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macOS using Colima Setup Guide ​

This guide walks you through setting up Coolify on macOS using Colima, a lightweight container runtime for macOS.

Prerequisites ​

  • A Mac (Intel or Apple Silicon)
  • Homebrew installed
  • Remote Login enabled on your Mac — see Apple's guide to allow remote access to enable SSH in System Settings > General > Sharing > Remote Login
  • An SSH key without a passphrase
Caution

The SSH key used for Coolify must not have a passphrase or 2FA enabled, otherwise you will not be able to complete the onboarding process.

Install Colima ​

  1. Install Colima and Docker using Homebrew:

    bash
    brew install colima docker

  2. Verify the installation:

    bash
    colima version

Create the Virtual Machine ​

  1. Start a new Colima VM with the minimum resources:

    bash
    colima start -c 2 -m 2 -d 30 --ssh-port 2222 --network-address --network-mode bridged --save-config

    This creates a VM with:

    • 2 CPU cores (-c 2)
    • 2 GB of memory (-m 2)
    • 30 GB of disk space (-d 30)
    • SSH on port 2222 (--ssh-port 2222)
    • Bridged networking (--network-address --network-mode bridged) — the VM gets its own IP from your router
    • Save configuration (--save-config) — persists these settings so future colima start commands use the same configuration
    Note

    You can adjust these values based on your needs. These are recommended minimums for running Coolify along with a few services.

  2. Verify the VM is running:

    bash
    colima status

Networking ​

Colima supports two network modes: bridged (recommended) and shared.

Bridged Mode (Default in This Guide) ​

The command above uses --network-address --network-mode bridged, which assigns the VM an IP address directly from your router's DHCP server. This makes the VM behave like a separate device on your network, allowing other devices on your LAN to reach Coolify.

tip

By default, bridged mode uses the en0 interface. If your Mac uses a different network interface, specify it with --network-interface <name>.

You can find the VM's IP address with:

bash
colima list

Shared Mode ​

If you don't need Coolify to be accessible from other devices on your network — for example, if you plan to use Tailscale or only need to access Coolify from your Mac — you can omit the network flags:

bash
colima start -c 2 -m 2 -d 30 --ssh-port 2222 --save-config

In shared mode, the VM gets an IP on a private subnet that is only reachable from the host Mac.

SSH Configuration ​

Coolify connects to servers via SSH. Since we specified --ssh-port 2222 when creating the VM, the SSH port is fixed and won't change between restarts.

You can verify the SSH configuration at any time with:

bash
colima ssh-config

This outputs the full SSH config, including the hostname, port, user, and identity file the VM is configured with.

Use the hostname and port from the output when adding the server in Coolify's onboarding or server settings.

Note

If you omit --ssh-port when creating the VM, Colima assigns a random free port that may change on restart. Use colima ssh-config to check the current port.

Install Coolify ​

  1. SSH into the Colima VM:

    bash
    colima ssh

  2. Inside the VM, proceed with the Coolify installation.

  3. Once the installation completes, access the Coolify web interface depending on your network mode:

    • Bridged mode: Open http://<vm-ip>:8000 from any device on your network.
    • Shared mode: Open http://<vm-ip>:8000 from your Mac only (the VM is not reachable from other devices).

    Find the VM's IP address with colima list.

  4. In the Coolify web interface, go to your server settings and set the SSH port to the port you specified when creating the VM (e.g., 2222). Coolify uses this port to manage the server via SSH.

Starting Fresh ​

If something goes wrong and you want to start over, you can delete the VM and recreate it.

  • Delete the VM but keep its disk data:

    bash
    colima delete

  • Delete the VM and all its data:

    bash
    colima delete --data

After deleting, go back to Create the Virtual Machine to set up a new VM.

Post-Install Steps ​

Start Colima Automatically on Boot ​

To have Colima start automatically when your Mac boots:

bash
brew services start colima