docker.yaml

# Example to use Docker instead of containerd & nerdctl
# $ limactl start ./docker.yaml
# $ limactl shell docker docker run -it -v $HOME:$HOME --rm alpine

# To run `docker` on the host (assumes docker-cli is installed):
# $ export DOCKER_HOST=$(limactl list docker --format 'unix://{{.Dir}}/sock/docker.sock')
# $ docker ...

# This example requires Lima v0.8.0 or later
images:
# Hint: run `limactl prune` to invalidate the "current" cache
- location: "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/impish/current/impish-server-cloudimg-amd64.img"
  arch: "x86_64"
- location: "https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/impish/current/impish-server-cloudimg-arm64.img"
  arch: "aarch64"
mounts:
- location: "~"
  writable: true
- location: "/tmp/lima"
  writable: true
# containerd is managed by Docker, not by Lima, so the values are set to false here.
containerd:
  system: false
  user: false
provision:
- mode: system
  script: |
    #!/bin/sh
    sed -i 's/host.lima.internal.*/host.lima.internal host.docker.internal/' /etc/hosts
- mode: system
  script: |
    #!/bin/bash
    set -eux -o pipefail
    command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1 && exit 0
    export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
    curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
    # NOTE: you may remove the lines below, if you prefer to use rootful docker, not rootless
    systemctl disable --now docker
    apt-get install -y uidmap dbus-user-session
- mode: user
  script: |
    #!/bin/bash
    set -eux -o pipefail
    systemctl --user start dbus
    dockerd-rootless-setuptool.sh install
    docker context use rootless
probes:
- script: |
    #!/bin/bash
    set -eux -o pipefail
    if ! timeout 30s bash -c "until command -v docker >/dev/null 2>&1; do sleep 3; done"; then
      echo >&2 "docker is not installed yet"
      exit 1
    fi
    if ! timeout 30s bash -c "until pgrep rootlesskit; do sleep 3; done"; then
      echo >&2 "rootlesskit (used by rootless docker) is not running"
      exit 1
    fi
  hint: See "/var/log/cloud-init-output.log". in the guest
portForwards:
- guestSocket: "/run/user/{{.UID}}/docker.sock"
  hostSocket: "{{.Dir}}/sock/docker.sock"
message: |
  To run `docker` on the host (assumes docker-cli is installed), run the following commands:
  ------
  docker context create lima --docker "host=unix://{{.Dir}}/sock/docker.sock"
  docker context use lima
  docker run hello-world
  ------

how-to-install.md

First install lima:

brew install lima

After installing lima, you can create a Linux VM on Mac using:

limactl create default

It will create a Ubuntu debian machine on MacOS. If you want to create a docker server, use docker.yaml file and create a new machine.

limactl start docker.yaml

The script will output few commands to set docker context to this newly created server. Run first two commands, and you have a working docker installation.