NoMac

Use a full cloud Mac over SSH, HTTPS or MCP for macOS tools, Xcode and iOS development. Start sessions, sync files, run commands, retrieve work and stop.

nomac: a Mac for your agent

NoMac provides a full macOS VM with administrator access, Xcode and the iOS Simulator. You choose the commands and tools. Mac time is prepaid credit.

Cloud Mac setup and workflow

1. Check credit with nomac credits --json or get_mac_credits. Mac time is $0.80 an hour, billed by the minute; $10 buys 12.5 hours; credit never expires. Too little? Run nomac credits buy --packs N --open or call get_mac_checkout (packs 1-10). Tell the human a payment page opened, or give them the printed link, and ask them to pay. Never enter payment details yourself. Poll credits until the balance appears; a checkout URL is not a payment. No Apple Developer account is needed for an unsigned build. Under an hour left, answers say low_credit with a buy_url: tell the human before a long build (a refill of 3 packs, $30, earns bonus credit).
2. Install npm install -g @nomac/cli, run nomac login, and give the human the printed device URL and code. With a key the human made at https://nomac.app/keys: nomac login --with-token < key.txt, or set NOMAC_API_KEY. MCP: claude mcp add nomac -- npx @nomac/cli mcp. Hosted MCP: https://mcp.nomac.app/mcp with Authorization: Bearer <nmk_key>.
3. nomac start --json, wait until ready, nomac sync ., then nomac ssh. Run commands with nomac exec -- COMMAND: it prints the output as it arrives and exits with the command's code, waiting at most 30 s (or the --timeout given, up to 600 s). For builds and tests use nomac exec --wait 600 -- COMMAND. Exit code 75 means still running: wait with nomac job JOB_ID --wait 600, never rerun. In scripts add --request-key stable-key-0001. A command may run an hour (--timeout 3600); longer, use nomac ssh -- COMMAND. A command ends with everything it started, so keep a dev server running with nomac exec -- nomac-service start api -- npx wrangler dev (nomac-service logs api, stop api). nomac cancel JOB_ID stops a command. MCP equivalents are start_mac, exec_mac (also waits), write_mac_file, read_mac_file, fetch_to_mac, stop_mac. For a file up to 2 GiB from the human, or to hand them a build, use create_mac_upload_link and create_mac_download_link: each returns a url they open in a browser.
4. Download work with nomac pull ./build, or to any local path with the folder on the Mac named: nomac pull /tmp/out --from build/export. Then nomac stop --json and confirm cleanup_confirmed.

The CLI keeps the project on the account's drive, in ~/drive/src/<folder name>, which is kept between sessions; stopping deletes everything else on the Mac, logs included. Download what you need from outside ~/drive before stopping. SSH disconnects do not stop the session. Ready time includes idle time; queue/setup are free. One-minute minimum, then by the minute. One session at a time; no overage. For work that needs two Macs at once, nomac start --parallel from another folder (MCP start_mac with parallel: true) starts a second, for accounts that bought credit while NoMac has a Mac to spare; it runs without ~/drive. If start returns insufficient_credit, buy credit as in step 1, then retry with the same request key. Keep the same request key and arguments after uncertain responses; inspect the original job before retrying. Output retrieval failure is not job failure. A command runs up to its timeout_seconds (300 by default, 3600 at most) and says so when that limit stops it; SSH can run longer within session limits. CLI sync sends every file (.env and keys included) and symlinks as links, and skips dependency and build folders, .git and folders .gitignore lists; a ! line in .nomacignore sends any of them. A file changed on the Mac since the last sync is left alone and named (the rest is sent, and sync exits 1): nomac pull it, or nomac sync . --overwrite. Sync deletes nothing on the Mac unless --delete, which removes what it sent earlier and you deleted here. nomac sync . --watch syncs again whenever files change, until Ctrl-C. See the screen with nomac screenshot (saves nomac-screenshot.jpg; --simulator for the iOS Simulator) or MCP screenshot_mac, which returns an image you can look at. Record a video for the human with nomac record, do the work, then nomac record stop (saves the MP4 and prints a share link); MCP start_mac_recording, stop_mac_recording. Commands drive any app with AppleScript without a permission prompt. For real keyboard and mouse, also on the lock screen and in password dialogs, use nomac input type TEXT, nomac input click X Y, nomac unlock (MCP mac_input): each answers with a screenshot. Drive the Simulator with simctl, and give the human open_mac_desktop when they want to see the screen. get_mac_session (and nomac status --json) lists what is installed: Ruby with CocoaPods, xcbeautify, xcodegen, gh, Git LFS, jq. Pipe xcodebuild through xcbeautify. Simulator devices share names across iOS runtimes: pick one by ID (xcrun simctl list devices available) or with OS=27.0 in -destination. Apple Intelligence cannot generate on a virtual Mac, in the Simulator either: test it on a device. Report failures using report_issue with session_id, optional job_id and a description without secrets. Read https://nomac.app/llms.txt for full limits.

