Amp macOS Satellites

Amp macOS Satellites is a beta feature of the Amp coding agent that spins up a fresh cloud Mac so the agent can build, test and run iOS/macOS apps while the main thread stays on a Linux orb. Amp (Amp Inc., led by Quinn Slack) published the feature on October 29, 2026.

Official: ampcode.com/news/macos-satellites · Discussion: @hameonline · @sqs

Key points

1. Hybrid layout: the agent thread stays on a fast Linux orb; a Mac appears only for work that needs macOS (Amp says ~35% of macOS-heavy sessions).
2. Boot time: a fresh Mac with Xcode and simulators starts in about 30 seconds.
3. Pricing: mac.medium (6 CPU / 14 GB) $2/hour, mac.large (12 CPU / 28 GB) $4/hour, billed from orb usage then Amp credits.
4. Lifecycle: Macs start clean; kept ~20 minutes after last use for cache reuse, then deleted. Screen streams into a Mac tab; you can take control.
5. Replaces "Morbs": earlier all-Mac orbs were abandoned as too slow/expensive.

Status

Beta with a waitlist under Settings → Experimental Features.

How to use it

1. Open Amp → Settings → Experimental Features → join the Mac Satellites waitlist ("Move Me Up" each day advances the queue).
2. Ask Amp to build/test/run an iOS or Mac app; it starts a Satellite when needed.
3. Watch the Mac tab, or take control to click through the app yourself.
4. Ask for mac.large if you need more CPU/RAM.

Nothing on the Satellite is persisted after teardown—commit work back to the orb.