rexenv documentation

rexenv runs your whole local web stack natively on your Mac — edge proxy with real HTTPS, a shared web server, seven PHP versions, MySQL/MariaDB/PostgreSQL/Redis, one-click WordPress, .rex domains, mail catching and public tunnels — from one app.

No Docker, no VM, no /etc/hosts editing. Native static binaries, downloaded on demand and checksum-pinned.

The 60-second version

1. Install it — brew tap rexenv/tap, brew trust rexenv/tap, brew install --cask rexenv.
2. Open rexenv. It asks for your admin password twice and for Keychain access once: the first two write a DNS resolver and let the edge proxy bind ports 80 and 443, the third trusts a local certificate authority that signs only your own sites.
3. New site → WordPress → Create. rexenv provisions the docroot, a database, a certificate and a server block.
4. Open https://yoursite.rex. Real HTTPS, real green lock, no warning page.

Everything after that — switching PHP per site, swapping MySQL for MariaDB, reading mail, sharing a tunnel — is one click or one rex command.

What you should know before installing

• macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later, Intel or Apple Silicon. One universal build.
• First run needs an internet connection. rexenv downloads its components — PHP, Nginx, MySQL, Caddy and the rest — the first time you use them. Expect up to ~600MB across a full cold start. After that it works offline.
• PostgreSQL is the one exception to the macOS floor: its pinned builds currently require macOS 26.
• The build is ad-hoc signed and not yet notarized by Apple. Installing through Homebrew handles this for you; installing the .dmg by hand needs one right-click → Open the first time.
• Uninstalling has an in-app step first. rexenv installs privileged things that deleting the app cannot remove — a root daemon on port 443, resolver files, and CA trust in your login keychain. Settings → Remove system changes undoes all of it.

Where things live

Your sites, settings and downloaded components	~/Library/Application Support/dev.rexenv.rexenv/
DNS resolver for your dev TLD	/etc/resolver/rex
Local CA trust	your login keychain

Platform support

macOS is complete. Windows and Linux are deliberate stubs — the whole codebase sits behind platform traits so adding an OS means filling those in, not restructuring. There is no date.

Getting help

The project lives at github.com/rexenv. If rexenv will not open at all, that is almost always Gatekeeper rather than a bug — the right-click → Open step above fixes it once and permanently.