Yerd - The open-source Herd alternative for macOS & Linux
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Yerd is a rootless, open-source local PHP dev environment for macOS & Linux - a Laravel Herd alternative with no Docker, no sudo, no subscription. Drop a folder in and it's live at a .test domain with automatic HTTPS. Per-site PHP versions, managed Composer/Node/Bun, databases, a mail catcher, and live Laravel telemetry - all from one tiny ~8MB Rust daemon. MIT-licensed and built in the open.
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Hey Product Hunt 👋
I'm Richard, a co-founder of FORJED, and the main developer behind Yerd.
Yerd came out of a simple frustration: getting a PHP project running locally still means picking your poison. Docker eats RAM and battery and turns a fast request into a slow one. The convenient native option is closed-source, macOS-only, and paywalls the good parts behind a subscription. And the DIY route - Homebrew PHP, nginx configs, mkcert, dnsmasq - works right up until it silently doesn't.
I wanted something that just gets out of the way: drop a folder in, get a .test site with real HTTPS, switch PHP versions per project, and never think about it again. So I built it. Yerd started off as a CLI using Go, but has been rebuilt from the ground up using Rust, with a GUI first approach (although the CLI still exists!)
A few things I'm proud of:
- It's a single ~8 MB Rust daemon. No containers, no VM, no Electron.
- It's rootless - setup asks for elevation exactly once, and nothing runs as root afterwards.
- HTTPS is automatic via a local CA. No mkcert, no browser warnings.
- Databases, a mail catcher, managed Composer/Node/Bun, and live Laravel telemetry are all built in.
- It's MIT-licensed and open source. No subscription, ever.
It runs on macOS and Linux today, and Windows is on the roadmap.
I'd genuinely love your feedback - what your current local setup looks like, what's missing, and what would make you switch. I'll be here all day answering everything.
Thanks for taking a look