PHP 8.5 on Mac without Homebrew hassle

PHP 8.5 is already in MacFullStack: Native and Docker, per-project pin, one FPM per installed version. Homebrew and system PHP stay untouched.

Why 8.5 locally

• new Laravel / Symfony stacks already want a fresh runtime;
• the client host is on 8.3–8.4 and you want to probe forward compatibility;
• two sites side by side: legacy 8.1 and new 8.5 — without Docker Desktop for every click.

How to turn it on

1. Download Free (one PHP project) or Pro if you need more sites.
2. Settings → Runtime — install Native PHP 8.5 if the artifact is not there yet.
3. PHP tab → default version → Apply.
4. Pin 8.5 on the project card, or via CLI:

macstack projects php --name shop --version 8.5

Native runs a php-fpm per version; nginx routes the site to its pin. If 8.5 is not installed yet, the pin is kept, the site falls back to a routable version, and sync warns.

Docker

Docker mode also ships 8.5. Changing the default PHP may rebuild the web image — several minutes the first time. Native is faster for a normal day.

Nearby

Xdebug on port 9003, OPcache, phpinfo(), and the php.ini path live on the PHP tab. Per project: .macstack/php.ini. Help: /help/php-versions.