Getting Started

Download Nautilus from our download page. The app comes as a DMG file.

1. Open the downloaded DMG file
2. Drag Nautilus to your Applications folder
3. Launch Nautilus from Applications or Spotlight
4. If prompted, allow Nautilus in System Settings > Privacy & Security

On first launch, Nautilus will set up the Lima virtual machine for Docker:

1. Wait for Lima VM to download and initialize (2-5 minutes on first run)
2. The status indicator in the menu bar will turn green when ready
3. You're now ready to manage containers!

If you're using the free trial, you can skip this step. Otherwise:

1. Go to Settings (Cmd+,) > License
2. Enter the license key from your purchase email
3. Click Activate

Don't have a license? View pricing

Let's start a simple Nginx container to test everything works:

1. Click the + button in the top toolbar or use the Home dashboard quick-launch cards
2. Search for "nginx" in the image search
3. Click Pull & Run
4. Configure port mapping: set host port to 8080 and container port to 80
5. Click Create Container

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser. You should see the Nginx welcome page!