DDevUI

A polished desktop app for managing DDEV local development environments — everything the ddev CLI does, behind a beautifully designed UI.

Built with Electron · React 19 · Tailwind v4 · shadcn/ui · Animate UI

Overview

DDevUI is a desktop app for DDEV: every project, its status, logs, database, add-ons and configuration in one place — no ddev subcommands or YAML editing required. Start and stop projects, control individual services, monitor CPU and memory, wire projects together, open a real shell into any container, import/export databases, manage snapshots, install add-ons, and create new projects from a wizard — all from a single window.

It talks to DDEV exclusively through ddev <cmd> --json-output — no parsing of human text, no hidden shell commands, just typed, allow-listed invocations spawned with arg arrays (never a shell). Project lists poll in the background, and long-running commands stream their output live.

Install

macOS — Homebrew (recommended)

brew install --cask shiv122/tap/ddevui

The app opens normally, with no Gatekeeper prompt — the cask clears the download quarantine flag on install. Update with brew upgrade --cask ddevui.

Direct download

Grab the installer for your platform from the latest release:

Platform	File
macOS (Apple Silicon)	ddevui-<version>-mac-arm64.dmg
macOS (Intel)	ddevui-<version>-mac-x64.dmg
Windows	ddevui-<version>-win-x64.exe
Linux	ddevui-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage · -linux-amd64.deb

Note

macOS direct download. The builds are ad-hoc signed but not notarized (no Apple Developer ID), so a browser download triggers Gatekeeper's "could not verify" prompt. Either use Homebrew above (no prompt), right-click the app → Open and confirm (once), or clear the quarantine flag:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/DDevUI.app

Requirements

DDevUI is a front-end for DDEV — you still need DDEV and a container runtime installed:

• DDEV v1.24+
• A Docker provider — Docker Desktop, OrbStack, Colima, or Rancher Desktop

The built-in Doctor page checks all of this and tells you exactly what's missing (and lets you point the app at a ddev/docker binary manually if it isn't on the default PATH).

Features

• Dashboard — every project with live status, filtering and animated stats; one-click start / stop / restart / rename / delete / open-in-browser / Mailpit, plus a Stop all for everything that's running.
• Project detail — environment overview (PHP, webserver, DB, Node, Mutagen, router), all URLs, and a live Xdebug toggle that reads the real runtime state, not just the config.
• Services — a card per running service (db, redis, phpMyAdmin, …) with its image, status and endpoints; start / stop / restart, open a shell, tail logs, set CPU & memory limits, and view the rendered Docker Compose plus any override files.
• Connections — a drag-and-drop map to let one project consume another's service (database, cache, …). Pick a provider service and DDevUI injects the host/port env vars and restarts the consumer; connected projects cluster into editable groups. Built on DDEV's shared network, so reachability needs no extra config.
• Resource monitoring — live per-project CPU and memory charts, plus per-service CPU/memory limits you can set from the UI.
• Database tools — connection credentials with copy buttons, open the database in an external client (TablePlus, Sequel Ace, DBeaver), dump import/export via native file dialogs, and snapshots (create / restore / delete).
• Interactive terminal — a real shell into any service via ddev ssh, powered by xterm.js and a PTY — not a one-shot command box.
• Logs — stream ddev logs per service with follow mode.
• Config — UI-driven settings (PHP version, database, webserver, performance mode, URLs, PHP extensions, hostnames) that run ddev config, plus a config viewer.
• Create-project wizard — pick a folder and project type; DDevUI suggests a framework-aware bundle of add-ons (e.g. Laravel → Redis, queue, Buggregator) you can toggle, with an optional database. It configures the DDEV project — it doesn't scaffold application code.
• Add-on registry — browse the full registry (ddev add-on list), filter official/community, sort by stars. Open an add-on to see exactly which projects already have it, then install it to one or many at once — or remove it.
• Advanced — custom Docker services & compose files, Dockerfile tweaks, custom commands, TLS certs, Traefik config and hooks, each with clear warnings.
• Sharing — expose a project publicly via ddev share (ngrok / cloudflared), entirely optional and never blocking.
• Activity — every ddev command the app runs, with live streamed output and cancel.
• Doctor — checks the ddev binary, Docker CLI + daemon and mkcert; starts your container runtime (Docker Desktop, OrbStack, Colima, Rancher) when it's down and flags when the DDEV CLI is behind the latest release; runs the deep ddev debug dockercheck; shows the full ddev version table, and lets you point at a ddev/docker binary manually.
• Editor — set your preferred editor and open a project's folder in it in one click.
• Menu bar — a tray with live project status and quick lifecycle controls, with an optional launch at login so it's always available.
• Light & dark themes — monochrome, metallic design that follows a toggle; the dock and menu-bar icons follow along too.

