dev-server — Configurable Host Binding

[artmuscode]

Problem

Problem

The marko up command starts PHP's built-in server bound to localhost, which only listens on the loopback interface (127.0.0.1). Inside a devcontainer, port forwarding connects to the container's network interface — not its loopback — so requests from the host machine never reach the PHP server.

Proposed Solution

Solution

Added a configurable host option to the dev-server package.

Default config (vendor/marko/dev-server/config/dev.php):

• Added 'host' => 'localhost' — safe default for local development.

DevUpCommand (vendor/marko/dev-server/src/Command/DevUpCommand.php):

• Reads host from --host CLI option or dev.host config key.
• Uses the configured host in the php -S command instead of the hardcoded localhost.

App-level override (config/dev.php):

• Sets 'host' => '0.0.0.0' so the server listens on all interfaces inside the container.

Usage

For local development (no container), the default localhost binding works as before. For devcontainer environments, override in your app's config/dev.php:

return [
    'host' => '0.0.0.0',
];

Or pass it as a CLI option:

marko up --host=0.0.0.0

Alternatives Considered

Unless, this is possible inside the framework already, I may have overlooked it.

Package

dev-server

[renanmedina]

@artmuscode I have a PR opened for this. Hopefully we will get it approved and merged 👍🏻

[markshust]

Thanks @artmuscode and @renanmedina, will review this shortly!

[artmuscode]

@renanmedina and @markshust , thanks!

[markshust]

A day or two after this PR was opened, I came across Portless. I haven't had a time to do a thorough review, but this looks pretty awesome? Would it make sense to create a portless package and/or integrate this into the dev-server package?

If integrated, would we still need the ability to override local ports? I'm guessing yes, but would love your feedback.

[artmuscode]

Portless looks promising. I’ll try to put some time aside tonight to run a test.

###Edit###
I setup portless, it works rather nice for creating the alias:

portless proxy start
marko dev:up --port=8000 -d
portless alias my-app 8000

entry point: https://my-app.localhost

I think it would be a great addition to the framework either through a package or integration.

My original issue would still remain. I've gotten into running a lot of dev environments inside dev containers through Phpstorm or VS Code ( plus using dev containers for GitHub codespaces).

Since VS Code dev containers uses 0.0.0.0 for the forward ports, not 127.0.0.1, I had to make the additional "host' config inside the DevUpCommand.php and add a "host" entry in the dev.config.