0. Setup Docker Desktop

Install Docker Desktop on your Mac and check the engine, resources, file sharing and Docker socket.

Ayakaleaf Pro runs on Docker. On a Mac you use Docker Desktop, which runs the Docker engine in a Linux virtual machine.

1. Install and start Docker Desktop

   Install the Docker Desktop build for your Mac (Apple silicon or Intel), open it, and wait until the engine has started. You can also start it from Terminal:

   open -a Docker
   
2. Check the Docker engine

   Run these commands in Terminal:

   docker context show
   docker info
   docker compose version
   

   The context should point to your local Docker Desktop engine, normally desktop-linux. If another context is selected, switch to Docker Desktop before you continue:

   docker context use desktop-linux
   

   docker info must print a Server section. docker --version alone only shows that the client is installed.

3. Check resources and file sharing

   In Docker Desktop Settings, check the CPU, memory and disk limits against Before you start, and the file sharing settings, see Docker Desktop settings.

   This guide keeps the Toolkit under /Users, which Docker Desktop shares by default. If you use another location and bin/up fails with Mounts denied, add that directory to file sharing.

4. Check the Docker socket for sandboxed compiles

   The Toolkit mounts /var/run/docker.sock into the application, so that it can start a separate TeX Live container for each compile. Keep DOCKER_SOCKET_PATH=/var/run/docker.sock in config/overleaf.rc.

   The Docker CLI on macOS may connect through ~/.docker/run/docker.sock. That is the client endpoint on the Mac, not a reason to change the Toolkit’s mount source: the compiler needs the engine socket as Linux containers see it.

   If /var/run/docker.sock is missing on the Mac, turn on Allow the default Docker socket to be used under Settings → Advanced, see Docker’s permission requirements.

   Do not run chmod 777 on the socket to work around errors. Access to the Docker socket is root-equivalent access to the Docker VM.

Next step

Once docker info works, continue with 1. Download the Toolkit.