option --quiet can only be used with '--format table'

Error message

option --quiet can only be used with '--format table'

What it means

--quiet is implemented only for the table format, where it prints just the instance names. With any other format it has no defined behavior, so listAction requires format == "table" (the default) when --quiet is set.

Source

Thrown at cmd/limactl/list.go:182

	if listFields && cmd.Flags().Changed("format") {
		return errors.New("option --list-fields conflicts with option --format")
	}
	if len(yq) != 0 {
		if cmd.Flags().Changed("format") && format != "json" && format != "yaml" {
			return errors.New("option --yq only works with --format json or yaml")
		}
		if listFields {
			return errors.New("option --list-fields conflicts with option --yq")
		}
	}
	if len(filter) != 0 {
		if listFields {
			return errors.New("option --list-fields conflicts with option --filter")
		}
	}

	if quiet && format != "table" {
		return errors.New("option --quiet can only be used with '--format table'")
	}

	if listFields {
		names := fieldNames()
		slices.Sort(names)
		fmt.Fprintln(cmd.OutOrStdout(), strings.Join(names, "\n"))
		return nil
	}

	if err := store.Validate(); err != nil {
		logrus.Warnf("The directory %#q does not look like a valid Lima directory: %v", store.Directory(), err)
	}

	allInstances, err := store.Instances()
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	if len(args) == 0 && len(allInstances) == 0 {

View on GitHub (pinned to dd909d0973)

Solutions

Use `--quiet` with the default table format when you only need instance names
For machine-readable output, drop --quiet and use `--format json` (filter fields with --yq if needed)

Example fix

// before
limactl list --quiet --format json
// after
limactl list --format json --yq '.[].name'

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

args := os.Args[1:]
if slices.Contains(args, "--quiet") && hasNonTableFormat(args) {
    args = slices.DeleteFunc(args, func(a string) bool { return a == "--quiet" })
}

func hasNonTableFormat(args []string) bool {
    for i, a := range args {
        if a == "--format" && i+1 < len(args) && args[i+1] != "table" { return true }
        if a == "--json" { return true } // implies format json
    }
    return false
}

Try / catch

if err := runList(); err != nil {
    if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "--quiet can only be used with") { /* retry with --format json and yq */ }
    return err
}

Prevention

Use --quiet only with the default table format
For scripts, prefer --format json --yq '.[].name' over --quiet
Check flag combinations before composing list commands

When it happens

Trigger: Running `limactl list --quiet --format json` (or yaml/custom) — quiet is true and format is not "table". Note --quiet with --json also fails because --json sets format to "json".

Common situations: Scripts that previously used plain `--quiet` later gaining a --format flag for machine output; users expecting --quiet to strip output in every format.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of lima-vm/lima@dd909d0973 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8545fb0a570e8a10. Report an issue: GitHub.