Docker on macOS

The simplest path is Docker Desktop — it bundles Docker Engine, the CLI, and the Compose v2 plugin behind one installer, matching what Chomper's own install script checks for.

Install

1. Download Docker Desktop from the official Docker docs for Mac (pick Apple Silicon or Intel).
2. Open the downloaded .dmg and drag Docker to Applications.
3. Launch Docker from Applications and finish the first-run setup.

Alternatively, via Homebrew:

brew install --cask docker

then launch Docker.app once from Applications (or Spotlight) so its background service starts.

Verify

With Docker Desktop running:

docker --versiondocker compose versiondocker run hello-world

If all three succeed, Docker is ready. Head back to Quick Start and run the install command from your Servers tab — on a Mac that'll typically be against a remote Linux server rather than the Mac itself, since Chomper is meant to run on a server you keep online.

Prefer a lighter, Docker-Desktop-free setup? Colima (brew install docker docker-compose colima && colima start) is a popular alternative that provides the same docker/docker compose CLI. It works fine for Chomper too, but isn't what the built-in install script checks for by name, so Docker Desktop is the safer default to document here.