TOtosh·Dec 28, 2022Submission
Colima: Container Runtimes on macOS
3 points · Open discussionabiosoft
colima
Go2021–2026
abiosoft / colima
colima
Container runtimes on macOS (and Linux) with minimal setup
62Distinct people
79Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
31.6KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Container runtimes on macOS (and Linux) with minimal setup
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
You might look into CoLima as a way to get started. https://github.com/abiosoft/colima?tab=readme-ov-file Its user interface is Docker-like, using containers. For full desktop,…
watersb used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- lima-vm/lima · linked in 5 of the same discussions
- rancher-sandbox/rancher-desktop · linked in 3 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 2:04:58 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year79 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2021-12-30 03:57:06 UTC to 2026-05-07 21:48:25 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 25 | 7 | 18 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 26 | 3 | 23 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 17 | 3 | 14 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
What Hacker News says
25 sourcesColima on an M1 Mac has been working fine for me. https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
Just do a 'colima start' once a month when I actually have to reboot my mac, to boot up the background VM, and everything else basically runs as normal.
In More developers use Linux than Mac, according to 2022 StackOverflow surveycolima [0] has been working pretty well for me, much better than Docker Desktop.
[0] https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
In More developers use Linux than Mac, according to 2022 StackOverflow survey> docker desktop is pretty dead now that it's got restrictive licensing etc...
It would probably be nice to hear more about why you think this is! I've certainly heard of some having to move away from Docker Desktop.
However, at the scale where you need a license (250 employees or 10 million $ in annual revenue) it's not quite as big of an issue, especially at their current pricing per seat: https://www.docker.com/pricing/
> stick to standard open source tools like Colima etc...
Sticking to open source is a great idea!
I think mentioning that Colima runs on macOS and Linux only at the moment is also a good idea: https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
A large market share of the Docker Desktop installs are Windows in particular (since it's "the one way" how most install Docker nowadays, as opposed to not really needing a GUI or the supporting
Read the rest
tools on Linux).
In another comment I mentioned Podman Desktop as a mostly viable alternative: https://github.com/containers/podman-desktop
Then there's also Rancher Desktop as well: https://github.com/rancher-sandbox/rancher-desktop
Regardless, it's nice to see reputable orgs behind the open source projects as well, which gives a bit more credence to their chances of surviving for the years to come.
It uses almost same mounting tech as colima (9p)
Macpine: https://github.com/beringresearch/macpine/blob/71788e9c3c09c...
colima: https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/blob/7ebcf14a69158afa43b2...
So it seems that it has same performance as colima project as well.
As for IO performance, see this colima issue https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/issues/146#issuecomment-1...
In LXD containers on macOS at near-native speedsI've been using https://github.com/abiosoft/colima as a Docker Desktop replacement, which is based on Lima. It's pretty nice.
In Windows Subsystem For Linux a.k.a. WSL 1.0.0 released> Docker and corresponding tools. https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
Neither sound like "applications I really enjoy". More like applications you suffer.
> And many others, really.
How about examples?
In Thirteen Years of GoDocker and corresponding tools.
https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
And many others, really.
In Thirteen Years of GoNote: This is quite a big heavy Electron app, if you don't need truly a GUI I'd recommend Colima. https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
In Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker DesktopRecently I started using colima[0], a drop in replacement for Docker Desktop on Mac, and have seen an increase in performance and battery life. You can use all the normal docker and docker compose commands.
It does not have a GUI but you can use the Docker extension on VS Code to have an overview of running containers.
[0]https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
In Podman Desktop: A Free OSS Alternative to Docker DesktopColima seems like a pretty nice replacement for Docker Desktop on macOS.
[0] https://github.com/abiosoft/colima/
[1] https://www.arthurkoziel.com/replacing-docker-desktop-for-ma...
In Docker October 2022 Pricing Change FAQI've had good success running w/ https://github.com/abiosoft/colima as an alternative to Docker Desktop.
I'm on an M1 mac, and it's nice to be able to debug both arm64/x86_64 in the same toolchain (via QEMU virtualization).
In Optimising Docker Layers for Better Caching with Nix (2018)Container runtimes on macOS (and Linux) with minimal setup
1 points · Open discussionI can't speak to GP's claims about performance because I never used Docker Desktop, but I use lima [1] with colima [2] as my docker host. It's dead easy to set up: `brew install colima` followed by `colima start`.
1: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
2: https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
In 2022 Mac Studio (20-core M1 Ultra) ReviewColima: Minimal Alternative to Docker Desktop
1 points · Open discussionShowing the 15 most recent of 25 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.