Docker is great for CI parity and isolation, but it does not have to be the only way to run PHP, MySQL, and Redis on a laptop. MacFullStack defaults to a Native runtime with full service coverage.
When Native wins
- Deadline day: fewer layers, faster start, lower battery drain.
- Many small sites and quick edits.
- Team habits closer to Laragon/Herd than to compose files.
When you still want Docker
- Isolation “like prod” or a reproducible CI-like environment.
- Company policy requires containers.
- Experiments you do not want on the host.
In MacFullStack this is not “thin Native, full Docker”: modes aim for parity. Switch — services stay in the product contour.
Modern frameworks
For Next/Vite/Angular and Django/Flask/FastAPI on Pro/Teams, the stack starts managed workers and proxies the domain to a local port — no hand-written nginx per project. Free stays one PHP project with the core stack.