Colima Configuration

Colima Configuration

Table of Contents

• Overview
• VM Setup
• CPU Memory Disk Allocation
• Starting Colima
• Stopping Colima
• Colima Profiles
• Troubleshooting
• Colima vs Docker Desktop

Overview

Colima provides Docker container runtime on macOS using Lima VM. It's a free, lightweight alternative to Docker Desktop.

VM Setup

Initial setup:

# Install Colima
brew install colima

# Install Docker CLI
brew install docker docker-compose

# Start Colima (creates default profile)
colima start

CPU Memory Disk Allocation

Configure resources:

# Standard development setup
colima start --cpu 4 --memory 8 --disk 50

# High-performance setup
colima start --cpu 8 --memory 16 --disk 100

# With optimizations for Apple Silicon
colima start \
  --cpu 8 \
  --memory 16 \
  --disk 100 \
  --vm-type vz \
  --vz-rosetta \
  --mount-type virtiofs \
  --network-address

Resource recommendations:

Workload	CPU	Memory	Disk
Light development	2-4	4-6 GB	30 GB
Standard (devstack-core)	4-6	8-12 GB	50 GB
Heavy workloads	8+	16+ GB	100+ GB

Starting Colima

Start default profile:

colima start

Start with custom config:

colima start \
  --cpu 6 \
  --memory 12 \
  --disk 80 \
  --vm-type vz \
  --vz-rosetta \
  --mount-type virtiofs

Start named profile:

colima start --profile dev

Stopping Colima

Stop Colima:

colima stop

# Stop specific profile
colima stop --profile dev

Delete Colima instance:

colima delete

# Delete specific profile
colima delete --profile dev

Colima Profiles

Create multiple environments:

# Development profile
colima start --profile dev --cpu 4 --memory 8

# Production-like profile
colima start --profile prod --cpu 8 --memory 16

# Switch between profiles
colima stop --profile dev
colima start --profile prod

# List profiles
colima list

Troubleshooting

Colima won't start:

# Check status
colima status

# View logs
colima logs

# Reset Colima
colima delete
colima start

Services can't access host:

# Use host.docker.internal
curl http://host.docker.internal:8080

Performance issues:

# Increase resources
colima stop
colima start --cpu 8 --memory 16

# Use VZ + Rosetta (Apple Silicon)
colima start --vm-type vz --vz-rosetta

Colima vs Docker Desktop

Feature	Colima	Docker Desktop
Cost	Free, Open Source	Free for personal use, paid for enterprise
Resource Usage	Lightweight	Heavier
Performance	Comparable, faster with VZ	Good
UI	CLI only	GUI included
Setup	Manual	Automated
Kubernetes	Supported	Built-in

Advantages of Colima:

• Free for commercial use
• Lighter weight
• Faster startup
• More control over VM configuration
• No licensing concerns

Disadvantages:

• No GUI
• More manual configuration
• Less polished user experience

Related Pages

• Performance-Tuning - VM optimization
• Network-Issues - Networking troubleshooting