Documentation

These pages explain how to use Benbow day to day: adding sites, choosing PHP versions, HTTPS, databases, WordPress and Laravel, imports, snapshots and what Benbow changes on your Mac. Everything you can do in the app you can also do from the benbow command line, and Benbow’s own commands take --json for scripts. Start with Getting started, or go straight to the CLI reference.

• Getting startedRequirements, trusting Benbow's local certificate, adding your first site and opening it over HTTPS.
• SitesAdd, organize and manage sites in Benbow: domains, aliases, groups, per-site php.ini, archive, duplicate, remove and logs.
• PHPPHP versions 5.6 to 8.5 in Benbow, support status, php.ini per version and per site, Xdebug, compatibility checks, Composer and wp-cli.
• HTTPS and domainsLocal domain suffixes, Benbow's name-constrained certificate authority, web ports, opening a site on your phone and removing trust.
• Databases and mailMySQL 8.4, PostgreSQL 18 and Redis 8 for your sites, a database per site with its own user, Adminer and a local mail inbox.
• Working with AI agentsLet Claude Code, Codex, Cursor or Gemini work on a site while Benbow saves its files and database, then keep or undo the changes.
• Snapshots and syncSave a site's files and database in seconds, restore them, and pull from production or push to staging over SSH, SFTP or FTP.
• Importing sitesBring your sites over from MAMP PRO, Local, Laravel Herd, Laravel Valet or XAMPP, and optionally move their databases into Benbow.
• WordPress and LaravelCreate WordPress and Laravel sites in one step, run wp-cli, Composer and Artisan, and start sites from blueprints.
• What Benbow touchesWhere Benbow keeps its files, what it changes outside that folder, how it verifies downloads and how to remove it completely.
• CLI referenceEvery command and flag, generated from Benbow's own help.