I write code on a Mac and script-built VMs seem to be the way to go. Sharing host folders the VM mounts and letting the actual code run on the VM is much closer to the server environment (leading to much fewer surprises). While it may hide a bug that would manifest itself under OSX (or other Unix) it's a useful setup.
Having said that, I've also worked a lot with slimmer environments - venv on top of the native OS - with reasonable success.
Having said that, I've also worked a lot with slimmer environments - venv on top of the native OS - with reasonable success.