Backend Doctor

Preflight for Mac container backends

Know what breaks
before you switch.

Inspect a devcontainer and its Compose stack against Docker Desktop, Podman, OrbStack, or Apple Container—without starting a container.

Install the doctor See a recorded diagnosis
  • No daemon mutation
  • No secret values
  • No telemetry
A container vessel approaches four signal beacons through a foggy strait, viewed over an illuminated navigation chart
Inspection chart 01Four routes · one manifest

Charted for

Recorded inspection

One project. Four very different crossings.

The sample mounts Docker’s socket, pins amd64, uses host networking, and requests a Compose secret. Change the destination to see the precomputed diagnosis.

devcontainer-backend-doctor check . --backend docker-desktop
BACKENDdocker-desktop
VERDICTREVIEW
FINDINGS0 errors · 3 warnings

    Static sample — no files leave your browser. The CLI performs the real local inspection.

    The manifest

    Seven checks between “should work” and works.

    1. 01

      Mounts

      Host paths, Docker sockets, named volumes, and consistency flags.

    2. 02

      Privilege

      Privileged mode, Linux capabilities, rootless boundaries, and devices.

    3. 03

      Networking

      Host mode, published ports, gateway aliases, and VM boundaries.

    4. 04

      Architecture

      amd64 and arm64 pins versus your Mac and backend emulation path.

    5. 05

      GPU

      NVIDIA runtimes and Compose device reservations that macOS cannot satisfy.

    6. 06

      Secrets

      Missing secret inputs are reported by name; their values are never read.

    7. 07

      Backend probe

      Optional, read-only availability, version, architecture, and health check.

    A quiet instrument

    It reads the chart.
    It never takes the wheel.

    Step 01

    Discover

    Find devcontainer.json, Compose files, and linked overrides.

    Step 02

    Compare

    Apply backend- and version-aware rules entirely on your machine.

    Step 03

    Act

    Get exact evidence, file locations, and remediation before launch.

    Ready for departure

    Run the inspection before the migration meeting.

    Build from source today. Release binaries follow the same zero-telemetry, single-binary contract.

    cargo install --git https://github.com/B-Divyesh/sf-devcontainer-backend-doctor

    Human reportdevcontainer-backend-doctor check . --backend podman
    CI / scriptingdevcontainer-backend-doctor check . --backend podman --json
    Read-only probedevcontainer-backend-doctor check . --backend podman --probe
    Read the full CLI reference