What is Futou?

Futou (埠頭, "pier" in Japanese) is a Windows environment manager for developers. Install, activate, switch, and manage multiple versions of runtimes — all from a clean CLI or desktop GUI.

Why Futou?

Existing tools like XAMPP or Laragon lock you into one version of each runtime. Changing PHP versions means reinstalling the entire stack. Futou gives you:

• Multiple versions side-by-side: PHP 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4 installed simultaneously
• One-command switching: futou use php 8.4.23 — your PATH updates instantly
• Database servers: MariaDB and PostgreSQL managed as services with proper init and shutdown
• Web servers: Apache and Nginx with per-project document roots
• No bloat: CLI + optional GUI. No bundled cruft. Fresh downloads from official sources.

How It Works

CLI or GUI  →  Named Pipe (JSON-RPC)  →  Daemon  →  aria2c download  →  Extract  →  Activate

1. A long-lived daemon runs in the background (system tray)
2. CLI or GUI sends JSON-RPC commands over \\.\pipe\futou
3. Daemon downloads runtimes via aria2c, verifies checksums, extracts archives
4. Activation creates .bat shims and updates PATH via Windows registry

Available Runtimes

Category	Runtimes
Languages	PHP, Node.js, Python, Deno
Databases	MariaDB, PostgreSQL
Web Servers	Apache, Nginx

Quick Start

# Install a runtime
futou install php 8.4.23

# Activate it (adds to PATH)
futou use php 8.4.23

# Start a database
futou start mariadb 11.4.5

# Launch a web server
futou start apache 2.4.66

Or use the GUI (cargo run --bin futou-daemon + Tauri app) for point-and-click management with progress bars and logs.