.localhost MAMP Dev Setup

A local development setup for PHP projects:

• macOS
• Apache (httpd)
• MySQL
• PHP-FPM (multiple versions)
• .localhost domains (no mkcert or dnsmasq required)

Important

This guide uses /Users/<USERNAME>/www as a custom local web root.
Replace <USERNAME> with your macOS username and create that directory.

1. Install and configure MySQL

Install and start MySQL:

brew install mysql
brew services start mysql

Run this to remove insecure defaults from a fresh local install:

mysql_secure_installation

Use these answers:

• Password validation plugin: no
• Set root password: yes (example: root for local dev)
• Remove anonymous users: yes
• Disallow remote root login: yes
• Remove test database: yes
• Reload privilege tables: yes

2. Install and configure Apache

Install and start Apache:

brew install httpd
brew services start httpd

Configure Apache:

vim /opt/homebrew/etc/httpd/httpd.conf

1. Find and uncomment the following lines (remove leading #):

LoadModule rewrite_module ...
LoadModule proxy_module ...
LoadModule proxy_fcgi_module ...

2. Find and edit these directives to match:

Listen 80
Include /Users/<USERNAME>/www/httpd-vhosts.conf

3. Add this directory access block:

<Directory "/Users/<USERNAME>/www">
  AllowOverride All
  Require all granted
  DirectoryIndex index.php index.html
</Directory>

Restart Apache:

brew services restart httpd

3. Install and configure PHP versions

Install multiple PHP versions as needed:

brew install php@8.3 php@8.4

Configure dedicated ports for each PHP-FPM pool:

• php@8.3 -> 127.0.0.1:9083
• php@8.4 -> 127.0.0.1:9084

vim /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.3/php-fpm.d/www.conf

listen = 127.0.0.1:9083
pm = ondemand
pm.max_children = 15

vim /opt/homebrew/etc/php/8.4/php-fpm.d/www.conf

listen = 127.0.0.1:9084
pm = ondemand
pm.max_children = 15

Start PHP-FPM services:

brew services start php@8.3 php@8.4

4. Configure a project

Create or edit your vhosts file:

vim ~/www/httpd-vhosts.conf

Add one vhost per project:

<VirtualHost *:80>
  ServerName example.localhost
  DocumentRoot "/Users/<USERNAME>/www/example"
  AddHandler proxy:fcgi://127.0.0.1:9083 .php
</VirtualHost>

Choose the AddHandler port per project PHP version:

• PHP 8.3: AddHandler proxy:fcgi://127.0.0.1:9083 .php
• PHP 8.4: AddHandler proxy:fcgi://127.0.0.1:9084 .php

Restart Apache:

brew services restart httpd

Open website:

http://example.localhost

Follow-up: wildcard domains for worktrees

If you use Git worktrees and want each worktree to run on its own .localhost subdomain, check out Apache Wildcard Domains for Worktrees.

To apply this setup with a coding agent, use the Bleech localhost-mamp-worktrees skill: https://github.com/bleech/skills/tree/main/localhost-mamp-worktrees