Drupal 8 Quick Start Command

The quick-start command is new as of Drupal 8.6.x. It is not intended for production use. However, it provides a fast way to install and run Drupal using PHP’s built-in web server on your local machine.

Important: The quick-start command is designed only for launching a local demo version of Drupal. If you need to install Drupal 8 for production, refer to the rest of this guide for the proper instructions.

Step 1 - Install PHP

MacOS

MacOS 10.13 (High Sierra) and later come with PHP 7 pre-installed. No additional setup is needed.

MacOS 10.12 (Sierra) and earlier ship with PHP 5.x, which needs to be upgraded to PHP 7 for Drupal 8 compatibility.

Linux

Install PHP and required extensions. On Debian-based systems, including Ubuntu, run the following:

sudo apt-get install php php-curl php-gd php-mbstring php-sqlite3

Windows

PHP is typically installed as part of an AMP stack. You can find a list of AMP options on the local server setup guide for Windows. NB: If you choose to install PHP for Windows separately, be aware that it requires extensive manual configuration.

Step 2 - Download and Launch Drupal

Paste the two lines below into your terminal to download, unpack, and launch Drupal:

mkdir drupal && cd drupal && curl -sSL https://www.drupal.org/download-latest/tar.gz | tar -xz --strip-components=1
php ./core/scripts/drupal quick-start demo_umami

The installation process may take a few minutes. A successful install will launch the site in your browser and display relevant information in your terminal:

18/18 [▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓]
Congratulations, you installed Drupal!
Username: admin
Password: PM_kRw1i1xtPGeoT
Drupal development server started: 
This server is not meant for production use.
One time login url: 
Press Ctrl-C to quit the Drupal development server.

Optional: Run the following command to view available configuration options for the quick-start command:

$ php ./core/scripts/drupal quick-start --help