Once I understood the basics, it's not too difficult to switch between. I currently have some local projects using Docker and some using Colima. If you choose to keep using both Colima and Docker Desktop then when issuing docker commands from the command line, you'll need to first specify which containers we want to work with - Docker or Colima. Full installation instructions can be found on the DDEV docs site. If you want to go 100% pure Colima and you uninstall Docker Desktop for Mac, you'll need to install and configure the Docker client independently. The docker client is used on the command line to connect to the installed Docker provider (Colima or Docker Desktop for Mac, in this context). The reason for this (as I understand it) is because Colima uses the open-source Lima project for managing its containers and volumes (the latter being where DDEV project databases are stored).įor those of us that are casual Docker users (outside of DDEV), one confusing bit is that we still need the open-source docker client installed - which is installed by default with Docker Desktop for Mac. The easy fix is to first export your database, then start Colima, then import it. In other words, if you have an existing project up-and-running in DDEV, then add Colima, then restart the project, your database won't be found. I say almost for one reason, as any existing DDEV projects will need to have their databases reimported.

Based on the fact that Colima is open-source, Docker Desktop's new license terms, and the apparent performance gains of using Colima it seems like a no-brainer to give it a spin.įirst off, it's almost a drop-in replacement for Docker Desktop. Back in March, 2022, the DDEV team announced support for Colima, an open-source Docker Desktop replacement for Mac OS X.

Run docker on mac