Getting Started

GhostVM is a native macOS app and CLI tool for provisioning and managing macOS virtual machines on Apple Silicon using Apple's Virtualization.framework.

Requirements

  • macOS 15+ (Sequoia) on Apple Silicon (M1 or later)

Installation

Download the latest DMG from the releases page, open it, and drag GhostVM.app into your Applications folder.

Create your first VM

Using the GUI

  1. Open GhostVM.app and click Images to open the Restore Images window.
  2. Download a macOS restore image (IPSW).
  3. Click Create in the main window, configure CPU, memory, and disk, and select the restore image.
  4. The VM bundle will be created. Click Install to install macOS.
  5. Once installed, click the play button to start your VM.

Using the CLI

# Create a macOS VM
vmctl init ~/VMs/sandbox.GhostVM --cpus 6 --memory 16 --disk 128

# Install macOS from a restore image
vmctl install ~/VMs/sandbox.GhostVM

# Start the VM
vmctl start ~/VMs/sandbox.GhostVM

Restore Images

Restore images (IPSW files) are auto-discovered from ~/Downloads/*.ipsw and /Applications/Install macOS*.app. You can also manage them from the Restore Images window in the GUI.

Next steps

GUI App