It was launched from the latest laravel’s “Laracon US 2023 Nashville”.
One click PHP development environment.
Zero dependencies. Zero headaches.
Herd is a blazing fast, native Laravel and PHP development environment for macOS. It includes everything you need to get started with Laravel development, including PHP and nginx. Once you install Herd, you’re ready to start developing with Laravel.
Why use herd?
1. The fastest environment around
Herd uses static binaries for PHP, nginx, and dnsmasq, making it faster than other PHP development environments. Using Herd, you can immediately enjoy 35% faster tests and 100% faster web requests.
2. Seamless migration from Valet
Using Laravel Valet? Herd automatically migrates your existing Valet preferences so that you can keep working without interruption. You can manage Herd’s configuration via its intuitive UI, including your installed PHP versions and SSL certificates.
3. Easily manage multiple versions of PHP
Herd comes with PHP 7.4 – 8.3, and you can switch between any of these versions in seconds. It even lets you pin sites to specific PHP versions and will automatically keep all of your PHP installations up to date. Testing the features of the latest PHP versions has never been easier.
4. Everything you need to get started
Herd includes binaries for Composer, the Laravel installer, and Expose, making them available to your CLI automatically. Keep managing your sites and services directly from your terminal, just like Laravel Valet.
While herd has been developed only for Mac, it doesn’t use homebrew or any package manager under the hood. Herd ships with the option to install PHP 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3. Herd’s automatic updater regularly checks for new versions and allows you to update to the latest version via the Herd UI.
Herd includes the following extensions: intl, pdo_sqlite, sqlite3, curl, openssl, tokenizer, bcmath, bz2, calendar, dba, ftp, iconv, mysqli, mbstring, xml, simplexml, ctype, dom, pdo, filter, session, zlib, fileinfo, pdo_mysql, posix, sockets, shmop, sodium, sysvmsg, sysvsem, sysvshm, gd, zip, gmp, redis, xmlwriter, phar, exif, xmlreader, readline, pcntl, soap, imagick, ffi, and opcache.
Note: Xdebug is not currently included with Laravel Herd.
Limitation
Unfortunately, there is no way to install additional PHP extensions when using Herd. Herd uses static binaries for PHP that are compiled with all of Herd’s included extensions. Refer this document for any extension that you require beside from the default included ones.
https://anmup.com.np/misc/installing-extension-on-laravel-herd/
