Local dev environment · Windows
One octopus.
Three tentacles
running in parallel.
LHW Stack is a modern, lightweight, and secure local development environment -a next-generation alternative to XAMPP, built on Rust, Tauri, FrankenPHP (Caddy) and MariaDB.
● no administrator rights required -runs on loopback, non-standard ports
Caddy + PHP runtime -Laravel, WordPress, or plain PHP, with local HTTPS via a trusted Caddy CA.
Isolated database per project, bundled phpMyAdmin, optional Stalwart mail server.
The brain -sidecar process management, live logs, signed self-updater.
Where the name comes from
Everything a local server stack needs
One installer, one process tree, one place to manage every project.
SERVICES
One-click service management
Start and stop FrankenPHP and MariaDB with live, streaming logs.
SCAFFOLDING
Project scaffolding
Laravel, WordPress, and plain PHP projects, each with its own isolated database.
DATABASE
Bundled phpMyAdmin
Pre-configured and ready -no manual setup for database management.
Optional mail server
Stalwart mail server with SMTP, IMAP, and JMAP for testing email flows locally.
TLS
Local HTTPS
Trusted certificates via Caddy's local CA -no browser warnings.
I18N
Multi-language UI
English, Spanish, and Portuguese, out of the box.
TOOLING
Download Center
Detects installed developer tools and configures your PATH for you.
Built to stay out of your way
Design principles carried through every service in the stack.
Portable
Runs as sidecars -no global installs, no admin rights, nothing left behind.
Non-privileged
Non-standard ports (8080 HTTP, 3307 MariaDB) avoid conflicts with anything already installed.
Secure by default
Loopback-only listeners and scoped credentials -services aren't reachable from the network.
Managed, not manual
Every child process is supervised by the Rust orchestrator, with graceful shutdown.
Frontend
Application
Services
Installing takes one file
Download the installer, run it, and the app self-updates from there.
- Download the installerGrab the latest release from GitHub -signed and versioned.
- Run it -no admin neededInstalls to your user profile, not Program Files.
- Spin up your servicesStart FrankenPHP and MariaDB, then scaffold a project.
- Stay current automaticallyThe app checks for and applies signed updates on its own.
Windows-only, for now. The Rust core is built with portability in mind -macOS and Linux support are architecturally possible. Contributions toward that are welcome.
See open issues