LLlloeki·Oct 12, 2026
> colima also simplifies linux VMs
lima does, not colima (well it does because it's lima under the hood)
https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
In Apple/macOS removed from official Unix registrylima-vm
lima
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lima-vm / lima
lima
Linux virtual machines, with a focus on running containers
68Distinct people
78Mentions
2Explicit recommenders
22.3KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
Linux virtual machines, with a focus on running containers
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
I recommend looking at Lima for setting up deterministic build environments on a Mac! I use it with Ansible to provision testing environments: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
bonsai_spool used a recommendation phrase. 2 indexed comments match. 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
- abiosoft/colima · linked in 5 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:03:16 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 year78 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2021-05-14 08:19:47 UTC to 2026-10-12 09:44:47 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 | 11 | 4 | 7 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 30 | 1 | 29 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 17 | 0 | 17 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 1 | 7 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
What Hacker News says
78 sourcesI just added this to Lima recently, hopefully the macOS container machines support it too: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/pull/4866
In macOS Container MachinesIt's well supported by the architecture. You may be interested in:
- Lima - wsl2-like access to a virtual machine
https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/blob/master/README.md
- vfkit - CLI creation and management of applehv VMs
https://github.com/crc-org/vfkit
- podman machine - easily run x86 containers in CoreOs, via the podman CLI
https://docs.podman.io/en/latest/markdown/podman-machine.1.h...
In OpenBSD-current now runs as guest under Apple HypervisorHere's the github page - https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
-- Happy Lima User
In Lima: A nice way to run Linux VMs on MacI recommend looking at Lima for setting up deterministic build environments on a Mac! I use it with Ansible to provision testing environments:
https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
In M5 MacBook ProNeat, I've not tried https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
In Designing agentic loopsThis is what Lima is, which is the basis for Colima which runs on top with all the Docker runtime stuff
https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
https://github.com/abiosoft/colima
In I ditched Docker for Podman> but as neither supports podman both are not really relevant to the podman discussion
FWIW lima (upon which COlima was built) ships with "boot me up a podman": <https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/blob/v1.2.1/templates/podman...> and <https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/blob/v1.2.1/templates/podman...>
I can't think of any stellar reason why colima couldn't also support it, since they even go out of their way to support Incus as a runtime, but I don't currently have the emotional energy to prosecute such a PR
In Using Podman, Compose and BuildKitIs this close enough? https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
In The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open sourceOn the macOS side, https://github.com/lima-vm/lima is the closest equivalent to WSL.
Parallels also has a commercial offering that does some nice GUI-level integration with both Windows and Linux VMs.
My understanding is that these are both built on top of some Apple API, and Parallels actually collaborates with Apple on making it work for their use case. So it's not the first-class support that you get from Microsoft with WSL, but it's still pretty good.
In The Windows Subsystem for Linux is now open sourceI've had a really good time using https://github.com/lima-vm/lima
In Development on Apple Silicon with UTMI'm currently using colima, and none of the other alternatives that I have found support forwarding UDP ports, which I use a lot, so that's a bummer!
Thankfully, lima has landed a new port forwarder with UDP support! [0]. I'm hoping to be able to use it soon once it makes into a release.
[0]: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/commit/13e9cbcabc6a0a05ec389...
In Show HN: Container Desktop – Podman Desktop CompanionThe VM disk corruption problem has been affecting all open source Apple hvf hypervisors. lima with vfkit or UTM are most promising ones for now: https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/issues/1957#issuecomment-182..., https://github.com/lima-vm/lima/pull/2026, https://github.com/utmapp/UTM/pull/5919
In Podman Desktop 1.11: Light mode, Kubernetes features, macOS improvementsShowing the 15 most recent of 78 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.