Your Laravel stack.
Running natively.

Flock runs PHP, Node, databases, mail, trusted HTTPS and many other services natively on Windows, macOS and Linux. No Docker, no virtual machine.

Download Flock Read the docs

Free and open source · 418 stars on GitHub · Windows 10+, macOS 15+ and Linux

Flock Settings

General

The Flock daemon runs your sites, PHP and services in the background.

Startup

Updates

FlockVersion 1.0.0 Up to date

Beta versionsGet new versions of Flock, PHP and services earlier, including pre-releases. They may not work yet.

Project folders

Every folder inside a project folder is served as <folder>.test — the same as flock park.

Sites

Sites you added one by one, plus every folder inside your project folders.

PHP

Every installed version runs its own pool. Sites use the default unless pinned to a version.

Checked ·

Node

node, npm and npx follow the project's .nvmrc / .node-version, then the site's version, then the default.

Versions Checked ·

Official Node.js builds, the newest release of each major. A project that pins a version in .nvmrc gets that major offered when you run node, npm or npx there. Global packages (npm install -g) belong to a Node line and survive its updates; those of the default version are on your PATH.

Services

Databases, caches, search and the tools around your sites. Everything listens on 127.0.0.1 only.

Mail

Flock catches every email your apps send — nothing leaves your .

SMTP server

Host 127.0.0.1

Port 2525

Status Running

Environment Variables

MAIL_MAILER=smtp
MAIL_HOST=127.0.0.1
MAIL_PORT=2525
MAIL_USERNAME="${APP_NAME}"

MAIL_USERNAME picks the inbox, so every project gets its own.

Caught emails

Dumps

Send dump() and dd() output, queries, logs, views and jobs to Flock instead of the page or terminal — no changes to your projects.

Capture

Captured 2 dumps, 6 events

Turn it off to see dumps in the page again.

While capturing

Show dump() output in the page too

dd() always shows in the page too, as it ends the request.

Sources

Open files in

Debugger

Step through requests and commands with Xdebug.

Detect Xdebug requests

Detect PhpStorm breakpoints

Xdebug loads only for requests that ask for it, so everything else stays fast. While a project has breakpoints in PhpStorm, every request to its site is debugged.

Connect your IDE

Client port 9003

Mode debug, develop

Start a session

Set a breakpoint in PhpStorm and listen for debug connections, use the Xdebug browser extension, or add ?XDEBUG_TRIGGER=1 to the URL. On the command line, run flock debug artisan ….

Availability

AI

Let AI agents like Claude Code and Cursor work with Flock: your sites' URLs and PHP versions, logs, dumps and mail, and installing versions and services.

AI clients

Added once, Flock works in every project. Restart the client, or reload its MCP servers, after adding Flock.

Other clients

Add this to the client's MCP settings.

Flock

A native local development environment for Laravel.

App1.0.0 Daemon1.0.0

Data Folder Flock Docs License

Found a bug? Report an issue

Uninstall Flock…

Stops Flock and removes it from this . Your sites, databases and settings are kept.

Only these people (optional)

Anyone with the link can open the site unless you list email addresses — Cloudflare then emails them a code. The link stops working after 8 hours or when you stop sharing.

Show error details to visitors

Turns the app's debug mode on for this share, so visitors see stack traces. Only for people you trust.

From To Date Inbox

Thanks,

GET https://acme.test/orders/1042 acme 200 84 ms 03:00:26

SQL select * from "orders" where "id" = 1042 and "user_id" = 42 limit 1 pgsql · 0.58 ms OrderController.php:29 03:00:26

app/Http/Controllers/OrderController.php:3103:00:27

App\Models\User {#7 ▾

+id: 42

+name: "Ada Lovelace"

+email: "[email protected]"

+roles: array:2 [▸]

}

SQL select * from "order_lines" where "order_lines"."order_id" in (1042) pgsql · 0.37 ms OrderController.php:33 03:00:28

INFO Order 1042 viewed OrderController.php:35 03:00:29

VIEW orders.show resources/views/orders/show.blade.php 03:00:30

VIEW components.layouts.app resources/views/components/layouts/app.blade.php 03:00:30

app/Http/Controllers/OrderController.php:3703:00:31

order App\Models\Order {#8 ▾

+id: 1042

+status: "paid"

+total: 129.9

}

An interactive preview of the Flock app. Go ahead, try it out.

