Where Does Lima Store VM Instances?
Where Lima keeps VM instances, disks, and config in ~/.lima on macOS and Linux.
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Lima stores virtual machines under ~/.lima: one folder per instance with config, disks, and keys, plus shared _config and _disks helpers. The limactl CLI manages the tree; Finder browsing is read-only tourism.
Colima builds on top of the same storage with its own profile names, which explains duplicate disk usage when both tools run. Prune stopped instances before blaming the VM size; disks thin-provision but rarely shrink.
Where Lima stores this, by platform
~/.lima/
Per-instance folders (lima.yaml, disks, keys) plus shared _config/. Manage with limactl; avoid hand-deleting running instances. Colima profiles nest here too.
~/.lima/
Same layout. QEMU and VZ backends share this home; the instance yaml records which backend owns each VM.
Frequently asked questions
How do I remove a Lima VM fully?
Run limactl delete <name> to remove the instance and its disks together. Manual rm of the instance folder orphans identicals and SSH keys. Keep the _config dir for templates you reuse across instances.
What belongs to one instance?
Each instance folder holds lima.yaml (copied at creation), the qcow2 disks, and SSH keys. The shared _config/ dir holds the default template. Copy an instance folder plus its name to clone by hand, then edit the yaml.
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