00 / Open source, rootless, no Docker

Lerd Local PHP development for Linux and macOS

Lerd gives each project a .test domain with HTTPS, its own PHP and Node versions, and the databases and services it needs, all running as rootless Podman containers. It's free and open source, with no Docker daemon and no sudo.

$curl -fsSL https://lerd.sh/install.sh | bash

Read the docs →

7.4 – 8.6PHP versions, 8.6 in preview

37service presets

25framework definitions

0sudo prompts

Lerd web dashboard with sites, services and workers

01–08 / The lineup

What you get after one install.

01 / SitesSTABLE

Run lerd init, get a .test domain.

Lerd detects the framework, runs composer and npm, migrates the database, starts the workers and issues a trusted certificate. Nginx and PHP-FPM serve it at https://project.test.

LinuxmacOSWSL2 beta

$ lerd init

Explore sites →

09 / Frameworks

Frameworks Lerd already knows.

01Laravel 02Symfony 03WordPress 04Drupal 05TYPO3 06Magento 07CakePHP 08Statamic 09CodeIgniter 10Tempest 11Winter CMS 12Bedrock 13Lumen 14Yii ++Yours, as YAML →

10 / Beyond PHP

Your Node, Python and Rails apps, on the same .test domains.

lerd init recognises the project, picks its dev server and a free port, and runs it on the host, so file watching and hot reload behave as usual. Lerd restarts it if it dies, keeps its logs and puts nginx with TLS in front. Databases and services go into its .env like on any PHP site. Non-PHP apps guide →

Node.js

npm run dev

Next, Nuxt, NestJS, Vite, Angular or plain Express, on the Node version the project pins.

Python

manage.py runserver

Django starts with runserver on its own. Flask, FastAPI and the rest run your command.

Rails & Rack

bin/rails server

Rails runs bin/rails server, a config.ru runs as Rack, and a mise or rbenv Ruby is found.

Go & Rust

go run . / cargo run

go run . and cargo run work out of the box, or Lerd runs your own file watcher in their place.

Containers

Containerfile.lerd

If you'd rather not install the runtime, Lerd writes a starter Containerfile and runs it rootless.

11 / Services

Databases, caches, search and mail.

01MySQL:3306

02PostgreSQL:5432

03Redis:6379

04Meilisearch:7700

05RustFS / S3:9000

06Mailpit:1025

07MongoDB:27017

08Stripe Mock:12111

09Elasticsearch:9200

++Yours, as YAML →

+18 in the store

MariaDB·Valkey·Memcached·Typesense·ClickHouse·OpenSearch·Solr·RabbitMQ·Kafka·Beanstalkd·Soketi·Mercure·Selenium·Gotenberg·LocalStack·SpamAssassin·pgvector·TimescaleDB

Admin UIs

phpMyAdmin·Adminer·pgAdmin·Mongo Express·RedisInsight·Elasticvue·Typesense Dashboard·OpenSearch Dashboards·Kafbat UI

12 / Platforms

Linux, macOS and Windows.

01STABLE

Linux

Rootless Podman under systemd on Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Omarchy and any other systemd distro, with an Omarchy bar widget. No Docker daemon, no sudo.

Linux install guide →

02STABLE

macOS

Local PHP development on a Mac without a paid tier, using the same dashboard, TUI and MCP server. PHP-FPM and workers can also run natively on the host, in beta.

macOS install guide →

03WSL2 BETA

Windows

Lerd runs inside WSL2 with the same CLI, dashboard, services and MCP server. Windows support is still in beta, and the WSL2 guide covers the setup.

Windows install guide →

13 / Principles

How Lerd is built.

Rootless Podman

Containers run rootless under your own systemd user, with no daemon behind them.

Runs as you

Installs to ~/.local/bin. DNS, TLS and ports are set up without touching system files.

Detects your project

Frameworks are detected from the repo. An optional .lerd.yaml adds services or workers.

Updates within a day

Frameworks and services are versioned definitions that arrive without a release.

Open source, MIT

All of it is free and in one MIT-licensed binary, with no paid tier and no account.

Stays in your home

Everything lives under your home directory, so uninstalling leaves the machine as it was.

14 / Compare

Lerd next to Herd, Laragon, DDEV, Lando and Sail.

	Lerd	Laravel Herd	Laragon	DDEV	Lando	Sail
Runs on Linux	✓	✕	✕	✓	✓	✓
Runs on macOS	✓	✓	✕	✓	✓	✓
Runs on Windows	–	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
No Docker daemon	✓	✓	✓	✕	✕	✕
Rootless · no sudo	✓	✓	–	–	–	✕
Open source	✓	✕	✕	✓	✓	✓
Free, no paid tier	✓	–	–	✓	✓	✓
Automatic .test + TLS	✓	✓	✓	✓	–	✕
Zero required config	✓	✓	✓	✕	✕	✕
Git worktrees as sites	✓	✕	✕	✕	✕	✕
Built-in Web UI	✓	✓	✕	–	✕	✕
Terminal dashboard	✓	✕	✕	✕	✕	✕
MCP server for AI agents	✓	✓	✕	✕	✕	✕
Profiler & debug window	✓	✓	✕	✕	✕	✕

On Windows, Lerd runs inside WSL2 and is in beta, see the Windows (WSL2) guide. Coming from another tool? See Laravel Herd for Linux, Laragon for Linux and the full comparison.

15 / Get started

Install, then run lerd init.

The script installs Lerd and sets up DNS and certificates. Then cd into a project, run lerd init and open its .test address.