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Starting a Project

Once DDEV’s installed, setting up a new project should be quick:

  1. Clone or create the code for your project.
  2. cd into the project directory and run ddev config to initialize a DDEV project.
  3. Run ddev start to spin up the project.
  4. Run ddev launch to open your project in a browser.

DDEV automatically detects your project type and docroot. If it guessed wrong or there’s something else you want to change, update project options by editing .ddev/config.yaml and running ddev describe, or using the ddev config command.

What’s a project type?

A php project type is the most general, ready for whatever modern PHP or static HTML/JS project you might be working on. It’s as full-featured as other CMS-specific options, without any assumptions about your configuration or presets. (You can use this with a CMS or framework fine!)

If you need to configure your app to connect to the database, the hostname, username, password, and database name are each db.

While you’re getting your bearings, use ddev describe to get project details, and ddev help to investigate commands.

Next, you may want to run ddev composer install, import a database, or load user-managed files.

If you’re new to DDEV, check out Using the ddev Command for an overview of what’s available.