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Reset: wipe and reinstall from scratch

If a VM gets into a bad state, or you want a guaranteed-clean baseline, tear the whole thing down and start over. There are three levels, from lightest to a full nuke.

1. Rebuild the VM, keep the image cache

klimax destroy deletes the VM, every cluster, and the host route — but with the default host-backed cache it leaves ~/.klimax/registry-cache/ in place, so the rebuild pulls from local cache instead of the internet:

$ klimax destroy        # VM + clusters + host route (sudo)
$ klimax up             # fresh VM, warm registry cache

This is the same destroy && up you run after a klimax upgrade — a rebuilt VM with the image cache intact.

2. Also drop the registry cache

To force cold pulls again — say you want to reclaim disk or test a clean network path — clear the mirror caches too:

$ klimax registry clean-cache   # remove mirror containers + cache dirs
$ klimax destroy
$ klimax up

3. Full clean install — remove all state

The nuclear option. This deletes klimax's entire state directory, including config.yaml, the Lima instance, and the registry cache — the equivalent of a first-ever install:

$ klimax destroy              # tear down VM, clusters, host route (sudo)
$ rm -rf ~/.klimax            # config, Lima instance, registry cache
$ rm -rf ~/.kube/klimax       # per-cluster kubeconfigs (optional)
$ klimax up                   # regenerates a default config + fresh VM
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klimax keeps all of its state under ~/.klimax/ (it forces LIMA_HOME there, so it never touches a system-wide ~/.lima/). Per-cluster kubeconfigs live in ~/.kube/klimax/. Removing those two directories after a destroy leaves nothing behind.

Deleting ~/.klimax/config.yaml is safe — the next klimax up writes a fresh default config. Copy it aside first if you've customized CPUs, memory, the bridge CIDR, or mirrors.

See also

  • Upgrading klimax — the everyday destroy && up you run after a new release.
  • Configuration — what lives in ~/.klimax/config.yaml before you delete it.
  • Registry mirrors — what the image cache holds and how clean-cache works.