We Rebuilt the Linux MicroVM Stack on Apple Silicon

Encore, a backend application builder, has spent four years requiring engineers to develop on a shared remote Linux machine because Firecracker microVMs—which they use for isolated builds—require KVM and don't run on macOS. To enable local development on Macs while maintaining Firecracker in production, the company built "crackling," a unified microVM API that runs Firecracker on Linux and Apple's hypervisor on macOS, requiring them to rebuild much of the Linux image toolchain to support both platforms.