Learn About Alternatives For Pantheon’s LocalDev

On June 30, 2023, Pantheon discontinued support for its built-in LocalDev feature. We are making this change because in the years since we introduced LocalDev, a number of more fully-featured options have become available to developers, allowing offline development and code editing. Have no fear: we’re here to help you with the transition.

There are a number of well-supported local development alternatives in the open-source community. Additionally, Pantheon has multiple videos to help our customers and the community transition to new tools and workflows. Make sure to follow us on Twitter for the latest updates and offerings! 

Alternatives To LocalDev: Lando And DDEV

While there are many local development tools available, Pantheon recommends checking out Lando and DDEV as replacements for LocalDev. Both are Docker-based, supported on a number of operating systems, and, importantly, have tooling compatible with servicing websites hosted on Pantheon.

Here are some quick tips before you start:

1. Configure your SSH keys and machine tokens:

2. Both Lando and DDEV use backups in order to service your site, so make sure you’ve got backups turned on before you start!

What Is Lando?

Lando is available on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows. It allows developers to quickly spin up the services and tooling needed to work on development projects. Developed by the team at Tandem, Lando helps developers assign dependencies on a per-project basis with config tooling that can live in a project’s git repository. 

Lando has “recipes” - a feature consisting of combinations of commonly used services and tooling to enable specific use cases. There is one specifically designed for sites hosted on the Pantheon Platform. A few other useful links:

1. Install Lando

2. Lando and Pantheon Integration

3. Pantheon’s Lando Development guides on WordPress

What Is DDEV?

DDEV is another local development tool available on Linux, MacOS, and Windows, as well as the Gitpod cloud development environment. Free and open source, DDEV also integrates seamlessly with Pantheon platform websites, allowing users to quickly download and launch their projects on their local machines with ease. It does this by leveraging backups from users’ existing Pantheon sites.

1. Install DDEV 

2. DDEV and Pantheon Integration 

Do you have a favorite local development tool between DDEV and Lando? Do you have another workflow that works for you? Tweet us at @GetPantheon or join the conversation in #local-development channel in the Pantheon Community Slack!