feat: support for running the emulator with apple container

package.json

@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
     "@junobuild/admin": "^2.3.0",
     "@junobuild/cdn": "^1.3.2",
     "@junobuild/cli-tools": "^0.8.0",
-    "@junobuild/config": "^2.3.0-next-2025-09-27.1",
+    "@junobuild/config": "^2.3.0-next-2025-09-27.2",
     "@junobuild/config-loader": "^0.4.5",
     "@junobuild/core": "^2.2.0",
     "@junobuild/did-tools": "^0.3.3",

src/services/emulator/_runner.services.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import {nonNullish} from '@dfinity/utils';
 import {assertAnswerCtrlC, execute, spawn} from '@junobuild/cli-tools';
-import {type EmulatorPorts} from '@junobuild/config';
+import {type EmulatorPorts, type EmulatorRunner} from '@junobuild/config';
 import {red, yellow} from 'kleur';
 import {basename, join} from 'node:path';
 import prompts from 'prompts';
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import {
   assertContainerRunnerRunning,
   checkDockerVersion,
   hasExistingContainer,
+  hasExistingVolume,
   isContainerRunning
 } from '../../utils/runner.utils';
 import {initConfigNoneInteractive} from '../config/init.services';
@@ -100,9 +101,10 @@ const promptRunnerType = async (): Promise<{runnerType: EmulatorRunnerType}> =>
     choices: [
       {
         title: 'Docker',
-        value: `docker`
+        value: 'docker'
       },
-      {title: `Podman`, value: `podman`}
+      {title: 'Podman', value: 'podman'},
+      {title: 'Apple container', value: 'container'}
     ]
   });
 
@@ -209,12 +211,28 @@ const startEmulator = async ({config: extendedConfig}: {config: CliEmulatorConfi
   // Podman does not auto create the path folders.
   await createDeployTargetDir({targetDeploy});
 
+  // Apple container does not auto create the volume.
+  const {result: createResult} = await createVolume({volume, runner});
+
+  if (createResult === 'error') {
+    console.log(red(`Unable to create a volume ${volume} for ${runner}.`));
+    return;
+  }
+
   const image = config.runner?.image ?? `junobuild/${emulatorType}:latest`;
 
   const platform = config.runner?.platform;
 
   const network = config?.network;
 
+  const volumes = [
+    `${volume}:/juno/.juno`,
+    ...(nonNullish(configFile) && nonNullish(configFilePath)
+      ? [`${configFilePath}:/juno/${configFile}`]
+      : []),
+    `${targetDeploy}:/juno/target/deploy`
+  ];
+
   await execute({
     command: runner,
     args: [
@@ -233,13 +251,7 @@ const startEmulator = async ({config: extendedConfig}: {config: CliEmulatorConfi
           ]
         : []),
       ...(nonNullish(network) ? ['-e', `NETWORK=${JSON.stringify(network)}`] : []),
-      '-v',
-      `${volume}:/juno/.juno`,
-      ...(nonNullish(configFile) && nonNullish(configFilePath)
-        ? ['-v', `${configFilePath}:/juno/${configFile}`]
-        : []),
-      '-v',
-      `${targetDeploy}:/juno/target/deploy`,
+      ...volumes.flatMap((v) => ['-v', v]),
       ...(nonNullish(platform) ? [`--platform=${platform}`] : []),
       image
     ]
@@ -278,3 +290,37 @@ const assertContainerRunning = async ({
 
   return result;
 };
+
+const createVolume = async ({
+  volume,
+  runner
+}: Pick<CliEmulatorDerivedConfig, 'runner'> & Required<Pick<EmulatorRunner, 'volume'>>): Promise<{
+  result: 'success' | 'error' | 'skip';
+}> => {
+  // Docker and Podman auto-create the volume on run
+  if (runner !== 'container') {
+    return {result: 'skip'};
+  }
+
+  const check = await hasExistingVolume({
+    volume,
+    runner
+  });
+
+  if ('err' in check) {
+    return {result: 'error'};
+  }
+
+  const {exist} = check;
+
+  if (exist) {
+    return {result: 'skip'};
+  }
+
+  await execute({
+    command: runner,
+    args: ['volume', 'create', volume]
+  });
+
+  return {result: 'success'};
+};

