Developer Setup for macOS

Current support

macOS support currently covers native SimLibs and headless Project AirSim Runtime source builds on Apple Silicon (ARM64). Release builds and the SimLibs unit suite were validated on an ARM64 image of the macos-15 CI runner. Runtime is linked as part of that build; runtime flight, client integration, and shutdown are not yet exercised on macOS in CI.

Component	macOS status
SimLibs	Release build and unit tests validated on macOS 15 ARM64
Project AirSim Runtime	Native executable built; macOS integration validation pending
Unreal plugin and Blocks	Not currently validated or supported on macOS
Intel Macs / universal runtime binaries	Not validated
Downloadable macOS runtime distribution	Not produced by the macOS CI workflow

This describes the source build capability, not availability in a published release. The runtime provides the shared simulation core without Unreal or rendered sensors; see Runtime capabilities. Individual controller and external simulator integrations require separate macOS validation.

Prerequisites

Use an Apple Silicon Mac with Apple’s C++ command-line toolchain and Homebrew available. The tested OS is macOS 15; other macOS versions are not covered by this validation. Unreal Engine is not required for this build.

From the repository root, install the dependencies:

chmod +x setup_macos_dev_tools.sh build.sh
./setup_macos_dev_tools.sh

The script installs CMake, Ninja, OpenSSL 3, and zlib through Homebrew.

Build and test

From the repository root:

./build.sh simlibs_release
./build.sh test_simlibs_release

The macOS build uses build/macos/Release. Debug targets are also available as simlibs_debug and test_simlibs_debug; the CI validation described above covers Release.

The runtime executable is generated at:

build/macos/Release/samples/projectairsim_runtime/projectairsim-runtime

To start a local runtime evaluation from the repository root:

./build/macos/Release/samples/projectairsim_runtime/projectairsim-runtime

This launch command is the next integration validation step; a successful build alone does not establish that a complete flight or shutdown works on macOS. Follow the Runtime guide for client usage and host limitations.

package_simlibs stages simulation libraries for custom projects. It does not create a distributable runtime app or an Unreal/Blocks package for Mac.