Lima

Introduction

Lima (Linux Machines) is an open-source tool for running Linux virtual machines on macOS (and Linux), with a focus on providing containerd as the container runtime. It serves as a lightweight alternative to Docker Desktop, automatically handling file sharing, port forwarding, and containerd/nerdctl setup. Lima uses QEMU or Apple's Virtualization.framework (vz) as the VM backend.

Key Features

• Automatic containerd Setup: Ships with containerd and nerdctl pre-configured
• File Sharing: Bidirectional file sharing between host and guest (reverse-sshfs, virtiofs, 9p)
• Port Forwarding: Automatic forwarding of ports from guest to host
• Multi-Architecture: Support for x86_64 and aarch64 VMs, including Rosetta for x86 emulation on Apple Silicon
• Multiple VM Types: Templates for containerd, Docker, Podman, Kubernetes (k3s, k8s), and more
• macOS Integration: Native support for Apple Virtualization.framework (vz) with better performance

Installation

# Install via Homebrew
brew install lima

# Verify installation
limactl --version

Usage

Create and Start a VM

# Create default VM (containerd + nerdctl)
limactl start

# Create VM from a specific template
limactl start template://k3s
limactl start template://docker

# List running VMs
limactl list

# Shell into a VM
limactl shell default

# Stop and delete a VM
limactl stop default
limactl delete default

Using nerdctl (containerd CLI)

Lima provides nerdctl as a Docker-compatible CLI for containerd:

# Run containers (inside Lima VM or via lima prefix)
lima nerdctl run -d --name nginx -p 8080:80 nginx:latest
lima nerdctl ps
lima nerdctl images
lima nerdctl build -t my-app .

Configuration

Lima VMs are configured via YAML files (~/.lima/<instance>/lima.yaml):

# VM resource allocation
cpus: 4
memory: "8GiB"
disk: "100GiB"

# Use Apple Virtualization.framework (better performance on macOS)
vmType: vz
rosetta:
  enabled: true  # Enable Rosetta for x86 emulation on Apple Silicon

# Mount directories from host
mounts:
  - location: "~"
    writable: false
  - location: "/tmp/lima"
    writable: true

# Port forwarding rules
portForwards:
  - guestPort: 8080
    hostPort: 8080
  - guestPortRange: [30000, 32767]  # NodePort range for K8s

# containerd configuration
containerd:
  system: false
  user: true

Kubernetes with Lima

Use the k3s template for a lightweight Kubernetes cluster:

# Start a k3s VM
limactl start template://k3s

# Access the cluster
export KUBECONFIG=$(limactl list k3s --format '{{.Dir}}/copied-from-guest/kubeconfig.yaml')
kubectl get nodes

Reference:

1. Official Website
2. Repository