A new brain for WordPress
Run WordPress. Not Docker.
A complete runtime in one binary. 100MB. Zero dependencies.
2GB of RAM before you write a line of code.
You've tried them all. They all ask too much.
How Folio compares
| Folio | LocalWP | Studio | DevKinsta | MAMP | Valet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dependencies | None | Docker | None | Docker | None | Homebrew |
| Memory | 150MB | 2GB+ | 500MB | 2GB+ | 1GB | 350MB |
| Database | MariaDB | MySQL | SQLite | MariaDB | MySQL | MySQL |
| Built-in caching | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Multi-site | Built-in | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Install time | 30 sec | 10-15 min | 2 min | 10-15 min | 5 min | 15-30 min |
Three commands to WordPress
Install in 30 seconds. Start a server with an embedded database. Create a WordPress site. That's it. No configuration files, no containers, no separate database install.
Multi-site, WP-CLI, blueprints, and caching are all built in. Manage everything from the terminal.
# Install (30 seconds)
curl -fsSL https://foliolabs.dev/install.sh | sh
# Start Folio
folio
# Create a WordPress site
folio site
# Create more sites
folio site install --name=client1
folio site install --name=shop --gallery=woo-starter
# Manage with WP-CLI
folio site cli plugin list
folio site cli theme activate flavor
# Blueprints
folio site blueprint --gallery=developer-blogEverything in 100MB
PHP, MariaDB, HTTP server, WebSocket, SSE, caching, AI tools. One binary. Zero dependencies.
PHP 8.4
Full ZTS build with OPcache. 65+ extensions compiled in. No Homebrew, no apt-get, no phpenv.
HTTP Server
Multi-threaded, event-driven. No Apache, no nginx. WebSocket and SSE built in.
Embedded MariaDB
Production database, not SQLite. Every plugin works. Every query runs the same as production.
Built-in Caching
Object cache and full-page cache included. No Redis, no Memcached, no plugins to configure.
Multi-Site
Run dozens of WordPress sites simultaneously. Each with its own database, plugins, themes. One process.
AI-Native
Built-in MCP server. Connect your AI tools directly to WordPress — no plugins, no glue code.
Developer experience
WP-CLI Built In
Install plugins, manage themes, export content, run cron — no separate install needed.
Self-Updating
Checks for updates on launch. One command to upgrade. No package managers, no manual downloads.
65+ Extensions
Everything WordPress needs — plus redis, imagick, ssh2, protobuf, and enough to build the next Facebook.
Your laptop back
No fan noise. No battery drain. No 2GB background process you forgot was running. A full WordPress stack in less memory than a single Chrome tab.
150MB
total memory
Docker tools use 2GB+. That's 13x more RAM for the same WordPress site.
<1s
cold start
No container boot. No daemon startup. Run the command, site is ready.
200
req/s — uncached
Faster than most production hosts — on your Mac.
Coming soon
The runtime is just the beginning. Each capability launches as its own drop.
Folio AI
MCP server for Claude Code. Query the database, search docs, manage plugins — with WordPress-specific skills and agents.
Folio Local
Test on phones and tablets instantly. Your local site appears on every device via mDNS. No app, no configuration.
Folio Share
Share your local site with anyone. One command, public URL. Show clients work-in-progress without deploying.
Folio Sync
Pull your live site into local dev. Incremental transfers, automatic resume. Works on any PHP 7.4+ host.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from LocalWP or MAMP?
DevKinsta needs Docker Desktop — that's 2GB+ of RAM gone before you even open WordPress. LocalWP and MAMP juggle separate processes for the web server, database, and PHP. Folio stuffs all of that into one binary. 100MB. Starts in under a second. Your laptop fans will wonder what happened.
Does it use a real MySQL database?
The real deal. Folio embeds MariaDB — same engine most WordPress hosts run in production. Every plugin works, every query behaves identically. No "works on my machine" surprises because your machine is the production stack. Looking at you, SQLite.
Can I use it for production?
Could you? The engine does 30,000+ req/s — faster than most managed hosts. Should you? Not yet. It's a brand new runtime and we'd rather iron out the rough edges on your laptop than on your live sites. Let us earn that trust first.
This sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?
No catch — just stubbornness. Johan Janssens co-founded Joomla, spent twenty years in CMS land, and decided CMS developers deserved better tooling. So he wrote a custom C engine that embeds PHP, MariaDB, and an HTTP server into one binary. It took years, not months. It's real, it works, and it's free during beta. WordPress devs just get to try it first — don't tell the Joomla folks.
What platforms are supported?
macOS Apple Silicon for now — M1 through M4. Ships with PHP 8.4 and MariaDB compiled for ARM64. Linux and Intel Macs are next in line. Windows? We'd love to — someone send us a machine.
How much does Folio cost?
Free during beta. No credit card, no time limit, no feature gates. When beta ends, the runtime moves to a per-developer license. We'll never charge for what WordPress already does for free — the paid license covers the engine that makes it fast, the AI tools, and the cloud services built on top.
Will Folio be open source?
The runtime is closed source. The tools and plugins around it — WordPress CLI, Sync plugin, Claude Code skills, blueprints, documentation — are all open source on GitHub. We keep the core closed so we can sustain development long-term. We'll never sell your data. And if Foliolabs ever shuts down? Runtime goes open source. Pinky swear.
Get started in 30 seconds
curl -fsSL https://foliolabs.dev/install.sh | shFree during beta. macOS Apple Silicon.