Docker on macOS

Purser uses Docker Compose on macOS. There is no supported native macOS installer, Homebrew database installation, or Purser LaunchAgent.

Apple Silicon status

Docker Desktop and Colima on Apple Silicon run Linux arm64 containers. Purser is built for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64, each natively on its own architecture, and Compose pulls the arm64 image on an Apple Silicon Mac. The published image is verified there: on 2026-10-28 it passed the release’s end-to-end drills (onboarding, backup and restore, upgrade, crash and outage recovery, and failure journeys) on an Apple M1 with Colima and Docker, running natively with no emulation.

Follow Set up Purser with your AI or the Quickstart. Docker runs both Purser and PostgreSQL. You do not need host Python, Node or Git. Keep the encryption key separately from database backups and retain the PostgreSQL named volume when recreating containers.

Restart and recovery

Compose restarts containers while the Docker engine is running. Configure your Docker runtime to start when you log in if you want Purser available after a Mac restart. Purser does not install a macOS login agent.

Use Backup and restore before upgrades. Never remove the database volume as a troubleshooting step without a verified backup.

Purser is not published on PyPI. Do not install an unrelated package by the bare name purser.