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Services

LaraEnv bundles a set of services, each backed by a real native binary that LaraEnv starts, stops, and manages for you. You control them from the Dashboard.

Web servers​

Nginx​

The default web server. It serves your sites through per-project virtual hosts (vhosts), automatically generated when you scaffold a project.

Apache​

An alternative web server, also using per-project vhosts. Choose Apache if your project specifically needs it.

warning

Only one web server can listen on ports 80/443 at a time. Run either Nginx or Apache, not both.

Databases​

MySQL​

A MySQL server. On first start, LaraEnv auto-initializes the data directory. When you scaffold a project, a per-project database can be created automatically.

PostgreSQL​

A PostgreSQL server. Like MySQL, it auto-initializes its data directory on first start, and per-project databases can be auto-created during scaffolding.

pgvector​

The catalog includes pgvector, the vector-similarity extension used for AI embeddings and semantic search. In Downloads, install the pgvector build matching your PostgreSQL major version (15–18), then enable it per database:

CREATE EXTENSION vector;

After that, vector columns, the distance operators (<->, <=>, <#>), and HNSW/IVFFlat indexes are available in that database.

note

JSONB needs no install — it is a core PostgreSQL type and works out of the box on every version in the catalog.

Redis​

Redis provides cache and queue storage for your applications.

Mailpit​

Mailpit catches outgoing SMTP mail so you can test email without sending anything for real:

  • SMTP listens on port 1025 — point your app's mail config here.
  • Web UI is available on port 8025 — open it to read captured messages.

This is ideal for testing Laravel mail: messages are caught locally and shown in the Mailpit inbox instead of being delivered.

Controlling services​

From the Dashboard you can:

  • Start, Stop, and Restart (reload) each service.
  • View logs (stdout/stderr) for each service.
  • Hide unused services from the grid using the "show on dashboard" / enabled toggle (also available on the Downloads/Installer page).
tip

Reloading a service applies new tuning without a full restart where the service supports it. See Service tuning.

Default ports​

Each service listens on a default port (for example, Mailpit's SMTP on 1025 and web UI on 8025). For the full list of paths and ports, see Paths & ports.