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HostwrightHostwright

What Hostwright is

Hostwright is a Mac-native desired-state container platform for Apple container workloads.

You declare services in a versioned hostwright.yaml manifest. Hostwright validates intent, computes a deterministic plan, persists exact desired/observed/operation identity, and crosses a typed runtime-provider boundary for every runtime action.

What works today

Section titled “What works today”
  • hostwright --version and hostwright capabilities --json report the build version and the exact capability set.
  • hostwright init, validate, and plan provide explicit Manifest v2, restricted fail-closed parsing, and deterministic planning.
  • hostwright migrate preview produces a deterministic non-writing preview for legacy v1/versionless manifests.
  • Confirmation-gated lifecycle commands (up, down, run, start, stop, restart, rm, update) converge a manifest’s declared services in dependency order across two negotiated runtime providers; apply is a compatibility alias for a confirmed up plan.
  • exec, attach, copy, export, inspect, stats, and logs --follow reach a running managed service directly.
  • image, registry, secret, and volume manage local images, registry authentication and signed supply-chain evidence, Keychain-backed secrets, and Hostwright-owned named-volume storage, each behind its own confirmation gate.
  • status, bounded logs, events, recovery (including resume/rollback), and local redacted diagnostics use a resolved state database (an explicit path, HOSTWRIGHT_STATE_DB, or the Application Support default).
  • hostwright paths and the hostwright state suite (integrity, backup, restore, repair, recover) report the local layout and maintain the SQLite database.
  • cleanup classifies first and deletes only exact cleanup-eligible Hostwright-owned non-running containers after token confirmation.
  • hostwrightd --foreground observes, plans, checks bounded loopback health, and records events. It runs in the foreground and performs no unattended mutation.
  • SQLite schema v15 establishes UUID identity, provider binding, fencing, saga intent, compensation, and verification records.
  • Local policy/team profiles, a one-shot Control API v2 process covering read and lifecycle/image operations, advisory scheduler models, and unsigned developer distribution evidence exist within their documented narrow boundaries.

Capabilities outside this set are documented in Limitations.

Locked contracts

Section titled “Locked contracts”
Contract Version
Manifest 2
Control API 2
Runtime Provider API 2
Plugin ABI 1
State schema 15

How these docs are organized

Section titled “How these docs are organized”
Section Answers
Getting started Source setup and the runnable safe loop.
Concepts Desired state, providers, reconciliation, state, policy, safety, and secrets.
Tasks Walkthroughs labeled non-mutating, state-writing, or runtime-mutating.
Reference CLI, manifest, compatibility, limitations, error codes, and policy.
Operations Security, team workflow, the daemon, events, and diagnostics.

Where to start

Section titled “Where to start”