NKS WebDev Console

Local development environment for Windows, macOS, and Linux that manages Apache, PHP, MySQL/MariaDB, SSL, mail catching, Redis, Node, Cloudflare tunnels and DNS for .local / .test domains. An alternative to MAMP PRO, XAMPP, WampServer and Laragon.

Features

🖥️ Cross-platform - Windows (NSIS + portable), macOS (DMG + ZIP, Apple Silicon), Linux (AppImage)
🧩 Plugin daemon - Apache, PHP, MySQL, MariaDB, SSL (mkcert), Mailpit, Redis, Node, Caddy, Cloudflare and Hosts editor loaded as isolated .NET 9 plugin DLLs
🐘 Per-site PHP - each site can pin its own PHP version, INI overrides (memory, timeouts, upload limits, Xdebug, OPcache, extensions) and Apache Fcgid timeouts
🚚 MAMP PRO migration - importer reads MAMP PRO's SQLite database, recreates vhosts, copies SSL certs and migrates databases (verified on 17 sites + 66 databases)
🎛️ Three interfaces - Electron GUI, wdc CLI and REST API with Bearer-token auth
🤖 MCP server - 72 tools for Claude Code or any MCP client, shipped with the app: sites, databases, services, SSL, plugins, backups, Cloudflare tunnels, deployments. Every tool call is logged and shown in the GUI's MCP → Activity tab (24h timeline, top tools, p50/p95/p99 latency, CSV export). See src/daemon/NKS.WebDevConsole.Daemon/Mcp/README.md for the operator guide.
☁️ Cloudflare - tunnels, DNS records and routes via cloudflared
🔐 Elevated on Windows - one UAC prompt at launch, no per-operation prompts for hosts-file edits
📦 Self-contained daemon - .NET 9 published with --self-contained, no separate runtime install needed
🧪 Type checking - strict TypeScript on the frontend, nullable enable on the backend, 595+ xUnit tests

Requirements

Running the pre-built app

Windows 10 / 11 (x64), administrator rights for hosts-file editing
macOS 14+ (Apple Silicon, arm64)
Linux: any glibc 2.28+ distribution (Ubuntu 22.04+, Debian 12+, Fedora 38+)

Building from source

Tool	Version	Notes
.NET SDK	9.0+	macOS: `brew install dotnet@9`
Node.js	20 LTS+	Tested with 22 (CI) and 23.x
Python	3.11+	Optional, only for running the catalog-api locally
Git	any

Installation

Pre-built releases

Download the latest installer from GitHub Releases:

Windows: NKS.WebDev.Console-<version>-setup-x64.exe (NSIS) or *-portable-x64.exe
macOS: NKS.WebDev.Console-<version>-mac-arm64.dmg or *.zip
Linux: NKS.WebDev.Console-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage

From source

git clone https://github.com/nks-hub/webdev-console.git
cd webdev-console

# 1. Build the .NET solution (daemon + plugin SDK + tests)
dotnet build WebDevConsole.sln -c Release

# 2. Install frontend dependencies (~150 MB Electron binary on first run)
cd src/frontend
npm install

# 3. Build the platform installer
npm run dist          # Windows (NSIS + portable)
npm run dist:mac      # macOS (DMG + ZIP)
npm run dist:linux    # Linux (AppImage)

Output lands in src/frontend/release/.

Quick Start

Start the daemon + Electron in development:

# Terminal 1 — daemon
dotnet run --project src/daemon/NKS.WebDevConsole.Daemon

# Terminal 2 — Electron with hot-reload
cd src/frontend && npm run dev

On Windows, run.cmd from the repo root does both (supports --no-build, --daemon-only, --frontend-only).

Create your first site (with the app running, see CLI for installing wdc):

wdc sites create --domain my-app.local --docroot "$HOME/Sites/my-app.local" --php 8.3 --ssl
wdc services start apache

In PowerShell use --docroot "$HOME\Sites\my-app.local". A missing document root is created.

Open https://my-app.local/. The site is served from the document root with PHP 8.3 through Apache + mod_fcgid and a mkcert-signed SSL certificate.

Usage

CLI

Every installer includes wdc, a self-contained single-file binary (System.CommandLine) that sits in the app's resources/cli folder. It talks to the running daemon, so start the app first.

