Features

Everything LaraEnv ships with — at a glance.

Local stack

• Nginx (latest stable) and Apache (2.4) side-by-side.
• MySQL 5.7 / 8.0 / 8.4 and MariaDB.
• PostgreSQL 13, 14, 15, 16.
• Redis with optional persistence.
• Mailpit for catching outgoing mail in dev.
• Meilisearch and Node.js LTS as optional services.
• All services run as native Windows binaries. No Docker, no WSL, no VM.

Multi-PHP, per project

• Install PHP 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4 in parallel.
• Each project picks its version; switches take effect instantly.
• Per-version php.ini, extensions folder and FPM pool.
• Built-in extension manager — toggle xdebug, imagick, redis, swoole per version.

Dashboard

• Modern dark / light UI built natively (not Electron-heavy).
• Service status, memory, ports at a glance.
• One-click .test domain creation with auto-trusted HTTPS.
• Drag-and-drop project import.
• System tray with quick start / stop.

Built-in tools

• Terminal — PowerShell / Git Bash with tabs, splits, themes.
• SSH manager — hosts, keys, ED25519 generator, encrypted sync.
• Cron scheduler — Windows-native, crontab syntax, per-job logs.
• Database GUI — browse MySQL / PostgreSQL tables, run queries.
• Log tailer — follow project / Nginx / PHP logs in real time.
• Config editor — syntax-highlighted edits to nginx.conf, php.ini, my.ini with auto-reload on save.

One-click VPS deploys (Pro)

• Provision a fresh Ubuntu 22.04 / 24.04 server in one click — Nginx, PHP-FPM, MySQL or PostgreSQL, Redis, Supervisor, Let's Encrypt.
• Connect any Git repo. Every push deploys with zero downtime (symlink swap, post-deploy hooks, automatic rollback).
• Per-environment .env management, encrypted at rest.
• Built-in server monitoring — CPU, RAM, disk, queue worker status.

Sync & security (Pro)

• End-to-end encrypted sync of SSH hosts, keys, crons, themes and editor prefs.
• AES-256-GCM with keys derived via Argon2id from your passphrase.
• Server stores ciphertext only — Anthropic-style "we literally cannot read your data".
• Multi-device — switch between desktop and laptop and pick up exactly where you left off.

Performance

• Cold start of the whole stack in under 3 seconds on a modern laptop.
• ~120 MB resident memory with Nginx + PHP-FPM + MySQL idle — versus 1.5+ GB for an equivalent Docker stack.
• Native I/O — no shared-folder slowdowns, no 9p filesystem quirks.

vs. Laragon, XAMPP, Herd

• vs. Laragon — same core idea, modern UI, proper SSH and cron, Pro tier for deploys and sync.
• vs. XAMPP / WAMP / MAMP — those stop at "Apache + MySQL + PHP". LaraEnv automates vhosts, hosts file, HTTPS, multi-PHP and adds dev workflow tools.
• vs. Laravel Herd — Herd is excellent on macOS; LaraEnv is the closest native equivalent for Windows, with deploys and encrypted sync on top.