macOS Satellites

macOS Satellites are Macs in the cloud that your orb can start whenever a task needs macOS. Ask Amp to work on your iOS or Mac app, and it builds, tests, and runs the app on a Mac next to your orb, then shows you the result.

macOS Satellites are in beta. Join the waitlist to get access.

How It Works

Your thread keeps running on its Linux orb, next to your dev server and the rest of your toolchain. When the work needs macOS, Amp starts a fresh Mac with Xcode, the iOS simulators, and Homebrew. It’s ready in about 30 seconds.

Your orb runs Linux with the thread, dev server, and toolchain. 1. It starts a macOS Satellite in about 30 seconds. 2. It syncs your code to the Mac. 3. The Mac builds, runs, and tests. 4. Screenshots, logs, and video come back to the orb. Your orb runs Linux with the thread, dev server, and toolchain. 1. It starts a macOS Satellite in about 30 seconds. 2. It syncs your code to the Mac. 3. The Mac builds, runs, and tests. 4. Screenshots, logs, and video come back to the orb.

Amp keeps editing code on the orb. Before each command it runs on the Mac, the orb copies over whatever changed, so the Mac always builds your latest code. Files that Git ignores, like a local .env, stay on the orb. Screenshots, logs, and build output come back to the thread. If your app talks to a backend on the orb, like your dev server, Amp connects the Mac to it too.

You don’t have to ask for a Mac. Ask for the work, and Amp starts one when it needs it:

Add a dark mode toggle to the settings screen, run the app in the iOS Simulator, and show me a screenshot.

Watch and Control the Mac

Open the thread’s Mac tab, next to the Desktop tab, to see the Mac’s screen. You can watch Amp work, or click and type on the Mac to try the app yourself.

When no Mac is running, the Mac tab has a button that asks Amp to start one.

Xcode and Simulator Versions

Each Mac starts from a macOS image, and the image decides which Xcode versions and simulators you get:

ImageXcodeSimulators
macos-2726.6 and 27.0 to 27.2 (default 27.2)iOS 27.0 to 27.2
macos-2616.4 and 26.0 to 26.3 (default 26.1.1)iOS 17.5, 18.6, 26.0 to 26.2
macos-1515.4 and 16.0 to 16.4 (default 16.0)iOS 15.5 to 18.6

Macs use macos-27 by default. To use another image for a project, pick a Mac Image in the project’s Settings → Satellites. Amp also picks a matching image on its own when your project pins an Xcode version, e.g., in .xcode-version.

Sizes & Pricing

SizeCPUsMemoryPrice
mac.medium614 GB$2/hour
mac.large1228 GB$4/hour

Amp starts a mac.medium unless you ask for a mac.large. Under Mac Satellites in Settings → Experimental Features, you can turn off mac.medium to always get a mac.large, or turn macOS Satellites off entirely.

You only pay while a Mac runs, and a Mac only runs while Amp needs it. It stays up for 20 minutes after Amp last used it, so a follow-up message reuses the same Mac and its build cache. A long build counts as use, and so does having the Mac tab open. After 20 idle minutes, the Mac is deleted along with everything on it. It also stops right away when you archive the thread, when the orb goes to sleep, or when you ask Amp to stop it.

Mac time comes out of the orb usage your plan includes, at a higher rate than orb time, and then out of your Amp credits, the same way orb time does. Like an orb, a Mac only starts when you have usage or credits left. To see how long your Macs ran and what they cost, open Settings → Usage → Satellites.

Get Access

macOS Satellites are in beta, and we’re letting people in from a waitlist as we add Macs. To join, click Join Waitlist under Mac Satellites in Settings → Experimental Features. We’ll email you when you’re in.

To get in sooner, click Move Me Up once a day. People who click on the most days go first.