Malt

JSON-driven Homebrew Dev Services

Define your development environment in a single JSON file. Malt installs and manages your entire stack using only Homebrew, creating portable project environments that your team can replicate anywhere. Faster and lighter than Docker with native filesystem performance.

Why Choose Malt?

⚡️

Lightning Fast

Native performance without the overhead of containers or VMs. Start your services instantly.

🎛️

One-Stop Access

malt/ centralizes configs and logs, shareable with your team.

🛠️

Zero Configuration

PHP, MySQL, Redis, Nginx, and more - all configured automatically from your JSON definition.

📦

Homebrew Powered

Zero dependencies. Works on macOS, Linux, and Windows (WSL). Powered by Homebrew.

🔧

Flexible & Extensible

Easily customize configurations for any service with template-based generation.

📂

Direct File Access

Native file system performance and direct access to logs, data, and configuration files.

How Malt Works

Install Malt

Install Malt with Homebrew in seconds:

            brew tap shivammathur/php

            brew tap shivammathur/extensions

            brew tap koriym/malt

            brew install malt

Define Your Environment

Create a malt.json file in your project directory. It defines your entire development stack:

            cd your-project

            malt init

            {

              "project_name": "myapp",

              "dependencies": [

                "php@8.4",

                "redis",

                "nginx",

                "mysql@8.0"

              ],

              "ports": {

                "php": [9000],

                "redis": [6379],

                "nginx": [80],

                "mysql": [3306]

              },

              "php_extensions": [

                "xdebug",

                "redis"

              ]

            }

Set Up Your Environment

Malt handles everything from installation to configuration:

            malt install # Install all dependencies

            malt create  # Create configuration files

            malt start   # Start all services

Start Developing

Get convenient access to your services with environment variables and aliased commands:

            source <(malt env)  # Set up environment

            # Now you can use aliased commands:

            mysql@3306   # Connect to MySQL

            redis-cli@6379   # Connect to Redis

Brew Infrastructure Code

Use our Malt Prompt Brewery to convert your malt.json to various infrastructure formats:

Supports Docker, Kubernetes, Terraform, Ansible and more!

Resource Usage Comparison

Comparison of developer environments based on resource efficiency

Solution	Memory Usage	Disk Space	Startup Time	File I/O
Malt	Low	Low	Instant	Native
Docker	Medium-High	Medium	Seconds	Critical on macOS
VM	High	High	Minutes	Low Performance

Note: On macOS (M1/ARM architecture), Docker must either run arm64 images natively or emulate x86 images. The file system performance in Docker on macOS is particularly impacted due to the virtualization layer.

Brew Better Environments with Malt: Native Performance, Simple Setup, Team Sharing