Burd

A local development environment manager for macOS. Run PHP sites, databases, caches, and more with a single app.

Burd provides both a desktop GUI and a powerful CLI to manage FrankenPHP instances, databases, domains with automatic SSL, mail testing, tunnels, and other services — everything you need for local PHP development.

Features

• FrankenPHP instances with per-project PHP configuration
• Automatic domains — link any directory to yoursite.burd with one command
• SSL out of the box — powered by Caddy and mkcert
• Park directories — every subdirectory becomes a .burd domain automatically
• Database management — create, drop, import, export, and shell into databases
• Project scaffolding — burd new laravel myapp and you're running
• Environment fixer — detects .env mismatches and fixes them
• Tunnel sharing — expose local sites to the internet via frpc
• Health checks — burd doctor diagnoses common issues
• MCP server — burd mcp lets AI agents drive Burd
• Self-updating CLI — burd upgrade pulls the latest release from GitHub

Requirements

• macOS — Apple Silicon (aarch64) and Intel (x86_64) are both supported
• Releases are code-signed and notarized by Apple

Installation

Homebrew

brew tap digitalnodecom/tap
brew install burd          # the burd CLI
brew install --cask burd   # the Burd.app desktop app

Installing the cask from a third-party tap may require brew trust digitalnodecom/tap first.

Direct download

Download the latest .dmg from Releases and drag Burd to your Applications folder.

The burd CLI is also published as a standalone binary — burd-darwin-aarch64 (Apple Silicon) and burd-darwin-x64 (Intel) — for use without the desktop app. Once installed, keep it current with:

burd upgrade

Supported Services

Service	Default Port	Description
PHP	8000	FrankenPHP application server
PHP Park	8888	Serves every parked directory (one instance)
MariaDB	3330	SQL database
MySQL	3306	SQL database
PostgreSQL	5432	SQL database
MongoDB	27017	NoSQL database
Redis	6379	Cache and session store
Valkey	6380	Redis-compatible alternative
Memcached	11211	Memory cache
Mailpit	8025	Local mail testing (SMTP on 1025)
Meilisearch	7700	Full-text search engine
Typesense	8108	Full-text search engine
MinIO	9000	S3-compatible object storage (console on 9001)
Beanstalkd	11300	Job queue
Centrifugo	8000	Real-time messaging
Bun	3000	JS/TS runtime for Node-style projects
Gitea	3000	Self-hosted Git service
Tunnels (frpc)	7400	Expose local sites to the internet
Caddy Server	443	Reverse proxy and SSL (managed internally)

Local sites resolve on the .burd TLD.

CLI

# Link a site
cd ~/projects/myapp
burd link myapp          # available at myapp.burd

# Or set up the current directory in one step
burd init

# Create a new project (laravel, wordpress, bedrock)
burd new laravel blog    # scaffolds + links + configures
burd setup               # interactive wizard for an existing project

# Park a directory (every subfolder becomes a .burd domain)
burd park

# Instance control
burd start / stop / restart [name]
burd status
burd logs [name] --follow
burd versions

# Database operations
burd db list
burd db import myapp dump.sql
burd db export myapp
burd db shell myapp
burd db drop myapp

# Native database tools with auto-connection
burd mysql mysqldump mydb
burd postgres psql mydb

# Environment management
burd env check           # compare .env with running services
burd env fix             # interactive fixer

# SSL
burd secure myapp        # enable HTTPS
burd unsecure myapp      # disable HTTPS
burd open myapp          # open in browser

# Proxy non-PHP apps
burd proxy api 3000      # proxy api.burd to localhost:3000
burd unproxy api

# Share with the internet
burd share --subdomain myapp

# Diagnostics and updates
burd doctor              # check services, config, connectivity
burd upgrade             # self-update to latest version

# AI agent integration
burd mcp                 # run the MCP server over stdio

Run burd --help for the full command reference, or see docs/CLI.md.

Documentation

Additional documentation lives in docs/:

• CLI reference
• SSL certificates
• Update system

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• Rust (stable)
• Xcode Command Line Tools

Setup

git clone https://github.com/digitalnodecom/burd.git
cd burd
npm install
npm run tauri dev        # launches the desktop app

npm run dev starts the SvelteKit frontend only. Use npm run tauri dev to run the actual app.

Building

# Desktop app
npm run tauri build

# CLI only
cd src-tauri && cargo build --release --bin burd

Testing

# Frontend checks (from repo root)
npm run check

# Rust checks
cd src-tauri
cargo fmt --check
cargo clippy -- -D warnings
cargo test

Project Structure

burd/
├── src/                    # SvelteKit frontend
│   ├── lib/sections/       # UI sections (instances, domains, services, ...)
│   └── routes/             # Page routes
├── src-tauri/              # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── cli/            # CLI command implementations
│   │   ├── commands/       # Tauri IPC handlers
│   │   ├── services/       # Service integrations
│   │   └── bin/burd.rs     # CLI binary entry point
│   ├── helper/             # Privileged helper daemon
│   └── services.json       # Service definitions and versions
├── CHANGELOG.md
├── CONTRIBUTING.md
└── LICENSE

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, coding standards, and the pull request process.

Security

Found a vulnerability? Please report it privately — see SECURITY.md.

License

Burd is source-available, not open source.

It is licensed under PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0: you may use, modify, and share it freely for noncommercial purposes only. Any commercial use is prohibited. See the LICENSE for the exact terms.