Docker on your Mac is secretly a Linux VM (Docker Desktop vs OrbStack)
Docker on your Mac isn't running on macOS 🤯 Containers need Linux kernel features (namespaces, cgroups, overlayfs), so every Docker tool on a Mac runs a hidden Linux VM. Run `docker version`: Client darwin/arm64 → Server linux/arm64. 🐳 Docker Desktop: VM memory limit defaults to 50% of your RAM, and Linux fills it with cache. 🟢 OrbStack: memory on demand, unused memory returned to macOS, ~0.1% CPU idle. Switch in 3 commands: brew install orbstack orb docker migrate docker context use orbstack (rollback: docker context use desktop-linux) Full guide: https://amal.vs.binarybit.in/blog/6acf11edd3532a9a777c3bcf Both need a paid plan for most commercial use — check yours. #docker #orbstack #macos #devops #developertools #softwareengineering