apple / apple/container

[Request] Add --gpus GPU passthrough support to container run/create

Open
#1,511 5 comments 26 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Swift
Stars
49.9k
Forks
1.8k
Avg merge
1d 20h
Merged PRs (30d)
22

Description

### Feature request

Please add a `--gpus` flag to `container run` and `container create` for GPU passthrough from the host into Linux containers.

### Compose compatibility

Docker Compose exposes GPU requests through `service.gpus` and `deploy.resources.reservations.devices` (for example `gpus: all` or requests with count/device IDs/capabilities). Container-Compose can parse those fields, but it must currently warn-skip them because apple/container has no equivalent runtime flag.

### Expected CLI shape

- `container run --gpus all IMAGE ...`
- `container run --gpus count=1,device=0 IMAGE ...`
- matching support on `container create`

Exact device selection semantics can follow what the virtualization stack can safely expose, but a first-class CLI/API surface would let compose translators fail explicitly or pass through supported GPU requests instead of silently degrading GPU-bound workloads to CPU.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with the `container run` and `container create` command entry points and trace how their options reach the container runtime. Compare the requested `all`, count, device, and capability forms with what the virtualization stack can safely expose. Done means supported GPU requests are represented by a first-class CLI/API surface and Compose translators no longer silently degrade them.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
swift
Domain
cli, operating-systems
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
42/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.