About ServBay

ServBay is an all-in-one local web development environment manager purpose-built for macOS. It dramatically simplifies the setup, configuration, and maintenance of development environments, enabling developers to launch projects in minutes and focus on coding instead of troubleshooting environments.

Core Overview

ServBay is designed to minimize the hassle of configuring different environments when switching between projects and technology stacks. Using its unified management interface, developers can easily deploy and manage a wide array of services, quickly building local environments tailored to project needs.

Key Features and Included Packages

ServBay comes bundled with a rich set of packages covering all major web development technology stacks, and is continually updated to support the latest technologies:

• Multiple Popular Programming Languages: Includes PHP, Python, Node.js, Go, Java, .NET, Ruby, Rust, etc. Supports multiple versions coexisting, with seamless switching between them.
• Powerful Relational Database Support: Offers MariaDB, MySQL, and PostgreSQL.
• Flexible NoSQL Databases and Caching Services: Includes Redis, MongoDB, and Memcached.
• Variety of Web Server Options: Supports Apache, NGINX, and Caddy for configuring and managing your websites.
• Essential Developer Tools: Integrated dnsmasq (DNS service) for streamlined local domain resolution; Mailpit mail server for local email testing; MinIO for local object storage; RabbitMQ for message queue development, and more.
• Local AI/LLM Environment: Integrates Ollama, allowing developers to quickly deploy and test AI and large language model applications locally.

Enhanced Local Development Features

ServBay offers a suite of powerful features to optimize your local development experience:

• Built-in PKI System and Local HTTPS: ServBay features a full-fledged PKI system. Developers can easily create and manage self-signed SSL certificates and have them trusted in the browser via ServBay User CA or ServBay Public CA. This makes it possible to simulate production-ready HTTPS connections in your local environment—even when developing with custom local domains and TLDs (such as .servbay), you can achieve full-site HTTPS access (e.g., https://api.servbay.demo) without browser security warnings. This is a huge boost to efficiency and provides a premium development experience. There’s no need to purchase domains or SSL certificates for local development. ServBay also supports managing SSL certificates via the ACME protocol.
• Comprehensive Precompiled Extensions: ServBay provides a wide selection of commonly used precompiled extension modules, sparing developers the tedious process of manual compilation. Examples include PHP’s XDebug (a powerful debugging tool), IMAP, imagick (image processing), GD, Phalcon, swoole (high-performance async framework), and PostgreSQL’s postgis (geospatial), pgrouting (routing), pgvector (vector search), pg_jieba, zhparser (Chinese natural language processing), and more—enable or disable these as your project demands.
• Cutting-Edge Protocol and Language Version Support: ServBay natively supports HTTP/2 and HTTP/3, as well as the latest language runtimes—for example, the latest PHP 8.5 and Node.js 23—ensuring you always develop with up-to-date technology.
• Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) Support: Convenient for front-end/back-end separation and debugging during local development.

Convenient Management & Team Collaboration

• Intuitive Graphical User Interface (GUI): ServBay comes with a powerful and friendly management UI. Through the GUI, developers can easily install, upgrade, start, stop, and switch between different software package versions (like PHP, Node.js, databases, etc.), configure websites, manage database users, and more.
• Modular and Speedy Environment Switching: Thanks to its modular design, developers can freely combine and switch different service versions like building blocks—quickly simulating complex development environments for specific needs, such as assigning separate PHP and database versions to different projects.
• Streamlined Team Collaboration: ServBay is an ideal tool for teams. It enables team members to standardize their development environments quickly, ensuring everyone works consistently and reducing environment-related issues, thereby enhancing collaboration and productivity.

Clean, Portable, and Easy to Manage

ServBay is designed to be clean and non-intrusive—it never alters your system’s original environment settings. All ServBay-related packages, configurations, website files, and database data are organized under the /Applications/ServBay directory. This centralized setup makes backup, migration, and uninstallation remarkably simple: just copy or delete this single directory.

• Data Backup & Restore: ServBay features robust backup and restore capabilities, supporting both manual and automated backups of website files, databases (including settings), SSL certificates, and other critical data—ensuring the safety and integrity of your development work.
• Database Password Reset: Easily reset root user passwords for databases, with built-in support for MySQL, MariaDB, and PostgreSQL—no more roadblocks from forgotten passwords.

With ServBay, say goodbye to complex environment configurations and devote your energy to creative coding.