deer-flow/backend/docs/APPLE_CONTAINER.md

Apple Container Support

DeerFlow now supports Apple Container as the preferred container runtime on macOS, with automatic fallback to Docker.

Overview

Starting with this version, DeerFlow automatically detects and uses Apple Container on macOS when available, falling back to Docker when:

• Apple Container is not installed
• Running on non-macOS platforms

This provides better performance on Apple Silicon Macs while maintaining compatibility across all platforms.

Benefits

On Apple Silicon Macs with Apple Container:

• Better Performance: Native ARM64 execution without Rosetta 2 translation
• Lower Resource Usage: Lighter weight than Docker Desktop
• Native Integration: Uses macOS Virtualization.framework

Fallback to Docker:

• Full backward compatibility
• Works on all platforms (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• No configuration changes needed

Requirements

For Apple Container (macOS only):

• macOS 15.0 or later
• Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
• Apple Container CLI installed

Installation:

# Download from GitHub releases
# https://github.com/apple/container/releases

# Verify installation
container --version

# Start the service
container system start

For Docker (all platforms):

• Docker Desktop or Docker Engine

How It Works

Automatic Detection

The AioSandboxProvider automatically detects the available container runtime:

1. On macOS: Try container --version

   • Success → Use Apple Container
   • Failure → Fall back to Docker

2. On other platforms: Use Docker directly

Runtime Differences

Both runtimes use nearly identical command syntax:

Container Startup:

# Apple Container
container run --rm -d -p 8080:8080 -v /host:/container -e KEY=value image

# Docker
docker run --rm -d -p 8080:8080 -v /host:/container -e KEY=value image

Container Cleanup:

# Apple Container (with --rm flag)
container stop <id>  # Auto-removes due to --rm

# Docker (with --rm flag)
docker stop <id>     # Auto-removes due to --rm

Implementation Details

The implementation is in backend/packages/harness/deerflow/community/aio_sandbox/aio_sandbox_provider.py:

• _detect_container_runtime(): Detects available runtime at startup
• _start_container(): Uses detected runtime, skips Docker-specific options for Apple Container
• _stop_container(): Uses appropriate stop command for the runtime

Configuration

No configuration changes are needed! The system works automatically.

However, you can verify the runtime in use by checking the logs:

INFO:deerflow.community.aio_sandbox.aio_sandbox_provider:Detected Apple Container: container version 0.1.0
INFO:deerflow.community.aio_sandbox.aio_sandbox_provider:Starting sandbox container using container: ...

Or for Docker:

INFO:deerflow.community.aio_sandbox.aio_sandbox_provider:Apple Container not available, falling back to Docker
INFO:deerflow.community.aio_sandbox.aio_sandbox_provider:Starting sandbox container using docker: ...

Container Images

Both runtimes use OCI-compatible images. The default image works with both:

sandbox:
  use: deerflow.community.aio_sandbox:AioSandboxProvider
  image: enterprise-public-cn-beijing.cr.volces.com/vefaas-public/all-in-one-sandbox:latest  # Default image

Make sure your images are available for the appropriate architecture:

• ARM64 for Apple Container on Apple Silicon
• AMD64 for Docker on Intel Macs
• Multi-arch images work on both

Pre-pulling Images (Recommended)

Important: Container images are typically large (500MB+) and are pulled on first use, which can cause a long wait time without clear feedback.

Best Practice: Pre-pull the image during setup:

# From project root
make setup-sandbox

This command will:

1. Read the configured image from config.yaml (or use default)
2. Detect available runtime (Apple Container or Docker)
3. Pull the image with progress indication
4. Verify the image is ready for use

Manual pre-pull:

# Using Apple Container
container image pull enterprise-public-cn-beijing.cr.volces.com/vefaas-public/all-in-one-sandbox:latest

# Using Docker
docker pull enterprise-public-cn-beijing.cr.volces.com/vefaas-public/all-in-one-sandbox:latest

If you skip pre-pulling, the image will be automatically pulled on first agent execution, which may take several minutes depending on your network speed.

Cleanup Scripts

The project includes a unified cleanup script that handles both runtimes:

Script: scripts/cleanup-containers.sh

Usage:

# Clean up all DeerFlow sandbox containers
./scripts/cleanup-containers.sh deer-flow-sandbox

# Custom prefix
./scripts/cleanup-containers.sh my-prefix

Makefile Integration:

All cleanup commands in Makefile automatically handle both runtimes:

make stop   # Stops all services and cleans up containers
make clean  # Full cleanup including logs

Testing

Test the container runtime detection:

cd backend
python test_container_runtime.py

This will:

1. Detect the available runtime
2. Optionally start a test container
3. Verify connectivity
4. Clean up

Troubleshooting

Apple Container not detected on macOS

1. Check if installed:

   which container
   container --version
   

2. Check if service is running:

   container system start
   

3. Check logs for detection:

   # Look for detection message in application logs
   grep "container runtime" logs/*.log
   

Containers not cleaning up

1. Manually check running containers:

   # Apple Container
   container list
   
   # Docker
   docker ps
   

2. Run cleanup script manually:

   ./scripts/cleanup-containers.sh deer-flow-sandbox
   

Performance issues

• Apple Container should be faster on Apple Silicon
• If experiencing issues, you can force Docker by temporarily renaming the container command:

  # Temporary workaround - not recommended for permanent use
  sudo mv /opt/homebrew/bin/container /opt/homebrew/bin/container.bak
  

References

• Apple Container GitHub
• Apple Container Documentation
• OCI Image Spec