Install with DDEV¶

In this tutorial, we'll walk through how to set up this space using DDEV, a tool that makes it possible start building a real site.

If you just want to try out Drupal CMS, and are not worried about losing any of the work you do, go to Try out Drupal CMS and come back when you're ready to start customizing your site.

How to install Drupal CMS using DDEV¶

Step #1: Install DDEV¶

DDEV is a tool we use to create a sandbox space on our computer for building websites. Since Drupal CMS is a web-based tool, DDEV will provide everything your computer needs to run Drupal CMS.

The steps for installing DDEV depend on your computer's operating system. Follow the instructions in the DDEV documentation to install it.

Note: We recommend using WSL2 for your Windows DDEV development environment. Commands throughout this documentation will assume that you are.

Confirm that it is installed on your machine by running the command ddev --version in the Terminal.

Step #2: Download Drupal CMS¶

Drupal CMS can be downloaded using Composer, which is included with DDEV.

Open a Terminal window and navigate with cd to where you would like Drupal CMS to be downloaded. Then run the following commands (change my-drupal-site to the directory name you prefer):

mkdir my-drupal-site && cd my-drupal-site
ddev config --project-type=drupal11 --docroot=web
ddev start
ddev composer create-project drupal/cms

This will take care of downloading any necessary files and setting up the Drupal CMS environment.

Step #3: Install Drupal CMS in DDEV¶

To launch the Drupal CMS setup assistant run the following command from within the directory created in the previous step:

ddev launch

This will open the Drupal CMS installer in your browser.

You can find the URL of your local Drupal CMS site at any time by running the command ddev status from the root directory of your project.

You've now installed Drupal locally on your computer. Yay!

Step #4: Start / Stop¶

When you're done using your local Drupal CMS installation, run the command ddev stop to shut it down. DDEV will keep the application, and you can pick up where you left off.

Start DDEV and your Drupal CMS project again by using the command ddev launch.

Additional resources¶

Moving Around the Command Line (Drupalize.Me)