01 · Features

Everything Laravel needs. Nothing it doesn't.

One small native app and a CLI. No containers to build, no config files to edit.

https://acme.test

https://tenant1.acme.test

https://api.acme.test

.test domains with real HTTPS

Park a folder to give every project in it a .test domain, or link a single project from anywhere. Subdomains included, and HTTPS works out of the box with no browser warnings.

PHP 8.5 acme, shop

PHP 8.4 blog

PHP 8.2 legacy

A PHP version per project

Every PHP from 8.1 to 8.5, side by side. Isolate a project to any of them, and switch whenever you like.

PostgreSQL 18

Valkey 9.1

Meilisearch

Databases in one click

PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Redis and more, as native processes that start with your computer.

Welcome to Acme, Jamie! now

Reset your password 14m

Order #1042 confirmed 1h

Every email, caught

Mail goes to a local inbox, one per app, with HTML preview and attachments. Nothing reaches real people.

OrderController.php:38

App\Models\Order {#1204

"status" => "paid"

"total" => 129.90

}

dump() without the mess

Dumps land in a timeline grouped by request, with a link to the line in your editor. No code changes.

Xdebug

Detect breakpoints

Step debugging, only when you need it

Set a breakpoint in PhpStorm and Flock debugs that site's requests automatically, or use the browser extension. Everything else stays fast.

02 · Services

Services, ready when you are.

Native builds, signed and verified, started in the background. Pick a version and Flock installs it for you.

Pg :5432

PostgreSQL

Database · 18, 17, 16

Several major versions side by side, each with its own databases.

Install

My :3306

MySQL

Database · 9.7 LTS, 8.4 LTS, 8.0

The world's most popular open-source database.

Install

Ma :3306

MariaDB

Database · 12.3, 11.8, 11.4

The community fork of MySQL. Runs next to MySQL on its own port.

Install

Mo :27017

MongoDB

Database · 9.0, 8.0, 7.0

Store flexible JSON documents and query them with Eloquent.

Install

Va :6379

Valkey

Cache & queue · 9.1

The open-source Redis for your cache, queues and sessions. Laravel's Redis settings work unchanged.

Install

Me :7700

Meilisearch

Search · 1.x

Fast full-text search for Laravel Scout.

Install

Ts :8108

Typesense

Search · 30, 29 · macOS and Linux only

Typo-tolerant search for Laravel Scout.

Install

Rf :9000

RustFS

Storage · 1.x

S3-compatible object storage for your filesystem disks, with a web console.

Install

Also built in: a mail catcher on :2525, a dump server on :9912 and Redis on macOS. The services docs list the .env lines for each.

03 · Platforms

Native on every side.

Built natively for each platform: a SwiftUI app on macOS, a WinUI 3 app on Windows, a GTK app on Linux, and the same CLI on all three.

macOS

Lives in your menu bar

macOS 15+, Apple silicon
Static PHP builds, one-click updates
.test DNS without root, certificates in your keychain

Windows

Lives in your tray

Windows 10 and 11, x64
Official PHP builds from windows.php.net
Starts at sign-in, no console windows

Linux

Lives in your top bar

Ubuntu 24.04+ and Fedora, x64 and arm64
Updates with your system, from a signed repository
.test DNS through systemd-resolved, trusted in every browser

04 · Frameworks

Laravel first. Not Laravel only.

Flock finds each project's document root on its own, so the framework you already use just works. Laravel gets a little extra: its queries, logs, views and jobs show up next to your dumps.

Laravel

Symfony

Nette

Craft CMS

Statamic

WordPress

Drupal

Yii

CakePHP

CodeIgniter

Slim, Laminas, Bedrock and plain PHP work too. Anything with an index.php gets served, and you can pin a different folder per project.

05 · Compare

Side by side with the tools you know.

Choose a tool you already know and see it next to Flock, row by row. Every tool here does something well, so we show that too.

