Getting Started with Burrow

Welcome to Burrow, a blazing fast, native local development environment designed specifically for Windows. Burrow provides everything you need to build local PHP and Node.js applications with zero configuration.

Why Burrow?

Burrow is a Windows-first alternative to virtualization tools like Docker or WSL-based environments. It executes native Windows binaries (nginx.exe, php-cgi.exe, mysqld.exe) directly on your machine, eliminating virtualization overhead. This approach guarantees:

• Blazing Fast Speeds: Lightning-fast request handling and instantaneous page reloads without filesystem latency.
• Zero-Config Sites: Simply park a directory, and Burrow automatically routes all *.local (or custom TLD) requests to the corresponding folder.
• Seamless Shell Integration: Instantly access php, node, npm, npx, composer, and the burrow CLI directly from your terminal.

Key Environment Services

Burrow includes a fully integrated development stack out of the box:

• Nginx: A highly optimized web server serving local virtual hosts.
• PHP: Pre-compiled Windows binaries with support for multiple simultaneous versions (5.6 through 8.5). The full version range is available to download; PHP 8.5 is installed by default.
• Node.js: Multiple Node versions to handle your frontend asset compilation.
• MariaDB: Integrated relational database.
• phpMyAdmin / Adminer: Web interfaces to manage databases.
• mkcert: One-click local SSL certificate generation.