Covo
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Pixel-art illustration: in a sea cave at sunset, a pirate captain with a parrot on his shoulder works at a laptop on a wooden desk. Lanterns light the rock. Three treasure chests sit on the dock, one per project, each with its framework and PHP version: website on WordPress and PHP 8.4, api on Laravel and 8.5, crm on plain PHP 7.4, a ship is moored inside the cove and another sails out to the open sea.

Free and open source · for you and your AI agent

A hideout for every PHP project.

Covo runs WordPress, Laravel, Symfony, Drupal or plain PHP on your Mac, each site on its own PHP from 5.6 to 8.5, all at once, with trusted HTTPS, MySQL or PostgreSQL, Redis and a mail catcher on board. Bring your AI agent too: Covo saves the site first, and you keep or undo whatever it did.

Download for Mac Star on GitHub
covo site add website --php 8.4 https://website.localhost:8443 · PHP 8.4 · trusted covo agent start website --tool claude files and database saved · keep or undo when it's done

If it runs on PHP, it docks here.

  • WordPress
  • Laravel
  • Symfony
  • Drupal
  • Craft CMS
  • Statamic
  • Kirby
  • Joomla
  • your own index.php

Point a site at any folder. Covo spots Laravel and serves its public folder, and requests that don't match a file go to index.php, the way front controllers expect.

How it works

From folder to HTTPS in three steps

  1. Drop a folder

    Drag the website folder into Covo, or run covo site add website. It becomes website.localhost.

  2. Pick a PHP version

    Say 8.4, or anything from 5.6 to 8.5. Covo downloads it once and checks it before it runs.

  3. Open it

    Open https://website.localhost:8443 and you're in: the certificate is already trusted, so no browser warnings.

AI agents

Let the agent work. Keep it or sink it.

Covo isn't an agent and never calls a model. It's the workbench for the one you already use: Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor or Copilot. Click Work with an Agent and Covo saves the site's files and database, opens your terminal with the agent already connected, and steps back. When it's done you see which files and tables changed, then keep it all or undo it all. Git guards your code. Covo guards the code and the database together.

  • Agents check their own work: they open pages and see that request's PHP errors, read caught mail and query the database read only
  • A checkpoint before risky moves like plugin updates, migrations or a search-replace
  • Read only by default. Deleting sites, databases or snapshots, pushing to servers and the final keep or undo stay with you.

PHP versions

From 5.6 to 8.5, all running at once.

The client site from 2014 wants 5.6. Next week's launch wants 8.5. Give each site the version it needs and run them side by side, one PHP-FPM process per version. Before you move an old site up, Covo reads its code and tells you what would break. Better to find the leak in the harbour than at sea.

  • Twelve versions, every build checked against its checksum before it runs
  • php.ini per version, then per site, so a heavy WooCommerce site gets 1G of memory and the one next to it doesn't
  • Xdebug per site, started on trigger, so it costs nothing until you need it
  • PHP 5.6 to 7.4 need Apple Silicon and macOS 15

HTTPS

Real HTTPS, on names that can't leak.

Sites open at https://name.localhost with no setup, on port 443 or a high port of your choice. Turn on .test, or .local to keep the addresses you had in MAMP. Covo's certificate authority can only sign those three, so a copy of it is worthless on the real internet. Need to check the layout on a phone? Scan a QR code and the site shows up on your local network, then closes itself when time's up.

  • Trusted by Safari, Chrome and Firefox
  • Up to 20 aliases per site
  • Phone sharing is opt-in, one site at a time, off after 30 minutes

Databases and mail

A database per site, every email caught.

MySQL 8.4 on port 3307 and PostgreSQL 18 on 5433, so neither fights what's already on your Mac. Redis 8 is one switch away. One click creates a site's database with its own user, the password goes into your keychain, and Adminer opens already logged in. Every email PHP sends lands in Mailpit instead of a real inbox. Messages in bottles stay in the cove.