Windows installer: <install dir>\resources\cli\wdc.exe. The installer adds that folder to your user PATH (per-user install) or the system PATH (all-users install) and removes it on uninstall. Open a new terminal afterwards. The portable build does not touch PATH.
macOS: /Applications/NKS WebDev Console.app/Contents/Resources/cli/wdc. Not on PATH; the installer leaves your shell profile alone.
Linux (AppImage): resources/cli/wdc inside the image. Run ./NKS-WebDev-Console-*.AppImage --appimage-extract once, then use squashfs-root/resources/cli/wdc. Not on PATH.

On macOS and Linux link it yourself once, for example:

sudo ln -s "/Applications/NKS WebDev Console.app/Contents/Resources/cli/wdc" /usr/local/bin/wdc

The default Windows install dir is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\NKS WebDev Console (per-user) or C:\Program Files\NKS WebDev Console (all users). From a source checkout, dotnet run --project src/daemon/NKS.WebDevConsole.Cli -- <command> runs the same CLI.

wdc status                                    # daemon and service overview
wdc sites                                     # list all sites
wdc sites create --domain my-app.local \
                 --docroot "$HOME/Sites/my-app.local" --php 8.3 --ssl
wdc services start apache
wdc databases                                 # list databases
wdc binaries catalog                          # available PHP / Apache / MySQL versions
wdc doctor                                    # 13 health checks
wdc sites --json                              # machine-readable output for scripts

wdc --help lists every command. Output is a table in a terminal and tab-separated lines when piped.

REST API + auth

The daemon writes its listening port + fresh Bearer token at startup:

OS	Port file
Windows	`%TEMP%\nks-wdc-daemon.port`
macOS	`$TMPDIR/nks-wdc-daemon.port`
Linux	`/tmp/nks-wdc-daemon.port`

Format: line 1 = port (e.g. 5000), line 2 = base64 token. The token rotates on every restart.

PORT=$(sed -n 1p $TMPDIR/nks-wdc-daemon.port)
TOKEN=$(sed -n 2p $TMPDIR/nks-wdc-daemon.port)
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" http://localhost:$PORT/api/status
# → {"status":"running","version":"0.2.3","plugins":13,"uptime":215437}

OpenAPI spec is exposed at /openapi/v1.json.

MCP server (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor)

The installer ships the MCP server as resources/mcp-server/index.js. Open AI clients (MCP) in the app: the Connect an AI client card has the MCP switch, live status, a connection test and copy buttons with the exact path for your install. For Claude Code it is:

claude mcp add --scope user nks-wdc -- node "<WDC resources>/mcp-server/index.js"

Options go before the server name and -- separates the server command. This needs Node.js 18+ on PATH; without Node.js the card switches to running the server with the WDC binary itself (see services/mcp-server/README.md). Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json) and Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json) take the same mcpServers entry:

{ "mcpServers": { "nks-wdc": { "command": "node", "args": ["<WDC resources>/mcp-server/index.js"] } } }

From a source checkout, build the server and point the client at it:

cd services/mcp-server
npm install && npm run build      # or `npm run bundle` for the single-file build in dist-bundle/
claude mcp add --scope user nks-wdc -- node "$(pwd)/dist/index.js"

MCP must be enabled (the switch on the AI clients (MCP) page or in Settings → AI clients (MCP)); while it is off the daemon refuses every request made with the MCP token (mcp_disabled).

Module	Tools	Examples
sites	6	list, get, create, delete, get_metrics, get_access_log
services	3	list, start, stop
system	3	status, system_info, recent_activity
databases	6	list, create, drop, tables, query, execute
mysql users	7	list, create, set_password, grant, drop, root password
ssl	4	list_certs, install_ca, generate_cert, revoke_cert
php	2	list_versions, toggle_extension
binaries	5	list_catalog, list_installed, install, uninstall, refresh
plugins	5	list, marketplace, enable, disable, install
backup	3	create, list, restore
settings	2	get, update
cloudflare	9	tunnels, dns, routes, …
deploy	16	targets, releases, intents, deploy, rollback, groups, …
confirmation	1	request_confirmation

Destructive operations need the operator's approval in WDC: the agent calls wdc_request_confirmation, the user approves the banner (or a trust rule on the MCP → Rules tab approves it), then the agent repeats the operation with the returned intent token. With --readonly the server leaves out every mutating tool (33 tools remain).

