Install Drupal with DDEV

A quick and minimal guide to set up a Drupal site locally using DDEV.

1. Create a new Drupal project

This command downloads the latest stable Drupal version with all recommended settings.

composer create-project drupal/recommended-project drupal

Requirements: Composer must be installed globally on your system. PHP (minimum 8.1) must be available in your terminal. Git is required for dependency management.

This creates a new folder named drupal with the core structure, composer.json, and dependencies.

2. Configure and start DDEV

Run the setup for your DDEV project. You’ll be asked for the project name and docroot (usually web).

ddev config
ddev start

ddev config initializes the configuration files (.ddev/config.yaml) and ddev start launches the containers.

3. Add Drush

Install Drush (Drupal Shell) inside your project for easier site management.

ddev composer require --dev drush/drush

This adds Drush as a local development dependency, accessible through ddev drush.

4. Install Drupal locally

Run the Drupal installation using Drush inside DDEV.

ddev drush site:install standard --account-name=admin --account-pass=admin -y

• —account-name sets the admin username
• —account-pass sets the admin password
• -y automatically confirms prompts

After installation, visit your local site.