Drupal CMS Launcher

A simple, standalone app to run Drupal CMS locally with zero setup.

This installs Drupal CMS on your machine and opens it in your default browser. The idea is a basic Drupal environment that just works: no fiddly setup process, no Docker, no external dependencies. Simply double-click the app to get started.

This product includes PHP software, freely available from http://www.php.net/software/.

Table of contents

• How to try it
• What this app is for
• How it works
• Where are the Drupal files and database?
• How to uninstall
• Sponsorship
• Contributing
• Limitations and alternatives

How to try it

Download the latest release for your operating system.

This app is under development and should not be considered stable. If you encounter buggy behavior, please report it!

What this app is for

This launcher is designed to help you test out and build a site with Drupal CMS. It's ideal for site builders, themers, and evaluators who want to explore Drupal CMS quickly.

It is not intended for contributing to or developing Drupal CMS itself. If your goal is to work on Drupal CMS core or the upstream project, you should use the Drupal CMS project on Drupal.org.

How it works

We use static-php-cli to compile a copy of PHP 8.3 that includes everything needed to run Drupal CMS. We bundle that with the Composer dependency manager, and use those two tools to install and serve Drupal CMS. The app itself is a very simple front-end to PHP and Composer, written in JavaScript using the Electron framework.

Where are the Drupal files and database?

The Drupal files and database are stored outside of the application, in the drupal directory under the user's Documents directory. The site uses a lightweight SQLite database, located at web/sites/default/files/.ht.sqlite.

To reset your Drupal CMS instance, close the application, delete the drupal directory from your Documents directory, and launch the application again. It will reinstall Drupal CMS from scratch.

How to uninstall

To completely uninstall the Drupal CMS Launcher and remove all associated files:

1. Delete the application:

   • On macOS: Move the app from your Applications directory to the Trash.
   • On Windows: Delete the application directory you extracted from the ZIP file.

2. Remove the Drupal files:

   • Navigate to your Documents directory.
   • Delete the drupal directory to remove the site files and SQLite database.

After these steps, the application and all its data will be fully removed from your system.

Sponsorship

This launcher is maintained by the Drupal Association and community contributors, but it depends on the amazing static-php-cli project, which is used to build the PHP interpreter bundled with the launcher. We heartily encourage you to sponsor that project's maintainer and/or become a Drupal Association member.

Contributing

Found a bug or want to suggest a feature? Open an issue or submit a pull request. All contributions welcome!

Prerequisites

• Node.js (the JavaScript runtime—not the Drupal module 😉) and Yarn 2 or later
• PHP 8.3 or later, globally installed
• Composer, globally installed

Clone this repository, then cd into it and run:

mkdir bin
ln -s -f $(which php) bin
cd bin
cp $(which composer) composer.phar
phar extract -f composer.phar ./composer
cd ..
yarn install
yarn run start

To test the full app bundle, run yarn run make and look for the final binary in the dist directory.

Limitations and alternatives

This launcher is meant to get Drupal CMS up and running with no fuss, but it can't replace a full-featured development environment. Specifically, this launcher:

• Does not support deploying to hosting services (yet).
• Only supports SQLite databases, since SQLite is compiled into the PHP interpreter and has no additional dependencies.
• Uses the web server built into the PHP interpreter, which is meant for testing and is not as powerful as Apache or nginx.
• Might not be able to send email, since it relies on whatever mail transfer program is (or isn't) on your system.
• Uses PHP 8.3—the minimum required by Drupal 11—for maximum compatibility and performance.

If these limitations don’t meet your needs, consider the following alternatives:

• DDEV is Drupal's Docker-based local development platform of choice and gives you everything you need. It even has a quick-start for Drupal CMS.
• Lando and Docksal are also widely used, Docker-based options.
• If you'd rather avoid Docker, Laravel Herd is a fine choice.
• MAMP is a long-standing favorite among web developers and is worth exploring.
• For Mac users, Laravel Valet is great if you're comfortable at the command line.