[FeatureRequest] Export and import a VM

[gutenye]

Description

It would be great to have a built-in command to export (backup) and import (restore) Lima VMs, similar to OrbStack

[afbjorklund]

This feature would need more details, but there are individual files in the instance directory (lima.yaml, disks, etc)

[gutenye]

The main idea is to have a full VM backup that you can easily restore without going through the hassle of reinstalling the OS or setting up everything from scratch. The backup contains every file of the VM.
Although I could back up the entire disk file, it’s not efficient since it’s uncompressed and takes up a lot of space.
OrbStack offers a more convenient approach, you can export the VM to a .tar.zst file and later import it to return to the exact state it was in when you created the backup.

[AkihiroSuda]

You can just back up ~/.lima

[gutenye]

Thanks.