DevKu

PHP development environment for Windows: lightweight, multi-PHP per domain, integrated with system runtimes.

Replace XAMPP/Laragon with something smaller, faster, and more manageable. Full plan: PLAN.md. Changelog: CHANGELOG.md. Domain model: GLOSSARY.md.

Status

Phase	Content	Status
0	Architectural spike	✅ results
1	Core services + CLI	✅ results
2	UI project manager (Vue 3 rework)	✅ sites list, custom titlebar, settings page, wizard, logs
3	Runtime integration (Bun/Node/PHP/Composer)	✅ results
4	Polish: tray, SSL trust, onboarding, autostart	✅
5	Apache backend	✅ internal httpd behind Caddy, auto-installed
6	Distribution: NSIS and signed auto-updates	NSIS created, auto-update deferred

How It Works

Browser :80/:443
   │
   ▼
Caddy ──┬── php_fastcgi ──► php-cgi (one pool per PHP version)
        └── reverse_proxy ──► httpd :8080 ──► php-cgi (sites that choose Apache)

• *.localhost resolves natively on Windows 11 without editing hosts and without administrator privileges.
• Each PHP version runs its own dedicated php-cgi pool, allowing App A to run PHP 8.1 while App B runs PHP 8.4.
• Caddy is the only entry point: it owns 80/443, TLS, and the domain, then forwards sites whose backend is Apache to a loopback httpd on port 8080. Apache sites therefore keep the same URL and HTTPS as everything else; port 8080 is internal and never exposed.
• Apache has its own generated httpd.conf and its own Settings tab, separate from the Caddyfile. DevKu installs it itself from Apache Lounge with SHA-256 verification, and httpd starts only while at least one site uses it.
• Processes are supervised from within the DevKu binary. If a php-cgi instance exits unexpectedly, it is restarted with exponential backoff.

Where Data Lives

Three locations with separate jobs:

install dir   C:\devku             devku.exe and the uninstaller (read-only)
data root     %APPDATA%\DevKu      engines, runtime, config.json, logs, databases
workspace     %USERPROFILE%\DevKu\sites   project folders (content, not state)

• The data root can be moved from Settings > System. DevKu copies the tree to an empty folder, leaves a small location.json pointer in %APPDATA%\DevKu, and restarts. DEVKU_HOME overrides everything and locks the move from the UI.
• The workspace is the starting folder for the Add Site wizard and the titlebar Workspace button (also in Settings). It is not a site registry: projects inside it still have to be registered, and they may live anywhere.
• Engines stay out of the install directory on purpose, so downloading an engine never needs elevation and an update never touches your data.
• bun tauri dev uses the same data root as the installed app, so a dev build reuses your engines, config, and MariaDB data. Set DEVKU_HOME to a separate folder when you want the two isolated.
• Uninstalling removes only the install directory. The data root stays, because re-downloading engines costs time and bandwidth; tick the uninstaller's data checkbox to remove it. The uninstaller detaches the bin shim from the user PATH before deleting the binary, so no dead PATH entry is left behind.

Running Core (Headless / CLI)

The same devku binary also serves as a CLI: without arguments it launches the desktop UI, while subcommands run headlessly.

cargo build --manifest-path src-tauri\Cargo.toml

$devku = "src-tauri\target\debug\devku.exe"
& $devku install-caddy "C:\path\to\caddy.exe"
& $devku install-php "C:\path\to\php-8.4-nts.zip" 8.4.1
& $devku add-site app-a "App A" "D:\projects\app-a\public" 8.4.1
& $devku up

Other commands: status, sites, check, runtimes, php-path, install-composer, composer-path, autostart, export-config, import-config, trust. Run devku --help for the complete list. Exit codes: 0 for success, 1 for error, 2 for unrecognized command. DEVKU_HOME overrides configuration and engine locations (defaults to %APPDATA%\DevKu).

PowerShell does not automatically await GUI binaries invoked with &, meaning exit codes are not captured directly. Pipe to | Out-String or use Start-Process -Wait -PassThru if exit codes are required.

Development

bun install          # install frontend dependencies
bun run check        # typecheck TypeScript & Vue
bun run tauri dev    # launch desktop application in dev mode

cargo test --manifest-path src-tauri\Cargo.toml --lib
cargo clippy --manifest-path src-tauri\Cargo.toml --all-targets

Package manager: Bun. See AGENTS.md.

License

MIT, see LICENSE. The third-party engines DevKu downloads (Caddy, Apache httpd, PHP, MariaDB, Bun, Composer) keep their own licenses and come from their original sources; DevKu does not redistribute them.