diff --git a/cmd/limactl/restart.go b/cmd/limactl/restart.go
index a46bd09e0be..7416b84ecec 100644
--- a/cmd/limactl/restart.go
+++ b/cmd/limactl/restart.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ func newRestartCommand() *cobra.Command {
 	}
 
 	restartCmd.Flags().BoolP("force", "f", false, "Force stop and restart the instance")
+	restartCmd.Flags().Bool("progress", false, "Show provision script progress by tailing cloud-init logs")
 	return restartCmd
 }
 
@@ -40,12 +41,16 @@ func restartAction(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
+	progress, err := cmd.Flags().GetBool("progress")
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
 
 	if force {
-		return instance.RestartForcibly(ctx, inst)
+		return instance.RestartForcibly(ctx, inst, progress)
 	}
 
-	return instance.Restart(ctx, inst)
+	return instance.Restart(ctx, inst, progress)
 }
 
 func restartBashComplete(cmd *cobra.Command, _ []string, _ string) ([]string, cobra.ShellCompDirective) {
diff --git a/pkg/instance/restart.go b/pkg/instance/restart.go
index 310bfd80214..52db7a4d3ee 100644
--- a/pkg/instance/restart.go
+++ b/pkg/instance/restart.go
@@ -14,10 +14,9 @@ import (
 
 const (
 	launchHostAgentForeground = false
-	showProgress              = false
 )
 
-func Restart(ctx context.Context, inst *limatype.Instance) error {
+func Restart(ctx context.Context, inst *limatype.Instance, showProgress bool) error {
 	if err := StopGracefully(ctx, inst, true); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -33,7 +32,7 @@ func Restart(ctx context.Context, inst *limatype.Instance) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func RestartForcibly(ctx context.Context, inst *limatype.Instance) error {
+func RestartForcibly(ctx context.Context, inst *limatype.Instance, showProgress bool) error {
 	logrus.Info("Restarting the instance forcibly")
 	StopForcibly(inst)