A local development container and multi-agent swarm manager built specifically for Apple Silicon Macs.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install ciderbox
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install ciderbox using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is ciderbox?
ciderbox is a powerful command-line tool designed to build and manage Apple-native container development environments. By wrapping Apple's native container CLI, it enables high-performance local container execution without relying on remote cloud runners or heavy virtualization alternatives. It is specifically engineered for local Apple Silicon Macs, providing a streamlined experience for running isolated tasks and testing environments.
Beyond basic container management, it serves as the foundational layer for managing an Orchard agent swarm, which is a local multi-agent system. This allows developers to provision Apple Container VMs, automatically integrate Openclaw Skills into each instance, and distribute complex tasks simultaneously across multiple localized agent trees.
ciderbox Use Cases
- Cross-Distro Compile Testing: Verify that your software compiles and operates reliably across multiple Linux distributions directly from a single Mac machine.
- Isolated Command Execution: Run one-off development or system commands inside a pristine, temporary Apple Container VM and easily destroy it afterward.
- Clean Build Automation: Execute project compilation workflows in a fully isolated container environment to prevent dependency drift or host system pollution.
- Local Multi-Agent Orchestration: Scaffold and orchestrate an Orchard swarm of local AI agents running tasks collaboratively across isolated environments.
How ciderbox Works
- Environment Verification: The tool runs a system diagnostics check via ciderbox doctor to verify that the local Apple Silicon hardware, macOS version, and core container system are configured correctly.
- Configuration Scaffolding: Developers initialize project-specific settings by running configuration commands to output local YAML manifests.
- VM Provisioning & Layering: The system plants Apple Container VMs according to the manifest, layering the required Linux operating systems, specific package dependencies, and localized settings.
- Agent Swarm Grafting: For multi-agent configurations, the runtime grafts Openclaw Skills and operational environments into each active virtual machine tree.
- Task Execution & Distribution: Tasks are either targeted at a single instance or broadcasted in parallel across the entire active swarm.
- Harvesting & Teardown: Results, logs, and summaries are collected and saved into structured data files, followed by a total environment teardown to free up local system resources.
ciderbox Setup
Prerequisites
Ensure your development machine is an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 26 or higher, and that the Apple native container CLI is running via container system start.
Installation & Initialization Steps
# Scaffold the local project configuration file (.ciderbox.yaml)
ciderbox init
# Alternatively, auto-detect project settings and commands during initialization
ciderbox init --detect
# Run the environment doctor to ensure paths and paths for Openclaw Skills are correct
ciderbox doctor
Running Commands
# Execute cross-distro compilation and tests
ciderbox compile-test
# Execute a single test command inside a fresh environment
ciderbox run -- uname -a
# Tear down and destroy all active ciderbox container VMs
ciderbox chop
ciderbox Data Schema & Taxonomy
ciderbox relies on two primary configuration files to manage environments, data workflows, and Openclaw Skills integration:
1. Project Configuration (.ciderbox.yaml)
This file controls how cross-distro testing and builds are managed locally.
| Section | Property | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| compileTest | distros |
Array | A list of target Linux distributions containing name and image keys. |
parallel |
Boolean | Toggles whether multi-distro compilations run simultaneously. | |
dependencies |
Array | Required package binaries (e.g., rsync) installed before testing. |
|
command |
String | The exact test or compilation command to execute inside the container. |
2. Swarm Manifest Format (.orchard.yaml)
This file configures the local multi-agent environment and defines how Openclaw Skills operate inside the VMs.
- Top-Level Properties:
name: Identifier string for the local agent swarm.trees: Total number of VM instances to provision simultaneously.
- Template Configurations:
image: Base Linux image (e.g.,debian:bookworm).cpus: Number of processor cores allocated to each individual container VM.memory: The amount of RAM allocated per container instance.
- Agent Configurations:
identity: The active persona designation for the agent.skills: An array tracking active Openclaw Skills injected into the agent environment.model: The AI LLM target path (e.g.,ollama/llama3.1).command: The specific runtime string utilized to initialize the background agent loop.
- Secrets & Workspace Management:
secrets.envFile: The path pointing to local credential storage (defaults to.orchid.env).workspace.sync: A boolean flag determining if your local project codebase mirrors inside the running VM context.
ciderbox Advanced Features
- Automated Project Analysis: The initialization engine supports a
--detectflag that parses your directory structure to automatically fill in specific project-matching dependencies and test commands. - Orchard Local Swarms: Advanced capability to orchestrate an entire local multi-agent ecosystem, handling everything from planting agent trees to harvesting final task outputs.
- Injected Security Pipelines: Native environment isolation tools to generate, validate, and securely push internal environment variables and secret tokens into target VMs via
ciderbox orchard secrets pushwithout leaking them to the host logging framework. - Parallel Run Architecture: Support for parallel execution states across separate isolated environments, allowing developer tasks to run concurrently without performance collisions.
SKILL.md
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