Flock

Laravel Herd

Price: Yes: Free, open source, no account; $ Paid: Free core, services need Pro ($99/yr)
Platforms: Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps; Partly: macOS and Windows, no Linux yet
Runs natively: Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers; Yes: Native, nginx and PHP-FPM
PHP versions: Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side; Yes: 7.4 up to 8.6 (release candidate)
PHP per project: Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site; Yes: Isolated per site
.test domains: Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included; Yes: Automatic
Trusted HTTPS: Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings; Yes: One click or command per site
Databases: Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB; $ Paid: Pro only
Cache, search, storage: Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS; $ Paid: Pro only
Database UI: No: Use your own client; No: Not included
Mail catcher: Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview; $ Paid: Pro only
Dumps and logs: Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log; $ Paid: Pro only, in Insights
Xdebug: Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint; Partly: Bundled, set up in php.ini; auto in Pro
Node.js: Yes: Per project from .nvmrc; Yes: Per site through nvm
Other languages: No: PHP and Node.js only; No: PHP and Node.js only
FrankenPHP and Octane: Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode; No: nginx with PHP-FPM
Public preview link: Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command; Yes: Through Expose
AI agentic development: Yes: Built-in MCP server; Yes: MCP server built in, runtime context Pro
Git worktrees: Yes: Served and set up on their own, database included; Yes: Workspaces, registered with herd workspace

The score

17 Flock

9 Herd

of 19 rows covered in full, for free.

Flock17/19: 17 of 19 rows
Herd9/19: 9 of 19 rows

Where Flock shines

Every service, no Pro

PostgreSQL, MySQL, Valkey, mail, dumps and Xdebug detection, free for everyone.
FrankenPHP built in

Move any site to FrankenPHP, with Laravel Octane's worker mode, and back with one switch.

Where Herd shines

Made by the Laravel team

First-party, with Expose for sharing and a short path to Laravel Cloud.
Older and newer PHP

PHP 7.4 on both platforms, and the next PHP release as soon as there is a release candidate.

Built in Partly or by hand $ Paid tier Not available

Compared in October 2026 from each tool's own website. Something out of date? Tell us on GitHub.

Flock vs Laravel Herd, in full

Flock

Laragon

Price: Yes: Free, open source, no account; $ Paid: Free for non-commercial use, from $49/yr for work
Platforms: Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps; Partly: Windows only
Runs natively: Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers; Yes: Native Windows processes
PHP versions: Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side; Partly: 8.1 to 8.5 bundled, one active at a time
PHP per project: Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site; No: Not built in
.test domains: Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included; Yes: Automatic .test, written to hosts file
Trusted HTTPS: Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings; Yes: Automatic, one click to trust its cert
Databases: Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB; Partly: MySQL and PostgreSQL
Cache, search, storage: Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS; Partly: Redis and Memcached, no search or storage
Database UI: No: Use your own client; Yes: HeidiSQL bundled
Mail catcher: Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview; Yes: Mailpit included
Dumps and logs: Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log; No: Not included
Xdebug: Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint; Partly: Add the DLL, then toggle in the menu
Node.js: Yes: Per project from .nvmrc; Partly: Several versions, one active at a time
Other languages: No: PHP and Node.js only; Yes: Python and Go
FrankenPHP and Octane: Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode; No: Apache or nginx
Public preview link: Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command; Partly: Through ngrok, your own authtoken
AI agentic development: Yes: Built-in MCP server; No: Not included
Git worktrees: Yes: Served and set up on their own, database included; No: Not included

The score

17 Flock

6 Laragon

of 19 rows covered in full, for free.

Flock17/19: 17 of 19 rows
Laragon6/19: 6 of 19 rows

Where Flock shines

Free for work

No license for commercial use, no popup, no per-device fee.
A PHP per project

Every project pins its own PHP and Node, and the terminal follows along.

Where Laragon shines

Quick app

A new WordPress, Laravel or Symfony project, database included, in one click.
Portable and polyglot

Runs from a folder you can copy, and also brings Python and Go.

Built in Partly or by hand $ Paid tier Not available

Compared in October 2026 from each tool's own website. Something out of date? Tell us on GitHub.

