Examples

Running Linux commands

lima uname -a

Accessing host files

By default, the VM has read-only accesses to /Users/<USERNAME>.

To allow writing to /Users/<USERNAME>:

limactl edit --mount-writable

{{% alert title="Hint" color=success %}} Lima prior to v2.0 mounts /tmp/lima too in read-write mode.

This directory is no longer mounted by default since Lima v2.0. To mount /tmp/lima in Lima v2.0 and later, set --mount /tmp/lima:w. The :w suffix indicates read-write mode. {{% /alert %}}

Running containers

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nerdctl.lima run -d --name nginx -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 nginx:alpine

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limactl start template:docker
export DOCKER_HOST=$(limactl list docker --format 'unix://{{.Dir}}/sock/docker.sock')
docker run -d --name nginx -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 nginx:alpine

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limactl start template:podman
export DOCKER_HOST=$(limactl list podman --format 'unix://{{.Dir}}/sock/podman.sock')
docker run -d --name nginx -p 127.0.0.1:8080:80 nginx:alpine

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{{% tab header="Kubernetes" %}}

limactl start template:k8s
export KUBECONFIG=$(limactl list k8s --format 'unix://{{.Dir}}/copied-from-guest/kubeconfig.yaml')
kubectl create deployment nginx --image nginx:alpine
kubectl create service nodeport nginx --node-port=31080 --tcp=80:80

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• http://127.0.0.1:8080 is accessible from the host, as well as from the VM.

• See more examples.

Advanced configuration

limactl start \
  --name=default \
  --cpus=4 \
  --memory=8 \
  --vm-type=vz \
  --rosetta \
  --mount-writable \
  --network=vzNAT \
  template:fedora

• --name=default: Set the instance name to "default"
• --cpus=4: Set the number of the CPUs to 4
• --memory=8: Set the amount of the memory to 8 GiB
• --vm-type=vz: Use Apple's Virtualization.framework (vz) to enable Rosetta, virtiofs, and vzNAT
• --rosetta: Allow running Intel (AMD) binaries on ARM
• --mount-writable: Make the home mount (/Users/<USERNAME>) writable
• --network=vzNAT: Make the VM reachable from the host by its IP address
• template:fedora: Use Fedora