Flock 1.0: Free Laravel Development on Windows Without Docker or WSL

The headline comparison is with Laravel Herd. Below I separate what Flock's own documentation confirms from what Laravel News alone claims.

What Flock is​

Flock's documentation describes a free, open-source local development environment for Laravel. The docs for v1.0.0 cover Windows, macOS and Linux. Some pages in the GitHub README and an older docs snapshot mention only Windows and macOS. That points to Linux support arriving late in the 1.0 cycle. The 1.0.0 changelog lists Linux app windows and a tray icon.

Laravel News says it is licensed AGPL-3.0 and needs no account. I couldn't corroborate the licence from the Flock pages. EnvKit, a competitor, describes Flock as AGPL-licensed, which is consistent with the report.

Under the hood, according to Flock's docs:

• A single flock binary runs as a small background daemon.
• An embedded Caddy web server listens on ports 80 and 443.
• On Windows, PHP requests go to a pool of php-cgi workers. On macOS and Linux they go to PHP-FPM.
• An embedded DNS server answers for *.test, so you don't edit your hosts file.
• A local certificate authority issues trusted HTTPS certificates. Its root is restricted to the local TLD, so it can't be used to impersonate real sites.
• Small shims for php, composer, node, npm, npx and the database clients sit on your PATH. They run whichever version the current project uses.
• On Windows, the front end is a tray app.

The GitHub page adds that Flock is a Go daemon and CLI with a native app on each system.

Windows installation​

Requirements are Windows 10 (version 2004 or newer) or Windows 11, x64. The Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable is also needed, because PHP depends on it.

The installer is code-signed and doesn't need administrator rights. The first-run setup does, and Windows asks for approval once. According to the install guide, setup:

1. Adds Flock's bin folder to your PATH.
2. Registers a "Flock Daemon" scheduled task that starts at sign-in without a console window.
3. Routes *.test to Flock's DNS server with a name-resolution policy rule. A small helper service also keeps a marked block in the hosts file as a fallback.
4. Adds Flock's certificate authority to the Trusted Root store.

To check the install, click the tray icon and look for "Running" plus the version number. You can also open a new terminal and run flock status. php -v and node -v should print Flock's versions.

The release history shows Windows hardening. One beta fix signed the daemon executable so Windows Smart App Control would let it start. Corporate or managed machines are another matter. Trusted Root changes, scheduled tasks and a helper service may need approval from your IT policy.

Port conflicts​

Flock needs ports 80 and 443. If IIS, Apache, Herd, Valet or another stack holds them, Flock names the program that is using them. Stop that program, then restart Flock from the panel or with flock restart. This is the most likely first-run snag for anyone migrating from another local environment.

Quick start​

Laravel News gives this sequence. It was flattened in transit, so the layout below is a reconstruction of the original:

cd ~/Code
composer create-project laravel/laravel myapp
flock park
flock secure myapp
cd myapp
flock pin php 8.5
flock services install postgres
flock services create-db postgres myapp

Per the report, flock park serves every folder in the parent directory at http://<folder>.test. flock secure turns on HTTPS for the site. flock pin saves the PHP version in .flockrc. Opening [url]https://myapp.test[/url] should then show no certificate warning. A Windows user would pick a Windows-style path rather than ~/Code.

The official docs back up the commands for installing services, and flock services create-db works for PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB while the service is running. The configuration docs say .flockrc holds PHP and optionally Node versions, and recommend committing it. Node versions are also read from .nvmrc or .node-version. Aliases such as lts/* are ignored.

PHP versions: the boundary that matters​

PHP 8.1 and newer are supported. Windows also gets 7.4 and 8.0. Laravel News says Flock "starts at PHP 8.1", so apps needing older PHP can't use it. That is true on macOS and Linux. The Flock docs show an exception on Windows.

That is a real advantage for Windows developers with legacy projects. Laravel News compares against Herd and says Herd supports PHP 7.4 up to the 8.6 release candidate. I couldn't verify that against Herd's own documentation.

Other PHP details from the docs:

• Every version is a checksum- and signature-verified download. Nothing is compiled on your machine.
• On Windows, builds are the official thread-safe x64 builds from windows.php.net, plus an extension pack Flock supplies.
• On Windows, memcached, pcntl and posix aren't available.
• Each version gets its own php.ini with development defaults, such as memory_limit of 512M. Flock won't overwrite your edits.
• FrankenPHP needs PHP 8.2 or newer. Laravel Octane's worker mode runs on it and needs laravel/octane in the project.

Services and platform differences​

Flock's service catalog covers PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, MongoDB, Valkey, Redis, Meilisearch, Typesense and RustFS. Multiple versions install side by side. If two services want one port, such as MySQL and MariaDB on 3306, you can choose another.

