How to Download Laragon For Windows and macOS
How to Set Up a Laravel Development Environment
Setting up a Laravel development environment is the first step for any developer looking to work efficiently with Laravel. This guide will walk you through the process for both Windows and macOS.
Windows: Installing Laragon v6
Laravel developers on Windows can use Laragon, a powerful local development environment. While the latest version (v8) requires payment, Laragon v6 is free and sufficient for Laravel development
Steps to Install Laragon v6
Download Laragon v6
Visit a Leokhoa Github to download Laragon v6 (as the official website now offers only v8).
Scroll down until you find assets and click on laragon-wamp.exe.
Install Laragon
Run the downloaded installer and follow the setup instructions.
Choose a lightweight setup for better performance.
Ensure you download Composer, Git, VS Code and NodeJS
Configure Laragon for Laravel
Open Laragon and click on ‘Start All’ button
Click on ‘Terminal’ and run this command:
composer create-project laravel/laravel project-name
MacOS: Using Laravel Herd or Laravel Valet
Mac users have two great options: Laravel Herd and Laravel Valet.
Option 1: Laravel Herd
(Recommended for Beginners)
Laravel Herd is a new, simplified tool for Laravel development on macOS.
2.
Install Laravel Herd
Drag and drop the app into your Applications folder.
Open Herd and configure PHP versions if needed.
3.
Create a Laravel Project
Open the Terminal and run:
composer create-project laravel/laravel project-name
Herd will automatically detect your Laravel project.
Option 2: Laravel Valet
(For Advanced Users)
Laravel Valet is a command-line tool that makes it easy to develop Laravel projects locally with minimal overhead.
1. Install Homebrew (if not installed)
/bin/bash -c “$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)”
2. Install Laravel Valet
composer global require laravel/valetÂ
valet install
3. Set Up a Laravel Project
cd ~/Sites # Navigate to your development folder
valet park  # Link all projects inside this folder
valet link project-name # Link a specific project