omaflake

How it works

Recipes

Declare what a VM contains as Nix modules – NixOS for Linux guests, nix-darwin for macOS guests.

Images

omaflake builds an immutable image from each recipe. Images never change.

Instances

Run disposable instances from the menu bar app. Reset throws an instance's state away and starts over from the image.

Two guest kinds, one app

Guest	Content	Runtime
NixOS (aarch64)	NixOS modules, built as UEFI qcow2 images	QEMU with Hypervisor.framework, own build with virglrenderer for 3D
macOS	nix-darwin modules on top of a base installed from Apple's IPSW	`omaf-runner`, one process per VM on Virtualization.framework

Download

The first alpha is on its way.

Want to hear when it is out? Write to support@omaflake.app.

Install

Until omaflake is signed by Apple's Developer ID, macOS blocks the app when it comes from a browser. Either way below works.

In the Terminal

Downloads, checks and unpacks the app into /Applications. Files fetched with curl are not blocked.

curl -fLO <download URL>
shasum -a 256 -c <file>.sha256
ditto -x -k <file> /Applications

From the browser

Unzip the download and move omaflake to Applications. Open it once – macOS refuses. Then System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down, click Open Anyway next to omaflake and confirm.

Requirements

A Mac with Apple silicon and macOS 27 or later
Nix and a Linux builder for NixOS images – the app's Doctor checks what your Mac brings and sets both up by click
Space: NixOS images take a few GB each; a macOS base downloads about 27 GB from Apple

What alpha means

Things will break. Your VMs, images and settings live in ~/.omaflake – the app can move that folder.
No automatic updates yet: the Doctor tells you when a new version is out, you install it the same way.
Signed and notarized builds follow once falkOSS, the non-profit behind omaflake, has its Apple developer account.
The omaf CLI is not in the download yet – build it from source.

Found a bug, missing something? Open an issue or write to support@omaflake.app – thank you for testing.