MAMP PRO migration

wdc migrate mamp --port 3308              # dry-run
wdc migrate mamp --port 3308 --apply      # migrate

Reads %APPDATA%\Appsolute\MAMPPRO\userdb\mamp.db and rebuilds sites + databases in WDC.

Architecture

webdev-console/
├── src/
│   ├── daemon/                              # C# .NET 9
│   │   ├── NKS.WebDevConsole.Daemon         # ASP.NET Core REST service
│   │   ├── NKS.WebDevConsole.Core           # shared services + models
│   │   ├── NKS.WebDevConsole.Cli            # `wdc` CLI (System.CommandLine)
│   │   └── NKS.WebDevConsole.Plugin.SDK     # plugin contract
│   └── frontend/                            # Electron 34 + Vue 3 + Element Plus + Tailwind v4
├── services/
│   ├── catalog-api/                         # FastAPI sidecar (binary + version catalog)
│   └── mcp-server/                          # TypeScript stdio MCP server (72 tools, Phase 8 audit log)
├── tests/                                   # xUnit tests (Daemon + Core)
├── scripts/                                 # build helpers
└── .github/workflows/                       # CI matrix — Windows, macOS, Linux

Related repositories

NKS WebDev Console ships as four co-operating public repositories:

Repo	Purpose
`nks-hub/webdev-console`	This repo: daemon, CLI, Electron frontend, Plugin SDK
`nks-hub/webdev-console-plugins`	13 official plugins (Apache, PHP, MySQL, …)
`nks-hub/webdev-console-binaries`	Versioned runtime binaries (PHP, Apache, Nginx, Caddy, …)
`nks-hub/wdc-catalog-api`	FastAPI catalog + config-sync service

A single v* tag push to this repo triggers Build & Release (Win/macOS/Linux installers), Publish Plugin SDK (GitHub Packages NuGet), Defender Submission and Release Security Scan in parallel.

Development

Tests

dotnet test WebDevConsole.sln                  # 595+ tests (daemon + core)
cd services/catalog-api && pytest              # FastAPI sidecar tests
cd services/mcp-server && node e2e-test.mjs    # MCP smoke tests (27 assertions)

Cutting a release

git tag v0.2.3
git push --tags

GitHub Actions builds all three platforms and uploads to Releases. macOS code-signing uses CSC_LINK + CSC_KEY_PASSWORD secrets when present; notarization requires APPLE_ID, APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD, APPLE_TEAM_ID.

CI matrix

OS	Daemon RID	Output
`windows-2022`	`win-x64`	`-setup-x64.exe` (NSIS) + `-portable-x64.exe`
`macos-14`	`osx-arm64`	`-mac-arm64.dmg` + `-mac-arm64.zip`
`ubuntu-24.04`	`linux-x64`	`*.AppImage`

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! For major changes, please open an issue first. Keep dotnet test and the frontend build green; CI runs the matrix build for all three platforms.

Fork the repository
Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'feat: description')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

Support

📧 Email: dev@nks-hub.cz
🐛 Bug reports: GitHub Issues

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Made with ❤️ by NKS Hub

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NKS WebDev Console

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Running the pre-built app

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Pre-built releases

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Quick Start

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CLI

REST API + auth

MCP server (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor)

MAMP PRO migration

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Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github		.github
docs/plans		docs/plans
scripts		scripts
services		services
src		src
tests		tests
tools		tools
.gitignore		.gitignore
AGENTS.md		AGENTS.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
WebDevConsole.sln		WebDevConsole.sln
run.cmd		run.cmd
start-all.cmd		start-all.cmd
start-daemon.cmd		start-daemon.cmd
start-frontend.cmd		start-frontend.cmd
start.cmd		start.cmd

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NKS WebDev Console

Features

Requirements

Running the pre-built app

Building from source

Installation

Pre-built releases

From source

Quick Start

Usage

CLI

REST API + auth

MCP server (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor)

MAMP PRO migration

Architecture

Related repositories

Development

Tests

Cutting a release

CI matrix

Contributing

Support

License

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