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 

Running containers

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

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
Last modified October 10, 2025: website: enhance container examples (39156ed3)