# macOS runners (coming soon)

macOS jobs are not supported yet. This page says how they will work, so you can plan for them. Until then, keep macOS jobs on GitHub's runners and move the rest: a workflow can use both.

```yaml
jobs:
  ios:
    runs-on: macos-latest      # stays on GitHub for now
  test:
    runs-on: superci/cpu=8     # your AWS, on spot
```

## How it will work

A job that says `runs-on: superci/os=macos` will run on an Apple Mac in your own AWS account, from the same control plane as your other jobs.

AWS rents Macs differently from other machines, and SuperCI will work with that:

1. **A Mac is rented for at least 24 hours.** EC2 Mac machines run only on a Dedicated Host, one Mac per host, and AWS lets you release a host only after 24 hours. So the first macOS job allocates a Mac host in your account, and SuperCI keeps it.
2. **Jobs reuse the Mac, each on a clean disk.** Between jobs, SuperCI puts a fresh copy of the macOS image back on the Mac's disk. AWS does this while the Mac keeps running: it reboots, and nothing the last job left behind is there. Stopping the Mac instead would start AWS's own clean-up of the host, which can take hours on Apple silicon.
3. **More Macs when jobs wait.** When jobs queue, another host is allocated, up to the number of Macs you allow. Jobs go to whichever Mac is free.
4. **Released when idle.** A Mac that has had no job for a while, once past its 24 hours, is released, so a quiet week costs nothing.

## What it will cost

Mac hosts are on-demand only: AWS has no spot Macs. You pay AWS per hour for each host from the moment it is allocated, at least 24 hours, whether or not jobs run on it. A [Savings Plan](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/savingsplans/latest/userguide/) lowers that for Macs you keep.

That makes a Mac in your own account cheapest for steady macOS work: builds through the day, every day. For a few macOS jobs a week, GitHub's own macOS runners, billed by the minute, will usually cost less.

## Which Macs

AWS offers Mac minis and Mac Studios: Apple M1, M2, M2 Pro, M4 and M4 Pro, and older Intel ones. The label will choose, the way it chooses CPUs today.

## Sources

Read on 28 October 2026.

- [Amazon EC2 Mac instances](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/ec2-mac-instances.html): Dedicated Hosts, one Mac per host, the 24-hour minimum, on-demand only, the Mac models.
- [Stop or terminate an EC2 Mac instance](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/mac-instance-stop.html): the clean-up of the host after a stop, up to 4.5 hours on Apple silicon.
- [Replace the root volume](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSEC2/latest/UserGuide/replace-root.html): a fresh disk on a running instance, supported on EC2 Mac.
- [EC2 Mac pricing](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/instance-types/mac/#Pricing).