Flock vs Laragon, in full

Flock

XAMPP

Price: Yes: Free, open source, no account; Yes: Free and open source
Platforms: Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps; Partly: Windows, older builds for macOS and Linux
Runs natively: Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers; Yes: Native processes
PHP versions: Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side; No: One version per install
PHP per project: Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site; No: Not possible
.test domains: Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included; No: Virtual hosts edited by hand
Trusted HTTPS: Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings; Partly: Self-signed localhost cert, not trusted
Databases: Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB; Partly: MariaDB only
Cache, search, storage: Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS; No: Not included
Database UI: No: Use your own client; Yes: phpMyAdmin bundled
Mail catcher: Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview; Partly: Mercury mail server, no web inbox
Dumps and logs: Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log; No: Not included
Xdebug: Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint; Partly: Install and configure yourself
Node.js: Yes: Per project from .nvmrc; No: Not included
Other languages: No: PHP and Node.js only; Partly: Perl
FrankenPHP and Octane: Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode; No: Apache only
Public preview link: Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command; No: Not included
AI agentic development: Yes: Built-in MCP server; No: Not included
Git worktrees: Yes: Served and set up on their own, database included; No: Not included

The score

17 Flock

3 XAMPP

of 19 rows covered in full, for free.

Flock17/19: 17 of 19 rows
XAMPP3/19: 3 of 19 rows

Where Flock shines

Real domains, real HTTPS

https://my-app.test instead of localhost/my-app, with no browser warnings.
Any PHP, side by side

8.1 to 8.5 installed together, each project on the version it needs.

Where XAMPP shines

Every tutorial knows it

Twenty years of guides, courses and forum answers start with "install XAMPP".
Apache, like your old host

.htaccess rules behave exactly as they do on classic shared hosting.

Built in Partly or by hand $ Paid tier Not available

Compared in October 2026 from each tool's own website. Something out of date? Tell us on GitHub.

Flock vs XAMPP, in full

Flock

Docker (Laravel Sail)

Price: Yes: Free, open source, no account; Partly: Free; Docker Desktop is paid for larger companies
Platforms: Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps; Yes: macOS, Linux, Windows through WSL2
Runs natively: Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers; No: Containers, inside a VM on macOS and Windows
PHP versions: Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side; Yes: 8.0 to 8.5
PHP per project: Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site; Yes: One compose.yaml per project
.test domains: Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included; No: localhost and port numbers
Trusted HTTPS: Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings; No: Not by default
Databases: Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB; Yes: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
Cache, search, storage: Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS; Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS
Database UI: No: Use your own client; Partly: A container you add yourself
Mail catcher: Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview; Yes: Mailpit
Dumps and logs: Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log; No: Not included
Xdebug: Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint; Partly: Environment variables and a rebuild
Node.js: Yes: Per project from .nvmrc; Partly: Baked into the image, rebuild to change
Other languages: No: PHP and Node.js only; Yes: Any language, as an image
FrankenPHP and Octane: Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode; Partly: Octane through a compose.yaml setting
Public preview link: Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command; Yes: sail share, through Expose
AI agentic development: Yes: Built-in MCP server; No: Not included
Git worktrees: Yes: Served and set up on their own, database included; No: A compose stack per checkout, by hand

The score

17 Flock

8 Docker

of 19 rows covered in full, for free.

Flock17/19: 17 of 19 rows
Docker8/19: 8 of 19 rows

Where Flock shines

Native speed

No VM and no file sync: requests are as fast as your disk, even on a Mac.
Set up once

Install Flock once and every project is served. No compose file, image or rebuild per project.

Where Docker shines

Same stack everywhere

The containers you run locally can match CI and production exactly.
Any image you want

If it ships as a Docker image, you can add it to your stack.

Built in Partly or by hand $ Paid tier Not available

Compared in October 2026 from each tool's own website. Something out of date? Tell us on GitHub.

