README

Introduction

PHP Caddy is a tiny PHP development environment for Windows, inspired by Laravel Valet.

No hosts file, no configuration, no frills. Just run it and go write some code.

PHP Caddy is basically a stripped down Valet: no *.dev domain proxy (only localhost), no linking multiple sites or parked directories, and no sharing over local tunnels. It also doesn't require elevated privileges to run like some of the other Windows alternatives, which can make things easier for people in corporate environments.

Built with Caddy web server, PHP Caddy also includes Mailhog for catching email sent by your application.

This package is for minimalists. It does not have the full feature set of Valet, and it doesn't provide the robust features of a virtualized environment like Homestead.

If you are on macOS you should probably just use Laravel Valet because it's awesome.
If you want something more Valet-like for Windows, check out valet-windows.
If you want a fully virtualized Linux development environment, use Laravel Homestead.
If you're on Windows and you want a fast, easy to use local development environment with minimal resource consumption, read on!

Requirements

PHP (7.1 recommended) (installed in C:\php and configured for Laravel)
Composer
A database, if you need one (MySql/Mariadb/Sqlite)

502 Bad Gateway

There seems to be an issue with long-running php-cgi.exe processes in PHP 7.0 and earlier on Windows. The process randomly crashes after a period of time, causing a 502 Bad Gateway in PHP Caddy.

PHP 7.1 introduced the ability to run multiple php-cgi.exe processes, which seems to alleviate this problem.

If you are getting frequent 502 Bad Gateway errors, try upgrading to PHP 7.1 and make sure you're running the latest PHP Caddy by running composer global update.

If you can't upgrade PHP, then you can restart PHP when this happens using caddy service php restart.

Installation instructions

composer global require samojled/php-caddy

Usage

Make sure your global composer vendor/bin folder is in your system path.

Start it up

cd {your php project directory}
caddy start

Current directory will be linked
Site: http://localhost
Mailhog: http://localhost:8025
SMTP: 127.0.0.1:1025

Shut it down

caddy stop

Switch directories (serve a different project)

cd {another php project}
caddy link

Control individual services

# Mailhog
caddy service mailhog start
caddy service mailhog stop
caddy service mailhog restart

# Http (Caddy)
caddy service http start
caddy service http stop
caddy service http restart

# PHP
caddy service php start
caddy service php stop
caddy service php restart

Available Commands

Supported Frameworks and Applications

PHP Caddy comes with the same default set of drivers as Valet, so out of the box it supports:

Laravel
Lumen
Symfony
Zend
CakePHP 3
WordPress
Bedrock
Craft
Statamic
Jigsaw
Static HTML

Custom Valet Drivers

You can write your own Valet driver to support PHP applications not in the list above, in the same way you can with Laravel Valet.

When you install PHP Caddy, a ~/.phpcaddy/Drivers directory is created which contains a SampleValetDriver.php file you can use as a guide. To use your custom driver, either place it in the ~/.phpcaddy/Drivers directory, or in the root path of your project, and it will be picked up by PHP Caddy.

See more info on creating custom drivers in the Laravel Valet docs: Custom Valet Drivers

Upgrading

You can update PHP Caddy using the composer global update command. After upgrading, you may need to run caddy install to make any necessary configuration changes.

License and Attribution

Parts of the original Laravel Valet source code were used in whole or in part in building this project, and are covered under the original Valet License

Valet License

The Caddy and Mailhog binaries are covered under their respective licenses.

PHP Caddy License

samojled / php-caddy

Maintainers

Details