Docker on Mac

Chooses and installs the right container runtime for the user's licensing situation and workflow. macOS runs Linux containers in a VM — the runtime choice is really a choice of VM manager, and in 2026 it's a licensing decision as much as a technical one.

When NOT to use

• Writing Dockerfiles / compose files, image debugging → native competence
• Kubernetes / cloud contexts → cloud-dev-setup
• Local Postgres/Redis without containers → web-dev-setup
• Windows/Linux desktop VMs → Parallels/UTM via mac-dev-apps

Prerequisites

brew present (→ homebrew-setup).

The decision (ask these two questions)