Custom container engine
You can use a different container engine that is compatible with the Docker Engine API, by setting the DOCKER_HOST environment variable to a custom socket path.
Example how to use podman with act using sh shell
DOCKER_HOST='unix:///var/run/podman/podman.sock' act # ...
or
export DOCKER_HOST='unix:///var/run/podman/podman.sock'
act # ...
Using act with remote Docker engine via SSH
DOCKER_HOST='ssh://user@host' act # ...
Using act with remote Docker engine via SSH in PowerShell
$env:DOCKER_HOST = 'ssh://user@host'
act # ...