lima-vm/lima · error

cannot use `--workdir` and `--sync` at the same time

Error message

cannot use `--workdir` and `--sync` at the same time

What it means

`--workdir` picks an explicit guest working directory while `--sync` makes the guest cwd a synced copy of the host directory; the two are mutually exclusive because each dictates a different destination directory. shellAction rejects a command that specifies both.

Source

Thrown at cmd/limactl/shell.go:277

			return fmt.Errorf("expected the depth of the host working directory (%#q) to be at least %d, only got %d (Hint: %s)",
				hostCurrentDirNative, rsyncMinimumSrcDirDepth, srcWdDepth, "cd to a deeper directory")
		}
		// rsync acts on hostCurrentDir, so measure that too: cygpath can report
		// success without writing a path, and an fstab can map a deep directory
		// onto a shallow one. It is always POSIX form, even on Windows.
		if dstWdDepth := pathDepth(hostCurrentDir, false); dstWdDepth < rsyncMinimumSrcDirDepth {
			return fmt.Errorf("expected the depth of the converted host working directory (%#q) to be at least %d, only got %d",
				hostCurrentDir, rsyncMinimumSrcDirDepth, dstWdDepth)
		}
	}

	var destRsyncDir string
	workDir, err := cmd.Flags().GetString("workdir")
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if workDir != "" && syncHostWorkdir {
		return errors.New("cannot use `--workdir` and `--sync` at the same time")
	}
	if syncHostWorkdir {
		destRsyncDir = *inst.Config.User.Home + hostCurrentDir
	}
	hostHomeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
	if err == nil && runtime.GOOS == "windows" {
		hostHomeDir, err = mountDirFromWindowsDir(ctx, inst, hostHomeDir)
	}
	if err != nil {
		logrus.WithError(err).Warn("failed to get the home directory")
		hostHomeDir = ""
	}

	switch {
	case workDir != "":
		changeDirCmd = fmt.Sprintf("cd %s || exit 1", shellescape.Quote(workDir))
	case mountsContainPath(inst.Config.Mounts, hostCurrentDir) || inst.VMType == limatype.WSL2:
		changeDirCmd = fmt.Sprintf("cd %s", shellescape.Quote(hostCurrentDir))

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

1. Remove `--workdir` and let the synced host directory become the guest cwd.
2. Or remove `--sync` if the explicit guest `--workdir` is what you actually need.
3. If the goal is a synced copy at a specific guest location, use `--sync` alone; the destination is derived from the host path.

Example fix

# before
limactl shell default --sync . --workdir /tmp/build
# after
limactl shell default --sync .

[ -z "$WORKDIR_FLAG" ] || [ -z "$SYNC_FLAG" ] || { echo 'use --workdir or --sync, not both'; exit 1; }

null

null

When it happens

Trigger: Running `limactl shell <instance> --sync <dir> --workdir <guest-dir>` — both flags set on the same invocation.

Common situations: A developer who normally uses `--workdir` to jump into a project dir inside the guest adds `--sync` to also isolate host files, not realizing the flags conflict.

Understand the failure class

Background: "mutually exclusive" flag errors: what "can't supply both nx and xx", "--raw is not compatible with -i" and "cannot be used with" mean, and how to fix them — this error's family across 29 libraries.

Related errors

• cannot use `--sync` when the instance has host mounts config
• cannot use `--sync` with a wsl2 instance, the host directory
• failed to determine the host directory to sync: %w
• rsync is required for `--sync` but not found: %w
• expected the depth of the host working directory (%#q) to be

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4e2bd03338af3be8. Report an issue: GitHub.