Skiff — Development skill for Claude Code

skiff – a fresh Linux VM on your Mac in half a second

[](https://github.com/itlabs-gmbh/skiff/actions/workflows/ci.yml) [](LICENSE) [](https://pkg.go.dev/github.com/itlabs-gmbh/skiff)

`skiff` gives you throwaway Linux VMs on Apple Silicon, one per task or coding agent: `skiff new dev` boots an Ubuntu 24.04 VM with its own kernel, disk, IP and root SSH in about two seconds (the boot itself takes half a second), and `skiff rm dev` throws it away. Credentials the agent needs stay on the Mac and reach the VM through a broker, never as copies.

macOS (skiff)
 ├── VM dev   (Virtualization.framework via Apple's `container`, 192.168.64.x, ssh dev.skiff)
 ├── VM ai    (…)                                     ──┐ relay: localhost:3000 → ai:3000
 └── broker   (credentials, MCP servers, audit log)   ◀─┘ ssh -R tunnel per session

Each VM is a `container machine`: a Virtualization.framework VM driven by Apple's [container](https://github.com/apple/container) CLI. There is no nested virtualization and no shared runtime VM, so JIT-heavy workloads such as Claude Code run at Mac speed. The host side is one Go binary; the guest is a plain Ubuntu image with systemd, sshd and skiff's key.

Requirements

• Apple Silicon (any generation)
• macOS 26 or newer (what Apple's container supports)
• Homebrew (skiff installs container through it if needed)
• Go 1.26+ to build skiff

Check with `skiff doctor`.

Install

go install github.com/itlabs-gmbh/skiff/cmd/skiff@latest
skiff prepare           # one-time setup, about a minute

Or from a checkout: `make install` (go install ./cmd/skiff → `$(go env GOPATH)/bin/skiff`).

`skiff prepare` is idempotent. It:

1. verifies the host (Apple Silicon, macOS version, Hypervisor framework, `cont