EnvKit

EnvKit runs your whole PHP and Node stack as native processes, managed from a tray app. No Docker, no WSL, no config files to hand-edit. Install it, pick your stack, and the first-run wizard ends with a working site open in your browser over HTTPS.

Free, with no limit on sites and no upgrade popups. Moving from another tool? See how it compares to Laragon, Herd and XAMPP.

Features

Sites, domains and HTTPS

• 🌐 Automatic .test domains with trusted HTTPS. Every site gets a hostname and a certificate from EnvKit's local CA, trusted by your browser with no warnings.
• 🧱 Any kind of project. Laravel, WordPress, Bedrock, CodeIgniter, plain PHP, and Node, React, Next.js, Vite and Angular dev servers, all served at .test over HTTPS with hot reload and a live view of the dev server's output.
• 🚀 New projects in one step. Start a Laravel, WordPress or Node project, clone a Git repo, or link a folder you already have.
• 🔗 Site groups. Keep related sites together, and switch any site off or put it to sleep when you don't need it.
• 🌍 Share a site publicly. One click gives a site a public https://<name>.envkit.net link to show a client or test a webhook, with a Stop button when you're done.
• 🔄 Live reload. Save a file and the browser refreshes, including your other open tabs after a WordPress admin or Laravel form save.

PHP, Node and runtimes

• 🐘 Multiple PHP versions, per site. Run each site on its own PHP version, isolated from the others, with Xdebug switched on only when you want it.
• 🧰 Your choice of web server. nginx, Apache, Caddy or FrankenPHP, switched from Settings.
• 📦 Node.js with nvm. Per-project versions from .nvmrc, plus npm, pnpm, Yarn and Bun. Python, Go and Deno are one click away.
• 🧷 Custom versions. Install any version of MySQL/MariaDB, nginx, Node.js, MongoDB, Redis, PostgreSQL or Python by typing its number.
• 📄 envkit.json. Commit a project's required PHP extensions and php.ini values, with a per-developer envkit.local.json on top.

Databases and services

• 🗄️ One-click services. MySQL/MariaDB (including MySQL 8), PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, Memcached, Meilisearch, MinIO and Mailpit.
• 🧭 Database admin built in. phpMyAdmin, Adminer, pgAdmin for PostgreSQL and a Mongo web UI, opened already pointed at your local server.
• 📬 Mail catcher. Mailpit captures every email your app sends, with its own page in the app.
• 🛟 Backups that respect your data. Back up and restore a site's database from its page. A MySQL data folder that still has your databases in it is never re-initialized.

Debugging and everyday tools

• 🩺 Diagnose and self-heal. Finds port conflicts, stale PIDs and broken configs and repairs them. If another program holds a port, EnvKit moves to a free one instead of failing.
• 🛰️ Dumps and logs. dump() output and every service's logs in one place.
• ⏰ Scheduled tasks (Cron). Run commands on a schedule, with templates for Laravel, Node and NestJS.
• 🔀 Git panel per site. Stage, commit, switch branches, fetch, pull and push, with Git and the GitHub CLI bundled.
• 📡 Laravel Reverb. One-click install, supervision and proxying of WebSockets per site, plus queue workers and the scheduler.
• 🧹 Clean PATH. php, composer, node, mysql and friends on your PATH, with competing stacks (Laragon, XAMPP, WAMP, MAMP, Herd) removed so nothing shadows them.

App

• 🖥️ One tray app for everything. Dashboard, sites, services, databases, logs, mail and cron, in light or dark.
• 🌏 Six languages. English, العربية, Deutsch, فارسی, Español and Bahasa Indonesia, with right-to-left layout where needed.
• 🔁 Import from Laragon. Projects and databases, in a guided detect-and-import flow.
• ⬆️ Silent auto-update on both platforms, with small differential downloads.

AI integration (MCP)

EnvKit ships a built-in Model Context Protocol server, so an AI assistant can run your local stack for you. Turn it on in Settings → AI and click Set up AI clients: EnvKit registers itself with Claude Code and Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code, Zed, OpenCode, Gemini CLI and PhpStorm (via Junie).

Then just ask:

You: mysql won't start, fix itAI:  → diagnose_service(mysql)    # port 3306 held by another process     → repair_service(mysql)      # frees the port, fixes the config, starts it     ✓ mysql is running
You: make a new Laravel site called shop with its own databaseAI:  → create_laravel_site(shop)     → create_database(shop)     ✓ https://shop.test is ready

The server listens on 127.0.0.1 only, uses a bearer token, is off by default, and only runs while EnvKit is open.

Why EnvKit?

_{✅ built in · 🟡 partial or via add-on · ❌ not available · 💲 paid tier. A best-effort snapshot from late 2026; tell us if something is out of date.}

Install

Windows

Download the installer and run it. Windows 10 or 11.

[!NOTE] EnvKit is self-signed for now, so SmartScreen may warn on the first run. Click More info → Run anyway.

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Env-Kit/envkit-releases/main/install.ps1 | iex

macOS (Apple Silicon)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Env-Kit/envkit-releases/main/install.sh | bash

Downloads the latest Mac build and opens it. Run it again to update, or add -s -- --uninstall to remove EnvKit. macOS 12 or later on an M-series Mac; Intel Macs are not supported.

brew install --cask env-kit/tap/envkit

Quick start

1. Open EnvKit. The first-run wizard asks where you're coming from: Load from Laragon imports your projects and databases, Start fresh installs the stack you pick.
2. Make your first site. Pick a starter (a PHP or HTML page, a small Node server, or a new Laravel or Vite app) or link a folder you already have.
3. Open it. EnvKit serves it at https://<name>.test and opens your browser. If something blocks it (a busy port, an untrusted certificate, a stopped web server), the wizard says what and offers the fix.

Upgrading? Your sites, databases, certificates and settings carry over automatically.

What's new

Latest release (full notes): a Light, Dark or System theme, php and composer on PATH in the fish shell too, and a round of macOS fixes (apps outside /Applications are found, files open in your default app). Every release: envkit.net/changelog.

Screenshots

What EnvKit changes on your system

EnvKit runs side by side with whatever you already have. It never replaces, modifies or uninstalls PHP, Node, PostgreSQL or nginx installed on your machine; it keeps its own copies in its data folder.

Documentation

📖 envkit.net/docs: install, sites, services, databases, PHP versions, MCP, envkit.json, custom versions and translating the app.

Getting help

• Questions and quick help: Discord
• Bugs and feature requests: open an issue (search existing issues first). Include your OS and version, the EnvKit version (Settings → Updates), what you did and what happened, and the relevant log lines if a service won't start.
• Anything else: [email protected]

Support EnvKit

EnvKit is free. If it saves you time, you can support it on Ko-fi. The current goal is a real Windows code-signing certificate, so installing no longer shows "Windows protected your PC". (The Mac app is already notarized and opens without a warning.) Receipts go up on Discord once they're bought.

Free ways to help that matter just as much: star this repo, like EnvKit and write a short review on AlternativeTo (that's where many people searching for a Laragon or XAMPP alternative find us), or leave a review on Trustpilot.

Team

• Ziad Talaat · @zsnakeee
• Kirlos Osama · @ker00sama-dev
• Youssef Yasser · @7aWy11

License

EnvKit is free to use but not open source. All rights reserved. This repository holds the releases, installers and documentation; the application source is private.