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Local server setup

A local server environment is recommended for Drupal development. It lets you work offline, safely experiment, and tailor your dev stack as needed.

DDEV: The recommended dev tool

DDEV is the recommended local development tool for Drupal. It supports macOS, Linux, and Windows, and provides:

  • Easy project setup
  • Consistent, Docker-based environments
  • Built-in Composer, HTTPS and mail support
  • Drush, Mailpit and Xdebug integration

Install Drupal without Docker or review other options below.

Docker-based development environments for macOS, Linux, and Windows

While DDEV is recommended, Drupal is supported by other Docker-based tools.

Windows development environment

Set up a local server for Drupal development on Windows.

Managing mail on a local server

Options to safely capture and debug email locally in Drupal without sending messages to real users during development.

Enable verbose error logging

Enabling detailed backtracing can help shed more light on the causes of warnings and errors.

Related Content

Disabling and debugging caching

Disabling caching (render cache, dynamic page cache, Twig cache) during development is useful for seeing changes without clearing the cache

Guide maintainers

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