Lesson Summary: Installing Laravel Herd

In this lesson, we walk through the process of installing Laravel Herd, a local development environment tailored for Laravel projects. Laravel Herd provides a full LAMP stack setup out of the box, simplifying the development process.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction to Laravel Herd:
   • Laravel Herd is a local development service primarily for Laravel.
   • Includes tools like npm installed by default.
   • Offers a full LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) stack setup.
2. Downloading Laravel Herd:
   • Visit herd.laravel.com to download.
   • Choose the appropriate version for your operating system:
     • Download for macOS if you're on Mac.
     • Download for Windows if you're on Windows.
   • In the example, the instructor is using macOS and downloads the Herd.dmg file.
3. Installing Laravel Herd on macOS:
   • Open the downloaded Herd.dmg file.
   • Drag the Herd application into the Applications folder.
   • Locate Herd in the Applications folder and open it.
   • Once opened, Herd runs in the top menu bar.
4. Using Laravel Herd for Local Development:
   • Place your Laravel project in the Herd directory.
   • Access your project via the browser using the project's name (e.g., myproject.test).
   • The site loads instantly, simplifying the development process.
5. Built-in Services and Features:
   • Includes built-in services like MySQL and Postgres databases.
   • Offers tools for mail handling, possibly including Mailtrap.
   • Provides Xdebug support for PHP debugging.
   • Comes with many useful tools right out of the box.
6. Pro Version Information:
   • Laravel Herd offers a Pro version with additional features.
   • For basic needs and instant setup, the free version suffices.
   • No need to pay for the Pro version for standard development tasks.

Conclusion:

By following these steps, you've successfully installed Laravel Herd on your machine. Laravel Herd simplifies the process of setting up a local development environment for Laravel projects, providing essential tools and services out of the box. This allows you to focus on development without worrying about configuring your environment.