To follow along I recommend either a Linux machine or a virtual machine with fresh Ubuntu installed ( recommended). Virtualbox VM has the advantage that your work environment is isolated from the personal environment, and can be easily snapshotted and rolled back in case of any trouble. In this part of my series, we will install a minimum viable local environment for Laravel development. Here we install 2 versions of PHP binaries and we’ll learn how to switch between them. Most modern projects would be 8.0 or 8.1 versions of PHP so it’s OK to have them both installed. Next, we will install Node.js binaries and also will learn how to switch versions with nvm (node version manager). We will then launch common supporting services for Laravel applications — MySQL database and Redis database via Docker. Finally, we will install a clean version of PhpStorm. PHP 8.0 and PHP 8.1 binaries installation #!/usr/bin/env bash sudo apt update sudo apt -y install curl # Set up PHP 8.0 sudo apt update sudo apt -y install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ondrej/php sudo apt update sudo apt -y install --no-install-recommends php8.0 composer php8.0-xml \ php8.0-intl php8.0-curl php8.0-zip php8.0-sqlite3 php8.0-mysql \ php8.0-xdebug php8.0-mbstring php8.0-redis # Set up PHP 8.1 sudo apt update sudo apt -y install --no-install-recommends php8.1 composer php8.1-xml \ php8.1-intl php8.1-curl php8.1-zip php8.1-sqlite3 php8.1-mysql \ php8.1-xdebug php8.1-mbstring php8.1-redis # How to switch php versions sudo update-alternatives --config php # How to disable/enable xdebug sudo phpdismod xdebug sudo phpenmod xdebug Node.js: NVM and NPM install First, we need to install the package. Node version manager Check the current LTS version here https://nodejs.org/en/ #!/usr/bin/env bash # Installing Node 16: nvm i 16 node -v # v16.15.0 npm -v # 8.5.5 # Switching Node.js versions nvm i 18 # or (if already installed) nvm use 18 In the next part, we will install all required services including Docker, and start commonly used development services like MySQL and Redis databases. Docker Just follow the guides below until you can successfully run a hello-world container. https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/ https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/linux-postinstall/ MySQL database We will launch a docker instance of MySQL database. Visit for more info. https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql #!/usr/bin/env bash # first run docker run -d --name mysql -p 3306:3306 -e MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret \ -e MYSQL_DATABASE=laravel -e MYSQL_USER=laravel -e MYSQL_PASSWORD=secret \ -v ~/mysql-data:/var/lib/mysql mysql:8 # stop service docker stop mysql # start service docker start mysql When using the trait in testing and a command, you would need to install MySQL tools so Laravel can run them locally. DatabaseMigrations schema:dump sudo apt install mysql-client-core-8.0 Redis database Visit for information on the Redis container. https://hub.docker.com/_/redis #!/usr/bin/env bash # first run redis with persistence docker run -p 6379:6379 --name redis -d redis --save 60 1 --loglevel warning # stop service docker stop redis # start service docker start redis Below are my recommended apps for managing DBs in Ubuntu. Both tools have SSH tunneling for Production networks behind firewalls. MySQL Workbench Visit to download your version or snap: https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/workbench/ sudo snap install mysql-workbench-community sudo snap connect mysql-workbench-community:password-manager-service :password-manager-service Redis Desktop Manager Visit for more info. https://resp.app/ sudo snap install redis-desktop-manager PhpStorm Finally, we finish by installing a fresh copy of PhpStorm. sudo snap install phpstorm — classic or https://www.jetbrains.com/help/phpstorm/installation-guide.html#snap In the next chapter, we are going to review the list of recommended plugins for PhpStorm that boost your Laravel and overall productivity. Also Published here