Harbor ⚓

A lightweight macOS local development tool that runs web projects without VMs or containers. It auto-sets local domains with trusted HTTPS certificates and can proxy services to custom URLs.

Harbor is inspired by Laravel Valet but built with modern TypeScript and designed to be framework-agnostic.

Features

• 🚀 Zero configuration - Just link your project and go
• 🔒 Trusted HTTPS - Automatic SSL certificates for all local domains
• 🌐 Custom domains - Use .test, .local, or any TLD you prefer
• 🔄 Proxy support - Forward domains to any local service (Node, Docker, etc.)
• 🐘 PHP switching - Easily switch between PHP versions
• ⚡ Lightweight - No VMs, no containers, just native macOS tools

Requirements

• macOS
• Homebrew
• Node.js 18+

Installation

brew tap nforst/tools
brew install nforst/tools/harbor
harbor install

The harbor install command sets up:

• Caddy (web server with automatic HTTPS)
• dnsmasq (local DNS resolver)
• PHP-FPM (optional, for PHP projects)

Commands

harbor install

Sets up Harbor and all required dependencies (Caddy, dnsmasq, PHP).

harbor install

harbor uninstall

Removes Harbor and cleans up all configurations.

harbor uninstall

harbor link [domain]

Links the current directory to a local domain. If a public/ subdirectory with an index.php exists, it will be used as the document root.

You can specify just the domain name (uses the default TLD) or include a custom TLD.

# Link current folder as myapp.test (uses folder name + default TLD)
cd ~/Projects/myapp
harbor link

# Link with a custom domain name (uses default TLD, e.g. myapp.test)
harbor link myapp

# Link with a custom TLD (uses .dev instead of default .test)
harbor link myapp.dev

harbor unlink [domain]

Removes a linked domain.

# Unlink current folder
harbor unlink

# Unlink a specific domain
harbor unlink myapp

harbor sites

Lists all linked sites and proxies.

harbor sites

harbor proxy <domain> <host>

Proxies a domain to a local service. Perfect for Node.js apps, Docker containers, or any other service.

# Proxy frontend.test to localhost:3000
harbor proxy frontend localhost:3000

# Proxy api.test to a Docker container
harbor proxy api localhost:8080

# Proxy with a custom TLD (uses .dev instead of default .test)
harbor proxy frontend.dev localhost:3000

harbor unproxy <domain>

Removes a proxy.

harbor unproxy frontend

harbor tld <tld>

Changes the default TLD for new domains. You can optionally migrate existing sites to the new TLD.

# Change default TLD to .dev
harbor tld dev

harbor php

Interactive PHP version switcher. Lists all installed PHP versions and lets you choose which one to use.

harbor php

To install additional PHP versions:

brew install [email protected]
brew install [email protected]
brew install [email protected]

How It Works

Harbor uses a combination of native macOS tools:

1. Caddy - A modern web server that automatically provisions and renews local SSL certificates
2. dnsmasq - Resolves all .test (or your chosen TLD) domains to 127.0.0.1
3. PHP-FPM - Handles PHP requests for your projects

All configuration is stored in ~/.config/harbor/.

Uninstallation

Before uninstalling via Homebrew, run:

harbor uninstall

Then remove the package:

brew uninstall nforst/tools/harbor
brew untap nforst/tools

License

ISC © Niklas Forst