Lume
Dev tools
virtual machine runner
SHOW HN2025
309points
75comments
#175of 3,837 in 2025
Top 5%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
2 positive, 32 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 11 critical, out of 45 comments about the project. Thread score -0.22.
Idea: 2 for, 5 againstDesign: 0 for, 2 againstPerformance: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Useful for CI runners and macOS build machines
From 1 comment
This. I've been managing a CI/CD system of around 50 macOS build machines for a few years now, previously our own hardware in a data center, currently EC2 Mac instances. All the…
js2 on HN
Better open alternative to Tart with MIT license
From 2 comments
Yes, lume relies on Apple's Virtualization framework and can run BSD on a Mac with Apple silicon: https://wiki.freebsd.org/AppleSilicon I'll definitely document the option in the…
frabonacci on HNLooks interesting! I’ve been playing with UTM to do aarch64 VMs and I even cooked up a little Sinatra server to do some AppleScript to reboot the VM and do some other things on…
catskull on HN
Objections
Name clashes with other projects named lume
From 2 comments
Name clash with the not very well known Lua library, you should strongly consider changing the name https://github.com/rxi/lume
toastercat on HNnot really stoked about the name since there are a couple other projects named lume: - https://lume.land/ The project looks cool though
jppope on HN
No Windows support yet
From 2 comments
So will this ever be able to run a lightweight windows vm?
bawana on HN> What would make you replace UTM/Multipass/Docker Desktop with this? Just checked my list of VMs in UTM; 5 Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora), 9 Mac OS X/OS X/macOS (versions…
miles on HN
Too few built-in images
From 1 comment
It's a good project, but it just has too few built-in images.
wynemo on HN
No USB passthrough or emulation support
From 2 comments
I’m pretty sure there’s no way to pass USB devices through to a guest VM when using Virtualization.framework (which is required for running macOS VMs)
mrpippy on HN> What would make you replace UTM/Multipass/Docker Desktop with this? Just checked my list of VMs in UTM; 5 Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora), 9 Mac OS X/OS X/macOS (versions…
miles on HN
Requests
Support for suspending and resuming VMs
From 2 comments
congrats on the open sourcing and launching! beyond the desire to run VMs in "1 command", i don't quite get the reasoning behind this project. could you elucidate? like, besides…
ammmir on HNThanks for the feedback! I actually went into more detail about the project's reasoning and how it compares to lima/tart in another comment. Interestingly, we left out the…
f-trycua on HN
Screenshot, exec and file copy commands
From 2 comments
congrats on the open sourcing and launching! beyond the desire to run VMs in "1 command", i don't quite get the reasoning behind this project. could you elucidate? like, besides…
ammmir on HNThanks for the feedback! I actually went into more detail about the project's reasoning and how it compares to lima/tart in another comment. Interestingly, we left out the…
f-trycua on HN
Port binding
From 1 comment
would be nice if you can bind ports!
dangoodmanUT on HN
Windows on ARM support
From 2 comments
So will this ever be able to run a lightweight windows vm?
bawana on HNYes, it will - not sure about the lightweight part though :) We're currently working out the details. It was left out of the initial release, but it’s feasible starting from a…
f-trycua on HN
Questions
How does it compare to Lima, Tart and Colima
From 2 comments
How does this compare to Lima[1] and Tart[2], which are similar? Also, would it be possible to run BSDs with this? [1] https://lima-vm.io [2] https://tart.run
Khaine on HNcongrats on the open sourcing and launching! beyond the desire to run VMs in "1 command", i don't quite get the reasoning behind this project. could you elucidate? like, besides…
ammmir on HN
Can it run BSD or Intel VMs
From 2 comments
How does this compare to Lima[1] and Tart[2], which are similar? Also, would it be possible to run BSDs with this? [1] https://lima-vm.io [2] https://tart.run
Khaine on HNCan you use to launch an Intel VM on Apple Silicone and visa versa? I’m interested in doing this so I can compile C++ applications for different architectures on MacOS. Do you…
joshlk on HN
Does it support GPU and USB passthrough
From 1 comment
I read GPU and USB passthrough somewhere and did not believe it
zxcb1 on HN
Alternatives named
Tart
From 2 comments
How does this compare to Lima[1] and Tart[2], which are similar? Also, would it be possible to run BSDs with this? [1] https://lima-vm.io [2] https://tart.run
Khaine on HNYes, lume relies on Apple's Virtualization framework and can run BSD on a Mac with Apple silicon: https://wiki.freebsd.org/AppleSilicon I'll definitely document the option in the…
frabonacci on HN
Lima
From 2 comments
How does this compare to Lima[1] and Tart[2], which are similar? Also, would it be possible to run BSDs with this? [1] https://lima-vm.io [2] https://tart.run
Khaine on HNYes, lume relies on Apple's Virtualization framework and can run BSD on a Mac with Apple silicon: https://wiki.freebsd.org/AppleSilicon I'll definitely document the option in the…
frabonacci on HN
UTM
From 2 comments
> What would make you replace UTM/Multipass/Docker Desktop with this? Just checked my list of VMs in UTM; 5 Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora), 9 Mac OS X/OS X/macOS (versions…
miles on HNUTM? https://getutm.app/
Hamuko on HN
Colima
From 1 comment
Colima is a container focused macOS VM runner.
fragmede on HN
OrbStack
From 2 comments
great! how does this compare to orbstack? ``` brew install orbstack orb # you're now running in an ubuntu VM ```
gcr on HNOrb stack is great but it requires a paid license
tonijn on HN