obsidian-vault/personal/docs/docker_colima_setup.md

Docker + Colima Autostart Setup (macOS)

1. Install dependencies

brew install docker docker-compose colima

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2. Start Colima manually (first run)

colima start --cpu 6 --memory 12 --disk 100

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3. Stop Colima

colima stop

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4. Check status

colima status
colima list

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5. Create LaunchAgent (auto-start Colima)

File: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.colima.start.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.colima.start</string>

    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/bin/bash</string>
      <string>-c</string>
      <string>export PATH=/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin && colima start</string>
    </array>

    <key>RunAtLoad</key>
    <true/>

    <key>StandardOutPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/colima.out</string>

    <key>StandardErrorPath</key>
    <string>/tmp/colima.err</string>
  </dict>
</plist>

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6. Load LaunchAgent

launchctl bootstrap gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.colima.start.plist

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7. Unload LaunchAgent

launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.colima.start.plist

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8. Restart / trigger manually

launchctl kickstart -k gui/$(id -u)/com.colima.start

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9. Check logs

cat /tmp/colima.out
cat /tmp/colima.err

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10. Docker usage

Start containers:

docker compose up -d

Check running containers:

docker ps

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Behavior

• Colima auto-starts on login via LaunchAgent
• Docker auto-restores containers with restart: unless-stopped
• No need to run docker compose up on every reboot