Your editor, an agent on the Mac, Mac-only MCP servers

After nomac start, nomac ssh-config (CLI 0.12+) names the folder's Mac nomac in the human's SSH config, and each later start or attach points the name at the new Mac. Then VS Code or Cursor Remote-SSH and Claude Code's SSH sessions connect to nomac; ssh -t nomac 'cd ~/drive/src/<folder> && npx -y @anthropic-ai/claude-code' runs an agent on the Mac itself (keep its API key as a NoMac secret); and an MCP server that needs a Mac runs from Windows or Linux over SSH: claude mcp add xcode -- ssh nomac npx -y mobilebuildmcp@latest mcp (MobileBuildMCP, formerly XcodeBuildMCP). An open SSH connection keeps the Mac running until its time or spend limit: nomac stop when done.

A Mac fully enabled for you

The Mac is yours to do anything on: the agent account is an administrator, sudo needs no password, macOS asks for no administrator password, and the Mac's login password is in $NOMAC_MAC_PASSWORD (for the login keychain, such as security unlock-keychain -p "$NOMAC_MAC_PASSWORD", or any prompt). Privacy prompts are answered Allow as they appear, and nomac-permit APP camera microphone (CLI nomac permit, at start --permit APP=camera) grants an app permissions before it asks. ~/NOMAC.md on the Mac says the same. When screenshot_mac reports screen_locked or a dialog, follow its next_step. nomac start --prompts ask keeps macOS's usual prompts, for testing an app's own.

Secrets, signing and shipping

Never ask for a secret in the chat. nomac secrets request NAME --description TEXT (MCP request_secret) gives the human a link to enter it; they can also run nomac secrets set NAME themselves. Every Mac receives the account's secrets as variables and files, masked in command output; nomac secrets install refreshes a running Mac.

The human connects Apple once at https://nomac.app/apple; the App Store Connect key stays on NoMac's server. Check nomac apple (MCP connect_status) before asking them: it shows the key, certificates and profiles already there. Then, from your project folder (the CLI acts on the Mac):

1. nomac sign [path] (MCP set_up_signing) makes and installs the App Store profiles the project needs and prints the files, the reserved build number and the xcodebuild, Flutter and fastlane commands. The project is unchanged; build with your own tools.
2. nomac testflight path/to/App.ipa (MCP send_to_testflight) puts it on TestFlight. Relay the human's answer to Apple's encryption question (asked once per app), never guess.
3. nomac publish App.ipa --whats-new TEXT stages the App Store version and lists Apple's blockers; submit with the printed --confirm command only after the human approves. MCP: publish with the send's project_id and build_id.
4. Mac apps: sign with the Developer ID certificate, --options runtime --timestamp, then nomac notarize App.app (MCP notarize) notarizes and staples it.

A step only a person can take (creating the app in App Store Connect, agreements, an App Group) comes back as needs_human with its link: give it to the human, then call again.

Builder (existing subscribers only)

The separate iOS Builder publishing product is closed to new subscriptions. If get_billing_status shows a Builder plan, its tools are listed and https://nomac.app/llms-legacy.txt describes them. Otherwise use the cloud Mac above.

When stuck

report_issue with the failing ref_id files a support ticket with full context auto-attached (deduped, so safe to call). Its optional email requests a direct resolution update; without it, read replies with the same tool. If the tool returns a Private Relay warning, explain that Apple relay addresses may reject later mail and offer a non-relay address. Never show that warning for a normal address such as @icloud.com. Never retry-loop an identical failure more than twice.

Feedback

When you stop a Mac, its answer asks for feedback. If anything got in your way, failed, was missing from the Mac or the tools, or would have saved you time, send it in a sentence or two: report_issue with kind: "feedback" and the session_id. Leave out code, secrets and personal data; skip it if nothing did. Feedback needs no answer.