Using the `ddev` Command ¶

Type ddev or ddev -h in a terminal window to see the available DDEV commands . There are commands to configure a project, start, stop, describe, etc. Each command also has help using ddev help <command> or ddev command -h . For example, ddev help snapshot will show help and examples for the snapshot command.

ddev config configures a project’s type and docroot, either interactively or with flags.
ddev start starts up a project.
ddev launch opens a web browser showing the project.
ddev list shows current projects and their state.
ddev describe gives all the info about the current project.
ddev ssh takes you into the web container.
ddev exec <command> executes a command inside the web container.
ddev stop stops a project and removes its memory usage (but does not throw away any data).
ddev poweroff stops all resources that DDEV is using and stops the Mutagen daemon if it’s running.
ddev delete destroys the database and DDEV’s knowledge of the project without touching your code.
ddev add-on adds an add-on service.

Lots of Other Commands ¶

ddev mysql gives direct access to the MySQL client and ddev psql to the PostgreSQL psql client.
ddev sequelace , ddev tableplus , and ddev querious (macOS only, if the app is installed) give access to the Sequel Ace, TablePlus or Querious database browser GUIs.
ddev heidisql (Windows/WSL2 only, if installed) gives access to the HeidiSQL database browser GUI.
ddev import-db and ddev export-db import or export SQL or compressed SQL files.
ddev composer runs Composer inside the container. For example, ddev composer install will do a full composer install for you without even needing Composer on your computer. See developer tools .
ddev snapshot makes a very fast snapshot of your database that can be easily and quickly restored with ddev snapshot restore .
ddev share requires ngrok and at least a free account on ngrok.com so you can let someone in the next office or on the other side of the planet see your project and what you’re working on. ddev share -h gives more info about how to set up ngrok.
ddev xdebug enables Xdebug, ddev xdebug off disables it, and ddev xdebug status shows status. You can toggle Xdebug on and off easily using ddev xdebug toggle .
ddev xhprof enables xhprof, ddev xhprof off disables it, and ddev xhprof status shows status.
ddev drush (Drupal and Backdrop only) gives direct access to the drush CLI.
ddev artisan (Laravel only) gives direct access to the Laravel artisan CLI.
ddev magento (Magento2 only) gives access to the magento CLI.
ddev craft (Craft CMS only) gives access to the craft CLI.
ddev yarn and ddev npm give direct access to the yarn and npm CLIs.
ddev cake (CakePHP only) gives direct access to the CakePHP cake CLI.

Node.js, npm, nvm, and Yarn ¶

node , nodejs , npm , nvm and yarn are preinstalled in the web container. You can configure the default value of the installed Node.js version with the nodejs_version option in .ddev/config.yaml or with ddev config --nodejs_version . You can also override that with any value using the built-in nvm in the web container or with ddev nvm , for example ddev nvm install 6 . There is also a ddev yarn command. (Note that since nodejs_version configuration can now specify any node version, including patch versions, it’s preferred to using the less robust ddev nvm way of specifying the node version.)

More Bundled Tools ¶

In addition to the commands listed above, there are lots of tools included inside the containers:

ddev describe tells how to access Mailpit , which captures email in your development environment.
Composer, Git, Node.js, npm, nvm, symfony, and dozens of other tools are installed in the web container, and you can access them via ddev ssh or ddev exec .
ddev logs gets you web server logs; ddev logs -s db gets database server logs.
sqlite3 and the mysql and psql clients are inside the web container (and mysql or psql client is also in the db container).

Exporting a Database ¶

You can export a database with ddev export-db , which outputs to stdout or with options to a file:

ddev export-db --file=/tmp/db.sql.gz
ddev export-db --gzip=false --file=/tmp/db.sql
ddev export-db >/tmp/db.sql.gz

`ddev import-files` ¶

To import static file assets for a project, such as uploaded images and documents, use the command ddev import-files . This command will prompt you to specify the location of your import asset, then import the assets into the project’s upload directory. To define a custom upload directory, set the upload_dirs config option. If no custom upload directory is defined, the default will be used:

For Backdrop projects, this is files .
For Drupal projects, this is sites/default/files .
For Magento 1 projects, this is the media directory.
For Magento 2 projects, this is the pub/media directory.
For Shopware projects, this is the media directory.
For TYPO3 projects, this is the fileadmin directory.
For WordPress projects, this is the wp-content/uploads directory.

Other project types need a custom configuration to be able to use this command.

$ ddev import-files
Provide the path to the source directory or archive you wish to import.
Please note: if the destination directory exists, it will be emptied and replaced with the
import assets specified here.
Path to file(s): ~/workspace/d10/.tarballs/files.tgz
You provided an archive. Do you want to extract from a specific path in your
archive? You may leave this blank if you wish to use the full archive contents.
Archive extraction path:
Successfully imported files for d10

ddev import-files supports the following file types: .tar , .tar.gz , .tar.xz , .tar.bz2 , .tgz , or .zip .

It can also import a directory containing static assets.

If using a Tar or ZIP archive, the archive should contain only the files inside the files directory . For example in a Drupal site with files at sites/default/files , the archive should only contain the contents of the files directory; it should not contain a single files directory. To do this with the tar command, cd into the directory and create the archive there. An example Tar file creation is:

cd web/sites/default/files
tar -czf ~/Downloads/files.tgz .


        
         
          If you want to use
          
           import-files
          
          without answering prompts, use the
          
           --source
          
          or
          
           -s
          
          flag to provide the path to the import asset. If you’re importing an archive, and wish to specify the path within the archive to extract, you can use the
          
           --extract-path
          
          flag in conjunction with the
          
           --source
          
          flag. Example:
         
         
          
           ddev import-files --source=/tmp/files.tgz
          
         
         
          When multiple
          
           upload_dirs
          
          are defined and you want to import to another upload dir than the first one, use the
          
           --target
          
          or
          
           -t
          
          flag to provide the path to the desired upload dir:
         
         
          
           ddev import-files --target=../private --source=/tmp/files.tgz
          
         
         
          See
          
           ddev help import-files
          
          for more examples.
         
        
        
         
          Snapshotting and Restoring a Database
         
         
          ¶
         
        
        
         The project database is stored in a Docker volume, but can be snapshotted (and later restored) with the
         
          
           ddev snapshot
          
         
         command. A snapshot is automatically taken when you run
         
          
           ddev stop --remove-data
          
         
         . For example:
        
        
         ddev snapshot
Creating database snapshot d9_20220107124831-mariadb_10.3.gz

Using the ddev Command ¶