Lima: Linux Virtual Machines for Containers
Linux VM launcher with automatic file sharing, port forwarding, and container engine support.
Learn more about Lima
Lima is a virtualization tool that creates Linux virtual machines with integrated file sharing and network port forwarding capabilities. It uses QEMU as the underlying virtualization technology and provides automatic configuration for seamless host-guest integration. The system includes built-in support for multiple container runtimes including containerd, Docker, and Podman, with preconfigured templates for common development scenarios. Lima serves container development workflows, Kubernetes environments, and general Linux application testing across macOS, Linux, and NetBSD hosts.
Automatic Integration
Provides built-in file sharing and port forwarding between host and guest systems without manual configuration. Includes preconfigured templates for Docker, Kubernetes, and containerd environments.
Multi-Engine Support
Supports multiple container runtimes including containerd, Docker, Podman, and Kubernetes within the same virtualization framework. Works across different host operating systems beyond macOS.
QEMU Foundation
Built on QEMU virtualization technology with streamlined configuration management. Provides WSL2-like functionality for non-Windows systems through automated VM provisioning.
Lima v2.1.0-alpha.0 adds new CLI commands for monitoring and sync operations, plus host-to-guest time synchronization.
- –Add `limactl watch` command
- –Add `limactl --sync` to prevent AI agents from breaking the host files
- –Add host-to-guest time synchronization
Fixes rsync directory placement regression and compilation issues on older macOS versions.
- –Fix `limactl copy` (w/ rsync) puts the destination directory in an extra directory
- –Fix compilation on macOS < 13
- –Support ASIF disk format
- –Update from v2.2.0 to v2.2.1
Updates nerdctl to v2.2.1.
- –nerdctl: update from v2.2.0 to v2.2.1
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