How DDevUI compares to other DDEV UIs

DDEV has a lively ecosystem of GUIs and IDE integrations — there is no single "official" desktop app today (the original ddev/ddev-ui is no longer maintained). Here's an honest map of the main options and where DDevUI fits.

Tool	Type	Platforms	Price	Best for
DDevUI (this)	Desktop app	macOS · Windows · Linux	Free, MIT	Multi-project workflows: per-service control, cross-project connections, resource monitoring, diagnostics
DDEV Manager	Desktop app (Rust)	macOS · Windows · Linux	Free, MIT	A polished cross-platform alternative with app scaffolding installers and in-app auto-update
ddevBar	Menu-bar app	macOS	Free	Lightweight one-click start/stop and quick links from the menu bar
DDEV-Apple-GUI	Native app (SwiftUI)	macOS	Free, MIT	A native-Mac feel; logs, snapshots and global commands
PhpStorm DDEV Integration	IDE plugin	macOS · Windows · Linux (in PhpStorm)	Paid IDE	Zero-config Xdebug and interpreters inside PhpStorm
VS Code DDEV Manager	IDE extension	macOS · Windows · Linux (in VS Code)	Free	Driving the current project from VS Code's sidebar and command palette

Where DDevUI is different. It's a standalone, cross-platform desktop app — not macOS-only and not tied to an IDE — that leans into infrastructure visibility and multi-project work:

• Services tab — inspect and control individual containers and read their rendered Compose, rather than treating a project as one opaque unit.
• Connections — wire one project to another's database/cache/etc. by injecting env vars over DDEV's shared network. We're not aware of another GUI that does this.
• Resource monitoring + per-service limits — live CPU/memory charts and limits from the UI.
• Doctor — guided environment diagnostics when something's off.

How it talks to DDEV

All data comes from ddev <cmd> --json-output, which emits NDJSON lines ({level, msg, time}) where structured results carry a raw field. The main process (src/main/ddev/runner.ts) parses this envelope; long-running commands stream through an operation manager (src/main/ddev/operations.ts) that broadcasts typed events to the renderer. The renderer never constructs CLI arguments — it sends typed OperationRequest objects (src/shared/types.ts) and main maps them to allow-listed invocations (spawned with arg arrays, never a shell).

Architecture

src/
  shared/        types + IPC channel names (single contract for all layers)
  main/
    ddev/
      binary.ts      locate ddev/docker (GUI apps don't inherit shell PATH)
      runner.ts      NDJSON envelope parser, DdevError
      client.ts      typed queries: list/describe/version/add-ons/snapshots
      operations.ts  streamed long-running ops, per-project locking, cancel
      terminals.ts   node-pty sessions (ddev ssh) for the interactive terminal
      doctor.ts      environment checks
    tray.ts       menu-bar presence with live status + controls
    ipc.ts        ipcMain handlers (queries, ops, dialogs, openExternal)
  preload/       contextBridge: window.ddev (typed)
  renderer/src/
    api/hooks.ts       TanStack Query hooks (list polls every 5s)
    store/             useSyncExternalStore-based op store + toasts
    lib/               router (state-based), query client, theme, ddev options
    components/app/    shell, status badges, op console/dock, dialogs
    pages/             dashboard, project (overview/services/db/config/…), create,
                       addons, connections, operations, doctor, settings

Development

pnpm install
pnpm dev          # from a VSCode terminal: env -u ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE pnpm dev
pnpm typecheck
pnpm build:mac    # or build:win / build:linux

Requires Node 20+ and pnpm. Releases are built and published automatically by GitHub Actions when a v* tag is pushed (see .github/workflows/release.yml).

License

MIT © Shivesh Tripathi