RenaCode
CloudMachine
Native Time Machine, backed by Google Drive.
No external disk, no NAS, nothing plugged in at home. Time Machine backs up over SMB to a small Linux machine running on the same Mac, which sends the backup to Google Drive.
- macOS 14+
- Apple silicon
- Google Drive
- open source
How it works
The backup lands in a local buffer at disk speed and drains to the cloud in the background. A dropped connection pauses the upload, not the backup.
Real Time Machine
The backups are made by the system's own Time Machine; CloudMachine only gives it a destination on Google Drive.
Upload buffer
The backup lands in a 120 GB buffer on the Mac and drains to Google Drive in the background. When the buffer is full, Time Machine waits.
A machine on your Mac
The SMB share is served by a small Ubuntu machine (Lima, Apple Virtualization) — a destination macOS still accepts for a new backup.
Several Macs, one account
Each Mac gets its own folder on Google Drive, so backups never mix. Each can have a space limit, with a warning from 90%.
Menu-bar app
The window walks you through setup step by step. Background agents start the machine at login and watch the backup.
Install with Homebrew
One command: brew install --cask renacode/tap/cloudmachine. Updates come through brew upgrade.
Requirements and limitations
What you need before you start.
- MacmacOS 14 (Sonoma) or later on Apple silicon, an administrator password for one step and about 200 GB of free disk space.
- GoogleA Google account with room to spare and your own OAuth credentials for Google Drive. The app sees only the files it created itself.
- Not notarisedReleases are signed with a self-signed certificate, not an Apple Developer ID. Installing with Homebrew avoids the warning; a DMG downloaded by hand will show it.
CloudMachine is free and open source (MIT licence). Code, releases and bug reports are on GitHub.
Requirements: macOS 14 or later, a Mac with Apple silicon, Homebrew and Lima.
App language: Polish or English, following the system language.
Support
Have a question or found a bug? Report it on GitHub or get in touch.
We usually reply within a few business days. For a bug report, the output of cloudmachine-agent vm-status helps.
Publisher
RenaCode, sole proprietorship
ul. Wolbromska 18/1b, Wrocław, Poland
Tax ID (NIP) 8992692240
e-mail: contact@renacode.com
Backups go straight to your Google Drive, through your own OAuth credentials — RenaCode never sees them. Privacy on this website is covered by the renacode.com Privacy Policy.