Claude Code Plugins

Community-maintained marketplace

Feedback

working-with-colima

@technicalpickles/pickled-claude-plugins
0
0

Use when Docker commands fail with "Cannot connect to Docker daemon", when starting/stopping container environments, or when managing multiple Docker contexts on macOS - provides Colima lifecycle management, profile handling, and troubleshooting

Install Skill

1Download skill
2Enable skills in Claude

Open claude.ai/settings/capabilities and find the "Skills" section

3Upload to Claude

Click "Upload skill" and select the downloaded ZIP file

Note: Please verify skill by going through its instructions before using it.

SKILL.md

name working-with-colima
description Use when Docker commands fail with "Cannot connect to Docker daemon", when starting/stopping container environments, or when managing multiple Docker contexts on macOS - provides Colima lifecycle management, profile handling, and troubleshooting

Working with Colima

Overview

Colima provides container runtimes (Docker, Containerd) on macOS with minimal setup. It runs a Linux VM and exposes Docker via contexts.

Use this skill when:

  • Docker commands fail ("Cannot connect to Docker daemon")
  • Starting/stopping container runtime on macOS
  • Managing multiple Docker profiles/contexts
  • Troubleshooting container environment issues
  • Need SSH agent forwarding for Docker builds

Not for: Docker Compose, Kubernetes clusters, or Linux environments.

Quick Reference

Operation Command
Start colima start or colima start <profile>
Start with SSH agent colima start <profile> -s
Stop colima stop or colima stop --force
Status colima status -p <profile>
List profiles colima list
SSH into VM colima ssh or colima ssh -- <cmd>
Get socket path colima status -p <profile> --json | jq -r .docker_socket

Docker Context Basics

Colima creates Docker contexts per profile:

  • Profile default → context colima
  • Profile work → context colima-work
# Switch context (global - affects all terminals)
docker context use colima-work

# Override per-session
export DOCKER_CONTEXT=colima-work

# Override per-command
docker --context colima-work ps

For details, see references/docker-contexts.md.

Common Issues

Docker daemon not connecting?

  1. colima status - is it running?
  2. docker context list - right context selected?
  3. See references/troubleshooting.md for more

Need more VM resources?

colima stop && colima start --cpu 4 --memory 8

"Broken" status after restart?

colima stop --force && colima start

References

  • references/docker-contexts.md - Context switching, DOCKER_HOST, socket paths
  • references/profile-management.md - Creating, configuring, deleting profiles
  • references/troubleshooting.md - Common issues and solutions
  • references/common-options.md - Flags, VM types, resource configuration

Upstream Documentation

Local copies of official Colima docs (from github.com/abiosoft/colima):

  • references/colima-upstream/README.md - Official README with features and usage
  • references/colima-upstream/FAQ.md - Official FAQ and troubleshooting
  • references/colima-upstream/INSTALL.md - Installation options