cilicon ☆

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Description:
Self-Hosted ephemeral CI on Apple Silicon

Type: Cask | Latest Version: 2.4.2,25@0 | Tracked Since: Dec 17, 2025

Links: Homepage | formulae.brew.sh

Category: Devops

Tags: ci-cd github-actions virtualization devops macos

Install: brew install --cask cilicon

About:
Cilicon is a tool for running self-hosted GitHub Actions runners on Apple Silicon Macs. It manages ephemeral virtual machines, allowing for clean, isolated CI environments that are destroyed and recreated after each job. This approach ensures consistent builds and eliminates the need for complex runner cleanup scripts.

Key Features:

Automated VM lifecycle management (provisioning, execution, and cleanup)
Seamless integration with GitHub Actions via the Actions Runner Controller
Optimized for Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3) performance and efficiency
Supports macOS, Linux, and Windows VMs via Apple's Virtualization Framework

Use Cases:

Running secure, isolated CI/CD builds for iOS and macOS applications
Providing ephemeral build environments for large development teams
Managing dedicated Mac infrastructure for GitHub Actions workloads

Alternatives:

act – Runs workflows locally in a Docker container, whereas Cilicon manages full VMs on dedicated hardware for true CI/CD environments.
Orka – A cloud-native macOS virtualization platform, often more complex to set up and aimed at larger-scale infrastructure than Cilicon's focused runner management.

Version History

Detected	Version	Rev	Change	Commit
Aug 26, 2025 10:43am	2.3.0	0	VERSION_BUMP	37f02140