[Feature Request]: Use .herd.yml PHP version as default

[QuitScope]

Feature Description

When using herd init on macOS with a .herd.yml file, Herd installs the specified PHP version correctly — for example, PHP 8.3 or PHP 8.4. However, it does not set the installed version as the global PHP version.

This means I need to manually change the PHP version after each installation, which breaks the otherwise smooth workflow Herd provides.

It would be helpful if Herd provided an option to automatically set the most recently installed PHP version as the global default — or at least prompt the user to do so.

Is this feature valuable for other users as well and why?

Yes, especially for developers who frequently switch between PHP versions or automate setup workflows across projects or teams.

Having Herd automatically set the default version — or offering a flag like --set-global — would make PHP environment management more seamless and reduce manual steps.

This could be even more useful in environments where .herd.yml files are shared or generated across machines (e.g., onboarding scripts, CI setups, or dotfiles).

[sschlein]

Hey, if herd init would change your globsal php versio, this would break many setups because the YAML file is for a specific project and that could be completely different to all your other projects.

[QuitScope]

Thanks for the quick response — you're absolutely right that automatically changing the global PHP version could cause issues in setups with multiple projects.

However, in our company’s case, we currently have only one main PHP project, and we regularly update it (e.g. to newer PHP versions). We use Herd and a shared .herd.yml config to help simplify onboarding and local setup, especially for frontend developers who don't work much with PHP directly.

For these users, it's inconvenient to manually run herd use every time we update the PHP version in the config. That’s why we were thinking of an optional setting, maybe in the YAML file or as a CLI flag, that allows Herd to automatically switch the global PHP version if desired.

It wouldn’t need to be the default behavior — but having this as a configurable option would really improve the developer experience in single-project or simpler setups like ours.

[moessimple]

Hi,

We want to ensure that everyone on our team works with the same environment, so we also rely on herd.yml to keep the PHP version consistent across all team members.

I’ve noticed an issue with how herd init applies PHP versions to multiple aliases defined in herd.yml

Given the following herd.yml:

name: demo-herd  
php: '8.4'  
secured: false  
aliases:  
    - demo-herd  
    - demo2-herd  
    - demo3-herd  
services: { }  
integrations:  
    forge: { } 

After running herd init, all three domains (demo-herd, demo2-herd, and demo3-herd) correctly use PHP 8.4.

However, if I later update the PHP version to 8.3 in herd.yml:

name: demo-herd  
php: '8.3'  
secured: false  
aliases:  
    - demo-herd  
    - demo2-herd  
    - demo3-herd  
services: { }  
integrations:  
    forge: { } 

and then run herd init again, only demo-herd switches to PHP 8.3, while the other aliases (demo2-herd and demo3-herd) remain on 8.4.

My expectation was that all defined aliases would adopt the newly specified PHP version (8.3 in this case). Is this the intended behavior, or could this be a potential issue?

As a workaround, we currently unlink all domains before running herd init again. This ensures that all domains use the PHP version specified in herd.yml.