The Flock docs state the Redis and Typesense limits explicitly. The GitHub README's feature list agrees with those, with Redis and Typesense named for macOS. The docs describe Valkey as the open-source Redis with the same commands. Laravel's Redis settings work with it unchanged.

Laravel News says PostgreSQL extensions such as PostGIS, pgvector and TimescaleDB can be installed per version. I couldn't confirm that on the documentation pages I saw. Treat it as a reported feature and check the PostgreSQL docs before relying on it.

Local defaults are convenient but not production-grade. PostgreSQL uses user postgres with no password. MySQL uses root with no password. Keep these on localhost only.

Mail, dumps and Xdebug​

Mail catcher. Each app gets its own inbox, per Laravel News. Copy the mail settings from Flock's Mail window into .env. The configuration docs list the SMTP port as 2525.

Dump viewer. Flock captures dump() and dd() output in a separate window rather than your page. In Laravel apps it also records queries, logs, views, jobs and responses. The docs say no package is needed. Flock loads a small agent into PHP while capture is on.

Two caveats from the docs:

• Queries, logs, views, jobs and requests need the opentelemetry extension. It is included in Flock's builds from PHP 8.0. Older builds capture dumps only, and flock php install <version> updates them.
• dd() always shows in the page too, because it ends the request. The window keeps the last 500 dumps and 5,000 other events.

Xdebug. Xdebug is off by default, since loading it slows every request. Flock runs a second PHP pool with Xdebug loaded and sends it only the requests that ask for debugging. Turn it on with flock xdebug on. A request then goes to that pool if it:

• carries the Xdebug cookie from a browser helper extension,
• has XDEBUG_TRIGGER=1 in the URL,
• or targets a site with PhpStorm breakpoints, if you enable flock xdebug breakpoints on.

To debug the command line, use flock debug, for example flock debug artisan app:sync-orders. The docs say to listen on port 9003 in PhpStorm or VS Code, and say no path mappings are needed.

Worktrees and sharing​

Flock serves each git worktree at <branch>.<site>.test. Laravel News says setup installs dependencies and writes a .env with a new app key. You then pick the database: share the main one, copy it, or start empty. The research notes say sharing is the default. If so, migrations run in a worktree also hit the main site's database, so choose deliberately.

flock share opens a temporary public URL through a Cloudflare tunnel. Laravel News says --allow with an email address limits who can open it. Remember that a shared site is on the public internet. Treat it that way, especially with a passwordless local database behind it.

AI agent support​

Flock has a built-in MCP server. Laravel News says agents like Claude Code and Cursor can read sites, caught mail, dumps and errors. flock boost adds Flock's guidelines to Laravel Boost guidelines. The docs say agents can use the dump timeline to chase problems like N+1 queries. That is a capability, not evidence that agents produce better code.

How it compares with Herd and its rivals​

Laravel News says Herd needs a Pro license for databases, the mail catcher and the dump viewer, and that these are free in Flock. It also says Herd doesn't run on Linux. I couldn't verify either point against Herd's current documentation, so check Herd's pricing page before deciding. The report also notes that Herd is built by Beyond Code in partnership with Laravel. Flock's README says Flock is not affiliated with or endorsed by Laravel.

Flock's own site publishes a comparison table with several rivals. Vendor-published comparisons deserve some skepticism. EnvKit's rival page says it beats Flock on framework breadth, including WordPress and Next.js. It also notes that Flock covers any public/index.php project. EnvKit lists a roughly 100 MB installer against Flock's single small binary. Laravel News describes EnvKit as still in beta.

Laravel News also says Flock serves Symfony, WordPress and Drupal projects. Flock's docs name Laravel, Symfony, Statamic, Craft and "most other PHP frameworks", plus plain PHP and static sites. I couldn't confirm WordPress or Drupal specifically. The docs add that other languages and frameworks are on the roadmap.

Who should try it, and who should wait​

Good fit:

• Windows developers who want a native Laravel stack without WSL2 or containers.
• Teams that want mail, dumps and databases without a paid tier.
• People who need legacy PHP 7.4 or 8.0 on Windows alongside modern versions.

Think twice:

• Linux or macOS users who need PHP older than 8.1.
• Anyone who needs Redis on Windows. You get Valkey instead.
• Anyone who needs Typesense on Windows.
• Locked-down corporate PCs where installing a root CA, a scheduled task and a helper service isn't allowed.
• Developers wary of a tool that only just reached 1.0. It spent several beta releases in October, per EnvKit's page.

The pitch is simple: put the whole Laravel toolchain in one native Windows tray app. It is a young project, so test it on a throwaway project before moving your main one over.