LocalHost – Local by Flywheel (preferred)

Recorded: March 24, 2018

My preferred localhost is Local by Flywheel. It’s the one I use for all of my WordPress work. In this episode, we’ll talk about why I prefer it. Then we’ll install and set it up. I’ll show you how you can quickly enable SSL and switch environments (like change the PHP version) in seconds.

Why? Why not WAMP or VVV? Here are the main reasons why I use Local:

• Sites are isolated into separate Docker containers. That means I can switch environments on one site without affecting any of my other projects.
• In a couple of keystrokes, I can switch the entire environment from Apache to Nginx, MySQL versions, and/or the PHP version.
• Click a button and now you have SSL on your project.
• Each site has WP-CLI already installed and ready to rock and roll.

Crazy fast. Super duper easy. Let’s me focus my time on writing code and solving problems instead of monkeying around with the web server. The ability to quickly switch between environments, i.e. the technical stack, saves me tons of time each and every day. That’s invaluable to me.

When developing, you need to switch environments to make sure your code works on different PHP versions, for example. With other localhost apps, that’s a pain in the backside. With Local, it’s incredibly easy and fast, saving me tons of time.

I run Local on all of my machines, Mac and Windows. I have the exact same setup across all of those machines. That’s invaluable to me when I’m building and testing, as I need to make sure my stuff works on different machines. Not everyone has a Mac. If you want contributors or you’re working on a team, you need a tool that fits into any environment. That’s Local.