docker daemon option in this section.

Install Homebrew

The easiest way to install and maintain docker on Mac is using the Homebrew cask. Execute the following in a terminal.

$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
$ brew install cask

Install Docker Desktop and Docker Compose

$ brew install --cask docker-desktop

This will install the latest version of docker. It can be upgraded later using brew as well:

$ brew upgrade --cask --no-quarantine docker

You can now run Docker from the Applications folder. Docker Desktop on macOS also includes the Docker Compose plugin.

Configure docker daemon option

Some changes should be made for performance. See the following (unaffiliated) posts/articles for more information:

• What Are the Latest Docker Desktop Enterprise-Grade Performance Optimizations?
• Docker on MacOS is still slow?
• Docker on MacOS is slow and how to fix it
• The most performant Docker setup on macOS

• Why Docker Compose Is Actually Killing Your M1 Mac

• Resource allocation - For best results, Mac users should be running recent system with at least 32GB RAM and an SSD. In the system tray, select Docker → Preferences → Advanced. Set the resources available to Docker to at least 6 CPUs and at least 24GB RAM (even more is preferable).

• Volume mount performance - Users can speed up performance of volume mounts by removing unused paths from Docker → Preferences → File Sharing. For example, if volumes are mounted under the home directory only, users could share /Users but remove other paths.

After making these changes, right-click on the Docker 🐋 icon in the system tray and select Restart.

Podman

See Docker vs. Podman.