Quick start

Import an existing project

1. Start ContaoDock and choose Import project.
2. Select the project folder on your computer.
3. Review the detected Contao installation type and project details.
4. Configure the local environment to generate the Compose setup and start its services.

The initial detector recognizes Composer declarations for contao/managed-edition, contao/manager-bundle, or contao/core-bundle, and the legacy system/config/localconfig.php marker. Detection is a heuristic, not a compatibility guarantee.

Create a project

Choose Create project, pick a parent folder and project name, then choose a Contao version constraint. ContaoDock creates a Managed Edition project with Composer and proceeds to local environment setup. Composer output is shown in the app.

Open the local site

When the services are ready, use the displayed local URL or Open site. ContaoDock runs a Docker-managed reverse proxy for port-free .localhost addresses, independent of Herd. The router uses host port 80; if another service already owns that port, ContaoDock keeps the site available on its assigned loopback URL with a port. A .test hostname also needs an operating-system DNS or hosts entry; .localhost resolves to loopback without that setup.

For service controls, database persistence, and reset behavior, see Local environments.