Installation · التوثيق

Download LaraMonster for your computer from the LaraMonster page or the releases page. It's one app, and it's free.

A warning the first time you open it is expected. LaraMonster isn't signed by Apple yet, and Windows doesn't know the plain .exe yet, so both ask you to confirm once. After that it opens normally and updates itself without asking again.

Requirements

System	Supported
macOS	macOS 11 Big Sur or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel (one universal app)
Windows	Windows 10 and 11, 64-bit (WebView2 is already part of Windows)
Linux	x86-64 with a desktop (GTK); the command line works without one

You don't need PHP, Composer, Node.js or a database installed first. LaraMonster downloads what you pick, and uses PHP you already have if it finds it.

Install

macOS

Download and unzip
Download LaraMonster-macos-universal.zip and double-click it.
Move it to Applications
Drag LaraMonster into your Applications folder and open it from there: it can only update itself from Applications. Opened from Downloads, it offers to move itself (Move to Applications).
Open it once
macOS says “Apple could not verify ‘LaraMonster’ is free of malware…”. Click Done, not Move to Trash.
Allow it
Open System SettingsPrivacy & Security, scroll down to Security, and next to “LaraMonster was blocked to protect your Mac” click Open Anyway.
Confirm
Click Open Anyway once more and enter your Mac password. LaraMonster opens.

Comfortable with the Terminal? This does steps 3 to 5 in one go:

$ xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/LaraMonster.app

The Open Anyway button only shows for about an hour after step 3; if you don't see it, open LaraMonster again first. Right-click → Open no longer does this on macOS 15 and newer.

Windows

Microsoft Store (recommended)

Get LaraMonster from the Microsoft Store. There's no warning, and the Store keeps it updated.

Or the .exe

Download
Download LaraMonster-windows-amd64.exe. If your browser says the file isn't commonly downloaded, choose Keep.
Give it a folder
Move it into a folder of its own, for example Documents\LaraMonster, so it can update itself.
Run it
Double-click it. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click More info, then Run anyway.

Linux

Download LaraMonster-linux-amd64.tar.gz, then:

$ tar xzf LaraMonster-linux-amd64.tar.gz
$ ./LaraMonster/install.sh

LaraMonster is then in your app menu, and laramonster works in new terminals. Nothing needs sudo: it installs into ~/.local/bin.

The desktop app needs GTK 3 and WebKitGTK 4.1 (webkit2gtk-4.1), which most desktops already have. On a server or in WSL, use the laramonster command and the browser dashboard instead.

After installing

The first time LaraMonster opens it runs a short setup: it checks the web server's ports, asks where your projects live, installs PHP and trusts local HTTPS. Read First-run setup for each step.

Updates

When you open LaraMonster it checks for a new version, downloads and installs it by itself, and asks you to Restart when it's ready. Your sites pause for a few seconds during the restart.

Prefer to decide yourself? Turn off SettingsAboutUpdate automatically. LaraMonster then only tells you a new version is out, with an Update now button. Copies from the Microsoft Store are updated by the Store.

Uninstall

Stop it and undo system changes
These remove the certificate from your trust stores, the .test DNS setup and the login item. Each is safe to run even if you never turned it on.
```
$ laramonster untrust
$ laramonster dns remove
$ laramonster autostart off
$ laramonster stop
```
Remove the app
macOS: drag LaraMonster from Applications to the Bin. Windows: uninstall it from Settings (Store) or delete its folder. Linux: delete ~/.local/bin/laramonster* and its menu entry in ~/.local/share/applications.
Remove its data (optional)
Delete the LaraMonster home folder (see where its files live). This deletes the databases it ran too, so export anything you want to keep first. Your projects are never inside it.