Where Does Colima Keep Profiles and VM Disks?
Where Colima keeps profiles, VM disks and the Docker socket under .colima on macOS and Linux.
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Colima keeps every profile in its own folder under ~/.colima, with the default profile at ~/.colima/default. Each holds colima.yaml (settings), the Lima VM disk image, and the docker.sock your client talks to. Per profile isolation means Docker, containerd and Incus setups coexist without sharing state.
The socket path is version gated: 0.4.0+ uses ~/.colima/default/docker.sock, older builds used ~/.colima/docker.sock directly. Stale DOCKER_HOST exports pointing at the old path are the classic reason a working setup stops connecting after an upgrade.
Where Colima stores this, by platform
~/.colima/default
Each profile folder holds colima.yaml, the VM disk and docker.sock. Override the base with COLIMA_HOME. Lima overrides live in _lima/_config/override.yaml.
~/.colima/default
Same layout as macOS. Colima runs natively on Linux too, with identical profile structure and COLIMA_HOME override.
Frequently asked questions
How do I fully remove a Colima profile?
Delete the profile folder under ~/.colima (colima stop first). That removes the VM disk, containers and images for that profile while leaving other profiles alone. Full uninstalls also need the docker context removed (docker context rm colima).
How do I move Colima off a full home directory?
Set COLIMA_HOME before any colima command and move the old tree across. Profiles, disks and configs follow the variable together. Docker contexts keep pointing at the old socket path, so recreate or update them after moving.
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