src/utils/runner.utils.ts

@@ -1,4 +1,6 @@
+import {notEmptyString} from '@dfinity/utils';
 import {spawn} from '@junobuild/cli-tools';
+import {type EmulatorRunner} from '@junobuild/config';
 import {green, red, yellow} from 'kleur';
 import {lt} from 'semver';
 import {DOCKER_MIN_VERSION} from '../constants/dev.constants';
@@ -35,9 +37,13 @@ export const assertContainerRunnerRunning = async ({
   runner
 }: Pick<CliEmulatorDerivedConfig, 'runner'>) => {
   try {
+    // container does not support ps
+    // Reference: https://github.com/apple/container/pull/299
+    const args = runner === 'container' ? ['ls', '--quiet'] : ['ps', '--quiet'];
+
     await spawn({
       command: runner,
-      args: ['ps', '--quiet'],
+      args,
       silentOut: true
     });
   } catch (_e: unknown) {
@@ -54,13 +60,64 @@ export const hasExistingContainer = async ({
 > => {
   try {
     let output = '';
+
+    const args =
+      runner === 'container' ? ['ls', '-aq'] : ['ps', '-aq', '-f', `name=^/${containerName}$`];
+
     await spawn({
       command: runner,
-      args: ['ps', '-aq', '-f', `name=^/${containerName}$`],
+      args,
       stdout: (o) => (output += o),
       silentOut: true
     });
 
+    if (runner === 'container') {
+      const exist = output
+        .split(/\r?\n/)
+        .map((line) => line.trim())
+        .filter(notEmptyString)
+        .some((name) => name === containerName);
+
+      return {exist};
+    }
+
+    return {exist: output.trim().length > 0};
+  } catch (err: unknown) {
+    return {err};
+  }
+};
+
+export const hasExistingVolume = async ({
+  volume,
+  runner
+}: Pick<CliEmulatorDerivedConfig, 'runner'> & Required<Pick<EmulatorRunner, 'volume'>>): Promise<
+  {exist: boolean} | {err: unknown}
+> => {
+  try {
+    let output = '';
+
+    const args =
+      runner === 'container'
+        ? ['volume', 'ls', '-q']
+        : ['volume', 'ls', '-q', '-f', `name=^${volume}$`];
+
+    await spawn({
+      command: runner,
+      args,
+      stdout: (o) => (output += o),
+      silentOut: true
+    });
+
+    if (runner === 'container') {
+      const exist = output
+        .split(/\r?\n/)
+        .map((line) => line.trim())
+        .filter(notEmptyString)
+        .some((name) => name === volume);
+
+      return {exist};
+    }
+
     return {exist: output.trim().length > 0};
   } catch (err: unknown) {
     return {err};
@@ -75,13 +132,29 @@ export const isContainerRunning = async ({
 > => {
   try {
     let output = '';
+
+    const args =
+      runner === 'container'
+        ? ['ls', '--quiet']
+        : ['ps', '--quiet', '-f', `name=^/${containerName}$`];
+
     await spawn({
       command: runner,
-      args: ['ps', '--quiet', '-f', `name=^/${containerName}$`],
+      args,
       stdout: (o) => (output += o),
       silentOut: true
     });
 
+    if (runner === 'container') {
+      const running = output
+        .split(/\r?\n/)
+        .map((line) => line.trim())
+        .filter(notEmptyString)
+        .some((name) => name === containerName);
+
+      return {running};
+    }
+
     return {running: output.trim().length > 0};
   } catch (err: unknown) {
     return {err};