- Who it helps
- Apple-platform developers who want inspectable results from unattended build work.
- Availability
- The repository requires Apple Silicon, macOS 14 or newer, full Xcode and Homebrew. Setup and runtime behavior were not tested.
Choose the execution boundary
The documented VM path creates a fresh Tart environment for a job. The host lane uses the actual machine while its owner is away and is designed to stop or requeue work when the owner returns.
Review the finished evidence
The useful handoff is a job result with logs, screenshots, test result bundles and an exit status. A team can define which of these must be present before accepting an agent’s claim that a build passed.
What you can do
- Inspect the beta’s requirements and choose a disposable sample project before planning background jobs. Open reference ↗
Where the evidence stops
Host and VM jobs have different isolation properties. No installer, job or stop-on-return behavior was executed.
Sources read. Public source material was read October 17, 2026 UTC. No model inference or third-party project was executed.
Sources & further reading
GitHub · implementation
Offscreen ↗
The beta repository documents macOS requirements, isolated VM jobs and an away-time host lane.
Mark Phelps · page checked 2026-10-17
Coverage note: The cited bundle covers the available primary explanation. Matching original X posts, a complete video comparison and independent execution evidence were unavailable.
The record over time (1)
Dated source checks and published explanations. An observation date can differ from the original release date.
Offscreen is a beta tool for running Mac development jobs in the background and keeping their logs and test artifacts together. It offers both virtual-machine jobs and an away-time host mode.