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Free & open source · Windows, macOS and Linux

A native Lerd alternative, no containers

Same freedom. No containers in between.

Flock is a free, open source alternative to Lerd. Like Lerd, it gives every project a .test domain, its own PHP and the services Laravel needs. Unlike Lerd, it runs them natively, with a real app on each platform.

Download Flock Flock vs Lerd

Windows, macOS and Linux · No account, no license key

Why people switch

Where Lerd gets in the way.

WSL2 on Windows

Lerd reaches Windows through WSL2, still in beta. Flock is a native Windows app that starts with Windows.

A container runtime

Lerd needs Podman. Flock runs PHP and the services as plain processes.

A browser dashboard

Flock lives in your menu bar, tray or top bar, with a native settings window.

What changes

Moving from Lerd to Flock.

The 3 things you gain. Everything else works the way you're used to.

  • Platforms Linux and macOS, Windows through WSL2 (beta) macOS, Windows and Linux, native apps
  • Runs natively Podman containers, native PHP on macOS Native processes, no VM or containers
  • Public preview link Needs ngrok, cloudflared or Expose Cloudflare tunnel, one command

See all 18 rows, and where Lerd still shines

Switching

Four steps, about five minutes.

  1. 01

    Stop Lerd

    Stop Lerd's services so ports 80 and 443 are free.

  2. 02

    Install Flock

    Run the installer for macOS, Windows or Linux.

  3. 03

    Park your projects

    Park your code folder and every project gets its .test domain back.

    flock park ~/Code
  4. 04

    Pin PHP and Node

    Pin the versions each project needs, and commit them for your team.

    flock pin php 8.4

FAQ

Before you leave Lerd.

Yes. Flock is open source on GitHub, free, with no account and no paid tier.

Yes. Flock's MCP server lets Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and Codex look up sites, read logs, dumps and mail, and install what a project needs.

Link each worktree as its own site and it gets its own .test domain. Flock doesn't clone databases per worktree.

Join the flock.

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

Download Flock Star on GitHub