Vagrant Cheatsheet - VM Management

All essential Vagrant commands organized by use case, with 40+ entries you can copy and run directly. Find the right command fast when you need it.

SysOps·40 commands·Last updated 2026-07-21

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VM Lifecycle 9

vagrant init ubuntu/jammy64

Initialize a Vagrant project

vagrant up

Start the VM

vagrant ssh

SSH into the VM

vagrant halt

Shut down the VM

vagrant destroy

Destroy the VM

vagrant suspend / vagrant resume

Suspend / resume the VM

vagrant reload

Restart and reload config

vagrant status

Show VM status

vagrant global-status

List all local Vagrant environments

Box Management 6

vagrant box add ubuntu/jammy64

Download a box image

vagrant box list

List installed boxes

vagrant box outdated

Check for box updates

vagrant box update --box ubuntu/jammy64

Update a specific box

vagrant box remove ubuntu/jammy64

Remove a box image

vagrant box add my-box ./package.box

Add a box from a local file

Vagrantfile 6

config.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"

Set the base box

config.vm.hostname = "dev-server"

Set the hostname

config.vm.provider "virtualbox" do |vb|\n vb.memory = "2048"\n vb.cpus = 2\nend

Configure VM resources

config.vm.synced_folder "./src", "/var/www"

Sync a folder

config.vm.provision "shell", path: "setup.sh"

Shell script provisioning

config.vm.provision "shell", inline: "apt-get update"

Inline shell provisioning

Network & Sync 6

config.vm.network "forwarded_port", guest: 80, host: 8080

Port forwarding

config.vm.network "private_network", ip: "192.168.33.10"

Private network (fixed IP)

config.vm.network "public_network"

Public network (bridged)

config.vm.synced_folder "./src", "/var/www", type: "nfs"

NFS sync (better performance)

config.vm.synced_folder "./data", "/data", disabled: true

Disable a sync folder

vagrant port

Show port-forward mappings

Multi-Machine & Provision 6

config.vm.define "web" do |web|\n web.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"\nend

Define the web machine

config.vm.define "db" do |db|\n db.vm.box = "ubuntu/jammy64"\nend

Define the db machine

vagrant up web

Start a specific machine

vagrant ssh web

SSH into a specific machine

vagrant provision

Re-run provisioning

vagrant provision --provision-with shell

Run only a provisioner type

Snapshots & Plugins 7

vagrant snapshot save my-snapshot

Save a snapshot

vagrant snapshot restore my-snapshot

Restore a snapshot

vagrant snapshot list

List all snapshots

vagrant snapshot delete my-snapshot

Delete a snapshot

vagrant plugin install vagrant-vbguest

Install a plugin (auto Guest Additions)

vagrant plugin list

List installed plugins

vagrant package --output my-box.box

Package the VM into a box

Tips

vagrant up downloads the box on first run; later starts are fast.
Vagrantfile is Ruby, but only basic config is needed.
vagrant-vbguest auto-updates VirtualBox Guest Additions.
snapshot save/restore quickly persists/restores VM state.
NFS sync outperforms the default VBox shared folder for big projects.
vagrant package bundles a configured VM into a box for sharing.

Official References

Commands are compiled from the official docs below. Click to verify the latest usage.

Linux man-pages

Maintained by LaoHand

Publicly updated on Jul 21, 2026, continuously proofread against official docs.

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