  • PostgreSQL and Redis are off until you turn them on
  • Link databases you already have
  • MySQL needs Apple Silicon; PostgreSQL and Redis run on Intel too

Production and snapshots

Pull production down. Roll back any time.

covo pull brings a live site's database and uploads to your Mac and swaps the live address for the local one. It works over SSH, SFTP or plain FTP, for those hosts that never heard of a shell. Before a pull or a restore, Covo takes a snapshot of files and database. APFS clones make them nearly free, so keep plenty.

  • Push goes to staging only. Production is never on the plank.
  • Snapshots skip .git and node_modules, so a restore never rewinds your history
  • Passwords live in the keychain; SSH uses your keys and agent

06 Moving house

Bring your sites aboard

Covo imports from MAMP PRO, Local, Herd, Valet and XAMPP, and can move each database too, fix wp-config.php or .env and swap the addresses. The old tool is only read, and every migration has an undo.

07 Terminal

Every click is also a command

The app, the CLI and the MCP server drive the same local daemon, and every command takes --json with a stable schema. A Claude Code plugin teaches agents the Covo way of working.

08 Your Mac stays yours

Covo never breaks your Mac

No Homebrew, no Docker, and the core never runs as root. It all lives in one folder next to MAMP, Valet or Herd, and covo uninstall takes it away.

And the rest of the hold

Also on board

  • Laravel, first class

    covo laravel api creates the project, its database and .env in one go. Composer and Artisan run on the site's own PHP.

  • Groups

    Sort sites into folders, nested as deep as your client list goes, and switch a whole group on or off.

  • Logs per site

    Requests and PHP errors for each site, updating live.

  • WordPress blueprints

    Save your usual themes, plugins and settings once. Every new WordPress site starts from them, with each download pinned to its checksum.

  • Menu bar

    Open any site from the menu bar, or start and stop everything.

  • Your tools

    Open a site in Terminal, Finder or your editor from its menu.

  • Signed updates

    Covo checks PHP, Caddy, MySQL and Mailpit for releases, verifies the signature and swaps them in when you click. Rollback is one click too.

  • Archive and duplicate

    Put finished sites away without deleting anything, or copy one to try something risky on the side.

The app

One window. All your sites.

Sites on the left, the selected site on the right. The settings you touch once a year live under Advanced.

Versus

How Covo compares

Facts only, each taken from the project's own website or docs. "Unverified" means we couldn't find an official source. Spotted a mistake? Open an issue and we'll fix it.

CovoMAMP PROLocalHerdValetDDEVLandoFlyEnv
LicenseGPL-3.0-onlyProprietaryunverifiedProprietaryMITApache-2.0MITBSD-3-Clause
PriceFree€99 + VAT, updates yearlyFreeFree; Pro €99/yearFreeFreeFreeFree up to 3 sites; Pro $10 once
PlatformsmacOSmacOS, Windows (older version)macOS, Windows, LinuxmacOS, WindowsmacOSmacOS, Windows, LinuxmacOS, Windows, LinuxmacOS, Windows, Linux
Needs DockerNounverifiedNoNoNoYesYesNo
Native appYes, plus CLIYesYesYes, plus CLINo, CLINo, CLINo, CLIYes
PHP per siteYes, 5.6 to 8.5YesPer site; in parallel unverifiedYesPer site (valet isolate)YesYesYes
Local HTTPSYes, own CA trusted onceYes, certificates created automaticallyYes, trusted manually in KeychainYes (herd secure)Yes (valet secure)Yes (mkcert)Yes, own CAYes; how it is trusted unverified
Databases includedMySQL 8.4 (Apple Silicon), PostgreSQL 18, Redis 8MySQLunverifiedPro onlyNot includedMariaDB, MySQL, PostgreSQLMariaDB (plugin)MySQL, MariaDB
Mail catcherMailpitMailhogMailpitPro onlyunverifiedMailpitMailpit (plugin)Mailpit
MCP serverYes, read-only by default, with undoYesunverifiedYesunverifiedunverifiedunverifiedYes

Checked on 3 November 2026. Prices exclude taxes and may change. Report a mistake.

Sources

All hands

Join the crew

  • Star & watch

    Follow along on GitHub. Each star helps another developer find Covo.

    Star on GitHub

  • Download

    Grab the latest release, or watch the repo to hear when the first one ships.

    Download