Flock vs Docker (Laravel Sail), in full

Flock

Lerd

Price: Yes: Free, open source, no account; Yes: Free, MIT license
Platforms: Yes: macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps; Partly: Linux and macOS, Windows through WSL2 (beta)
Runs natively: Yes: Native processes, no VM or containers; Partly: Podman containers, native PHP on macOS
PHP versions: Yes: 8.1 to 8.5 side by side; Yes: 7.4 to 8.6 preview
PHP per project: Yes: Pinned in .flockrc or isolated per site; Yes: Per site
.test domains: Yes: Built-in DNS, subdomains included; Yes: Automatic
Trusted HTTPS: Yes: Root limited to .test, no warnings; Yes: Trusted certificates
Databases: Yes: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB; Yes: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, MongoDB
Cache, search, storage: Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, Typesense, RustFS; Yes: Valkey, Meilisearch, OpenSearch and more
Database UI: No: Use your own client; Yes: phpMyAdmin, Adminer, pgAdmin
Mail catcher: Yes: An inbox per app, HTML preview; Yes: Mailpit
Dumps and logs: Yes: Per-request timeline and Laravel log; Yes: Debug window
Xdebug: Yes: Turns on when you set a breakpoint; Yes: One command per PHP version
Node.js: Yes: Per project from .nvmrc; Yes: Per site
Other languages: No: PHP and Node.js only; Yes: Python, Rails, Go and Rust apps
FrankenPHP and Octane: Yes: Per site, with Octane worker mode; Yes: FrankenPHP per site, with Octane
Public preview link: Yes: Cloudflare tunnel, one command; Partly: Needs ngrok, cloudflared or Expose
AI agentic development: Yes: Built-in MCP server; Yes: MCP server
Git worktrees: Yes: Served and set up on their own, database included; Yes: Domain and database per worktree

The score

17 Flock

16 Lerd

of 19 rows covered in full, for free.

Flock17/19: 17 of 19 rows
Lerd16/19: 16 of 19 rows

Where Flock shines

Native apps everywhere

WinUI 3 on Windows, SwiftUI on macOS and GTK on Linux, not WSL2 and a web dashboard.
No containers at all

Services run as plain processes, with no container runtime to install or keep updated.

Where Lerd shines

Apps beyond PHP

Python, Rails, Go and Rust apps run next to your PHP sites.
A deep service store

OpenSearch, Solr, Kafka and LocalStack, a few clicks away.

Built in Partly or by hand $ Paid tier Not available

Compared in October 2026 from each tool's own website. Something out of date? Tell us on GitHub.

Flock vs Lerd, in full

Or see all 11 comparisons on one page.

06 · FAQ

Questions before you switch.

: Yes. Flock is open source and free to use. There is no paid tier and no account to create.
: No. Flock runs PHP, the web server and the services as native processes on your machine. Nothing is containerized, so there is no file sync, and requests are as fast as your disk.
: Yes. Flock runs natively on Ubuntu 24.04 and newer and on current Fedora releases, on x64 and arm64, with the same CLI, background service and app as on macOS and Windows. It updates with the rest of your system.
: Any PHP project works. Flock finds the document root on its own (public/ for Laravel and Symfony, www/ for Nette, web/ for Craft and Drupal…) and serves the project root otherwise, which also covers WordPress, plain PHP and static sites. Other languages and frameworks are on the roadmap.
: Yes. Pin a version in a committed .flockrc file, isolate one per site on your machine, or rely on the default. The php and composer commands in your terminal follow the same rules as the browser.
: Flock creates a local certificate authority on install and trusts it in your system. Its root certificate is restricted to your local TLD and localhost, so even a leaked key could not be used to impersonate real websites.
: Yes, and your projects don't need any changes. Flock uses ports 80 and 443, so stop the other tool first; if a port is busy, Flock tells you which program is using it. Tools to import your sites from other environments are coming soon.
: flock uninstall removes the daemon, PATH entry, DNS and certificate trust, but keeps your databases and site settings unless you pass --purge.

Join the flock.

Install Flock, park your code folder and open https://your-app.test.

Download Flock Star on GitHub 418

Your Laravel stack. Running natively.

General

Sites

PHP

Node

Services

Mail

Dumps

Debugger

AI

Everything Laravel needs. Nothing it doesn't.

.test domains with real HTTPS

A PHP version per project

Databases in one click

Every email, caught

dump() without the mess

Step debugging, only when you need it

Services, ready when you are.

PostgreSQL

MySQL

MariaDB

MongoDB

Valkey

Meilisearch

Typesense

RustFS

Native on every side.

macOS

Windows

Linux

Laravel first. Not Laravel only.

Side by side with the tools you know.

Questions before you switch.

Join the flock.

Your Laravel stack.
Running natively.