Rook

A cross-platform, open-source local development environment manager.

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Rook is a community alternative to Laravel Herd — a native desktop app that manages local vhosts, SSL certificates, PHP runtimes, database services, and more. Built with Go + Wails + Caddy, it runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Features

• Automatic SSL — Local HTTPS via mkcert, zero configuration
• PHP Management — Multiple PHP versions with per-site FPM pools
• Database Services — MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Redis managed from the GUI
• Node.js Support — Per-site Node version selection
• Plugin Architecture — Extensible to any language stack via a plugin API
• Cross-Platform — Native desktop app for macOS, Linux, and Windows
• System Tray — Runs quietly in the background, always accessible

Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23+
• Node.js (LTS)
• Wails CLI

Linux (Debian/Ubuntu):

sudo apt-get install libgtk-3-dev libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev

Linux (Fedora 43+):

sudo dnf install gtk3-devel webkit2gtk4.1-devel

Development

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/andybarilla/rook.git
cd rook

# Install frontend dependencies
cd frontend && npm install && cd ..

# Run in dev mode (hot reload)
wails dev -tags webkit2_41    # Fedora 43+ (webkit2gtk 4.1)
wails dev                      # other Linux / macOS / Windows

# Build for production
wails build -tags webkit2_41  # Fedora 43+
wails build                    # other platforms

Running Tests

# Go tests
go test ./...

# Frontend tests
cd frontend && npm test

Architecture

rook/
├── internal/
│   ├── core/          # App lifecycle and wiring
│   ├── caddy/         # Embedded Caddy server management
│   ├── registry/      # Site registry (sites.json)
│   ├── plugin/        # Plugin host and interfaces
│   ├── ssl/           # mkcert SSL plugin
│   ├── php/           # PHP-FPM plugin
│   ├── databases/     # MySQL, PostgreSQL, Redis plugin
│   ├── node/          # Node.js plugin
│   ├── discovery/     # Plugin discovery and loading
│   ├── external/      # External plugin support
│   └── config/        # Configuration management
├── frontend/          # Svelte + Tailwind + DaisyUI
└── build/             # Build assets and packaging

Core layers:

1. Plugin Host — discovers, loads, and manages plugin lifecycle
2. Caddy Manager — embeds Caddy as a Go library; manages vhosts and TLS
3. Site Registry — persists local sites to ~/.config/rook/sites.json
4. Wails GUI — native webview with Svelte frontend

See docs/plans/2026-03-03-rook-core-design.md for the full architecture document.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Commit your changes
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/my-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Check the roadmap for planned features and current status.

License

MIT — Andy Barilla