Fleet Manager
Fleet Manager is the core of what makes CiderStack different.
It turns individual Apple Silicon Macs into a unified virtualization platform — without cloud dependencies, subscriptions, or proprietary infrastructure.
While most macOS virtualization tools focus on running a VM on a single machine, Fleet Manager focuses on something larger:
How do you scale macOS when Apple won’t let you scale vertically?
The problem with macOS virtualization
Apple Silicon changed everything.
macOS virtualization is now:
Fast
Stable
Power-efficient
But it comes with a hard limit:
Only two macOS virtual machines may run at the same time on a single Mac.
This is not a performance issue.
It’s an Apple platform rule enforced by Virtualization.framework.
No amount of RAM, CPU, or SSD can bypass it.
Vertical scaling is impossible
On Linux or cloud platforms, scaling usually means:
Bigger machine
More cores
More memory
On macOS, that model simply does not exist.
A $7,000 Mac Studio and a $599 Mac mini both run:
two concurrent macOS VMs.
Once you hit that ceiling, you are done.
The only way forward is horizontal
If macOS cannot scale up, it must scale out.
That means:
More Macs
More hosts
Distributed execution
Fleet Manager exists to make horizontal scaling practical.
From individual Macs to a fleet
Fleet Manager allows CiderStack to treat multiple Macs as:
A shared compute pool
A unified VM inventory
A single scheduling surface
You stop thinking in terms of:
“Which Mac should I use?”
And start thinking:
“How many VMs do I need?”
Why this is CiderStack’s signature feature
Most macOS virtualization tools stop at the hypervisor.
Fleet Manager goes further.
It solves problems that don’t appear until you operate at scale.
Fleet Manager enables:
Running more than two macOS VMs concurrently
Centralized control across many Macs
Automatic VM placement
Cross-host VM migration
Remote command execution
Fleet-wide image consistency
CI runner pools
Maintenance without downtime
All without introducing a cloud control plane.
Built for real Mac environments
Fleet Manager was designed around how Macs are actually deployed:
Mac minis in racks
Mac Studios under desks
MacBooks used as controllers
Mixed hardware generations
Limited IP availability
NAT-only networking
It works where Macs already live.
No cloud required
Fleet Manager is:
Local-first
Network-native
Fully self-hosted
There is:
No SaaS backend
No external scheduler
No telemetry requirement
No account lock-in
If your Macs can reach each other, Fleet works.
Designed around Apple’s constraints — not against them
CiderStack does not fight Apple’s virtualization model.
It embraces it.
Fleet Manager:
Enforces Apple’s VM limits automatically
Distributes workloads safely
Preserves Apple-generated identities
Uses official restore images
Runs entirely on supported APIs
Nothing is hacked. Nothing is emulated.
Why this matters for CI/CD
CI systems don’t need one powerful Mac.
They need many identical Macs.
Fleet Manager enables:
Disposable macOS runners
Snapshot-based cloning
Automatic scaling
Fast rebuilds
Predictable environments
This turns a stack of Mac minis into a true build farm.
Why this matters for admins
For Mac administrators, Fleet Manager enables:
MDM testing without risk
Multiple OS versions simultaneously
Snapshot-backed rollbacks
Centralized VM visibility
Maintenance without disruption
You gain control without giving up ownership.
Why others don’t do this
Fleet Manager is hard.
It requires:
Distributed identity
Secure node trust
Remote execution
File streaming
Snapshot awareness
Scheduling logic
Failure handling
Most virtualization tools stop at “run a VM.”
CiderStack goes further because scaling macOS requires it.
Not SaaS. Not rentals. Not lock-in.
Fleet Manager is not:
A cloud Mac provider
A hosted scheduler
A subscription access model
Your Macs stay in your rack.
Your data stays on your network.
Your licenses don’t disappear if a server goes offline.
The philosophy
Fleet Manager exists because:
macOS infrastructure should behave like infrastructure — not like a collection of expensive desktops.
CiderStack treats Macs as servers.
Fleet Manager is what makes that possible.
In short
Fleet Manager is CiderStack’s signature feature because it:
Solves Apple’s two-VM limitation
Enables real horizontal scaling
Turns Macs into a compute fabric
Works entirely on-prem
Requires no cloud dependency
Preserves ownership and control
It’s the difference between running VMs…
…and running a macOS platform.
Next pages
If you want to dive deeper:
Fleet Manager Overview — architecture & components
Fleet Setup & Pairing — GUI & CLI
VM Migration (Deep Dive)
Fleet Orchestration
CI/CD Runner Workflows
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