Finch

Finch provides a native client that orchestrates container development on macOS, Windows, and Linux by bundling a minimal set of open‑source components. It delegates core operations such as building, running, pushing, and pulling images to nerdctl, which in turn relies on containerd for runtime management and BuildKit for OCI‑compatible image builds. All of these tools are executed inside a virtual machine managed by Lima, abstracting the underlying infrastructure from the user.

The installer delivers an opinionated distribution of the required components, allowing developers to start working with containers without manually assembling the stack. By integrating directly with nerdctl’s command set, Finch supports the most common container workflows while keeping the client footprint small.

Targeted at developers who need a straightforward, cross‑platform environment for container creation and testing, Finch runs on macOS Catalina or later (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows 10 2004+ with WSL 2, and Linux systems capable of containerd 1.7+. Installation is available via direct download, Homebrew cask, or MSI packages, and a one‑time virtual‑machine initialization prepares the environment for immediate use.